I come to you today as a beaten man. Once, there was a time when I owned my lawn. But now, it belongs to the ants. And not just any ant, but the fire ant. These guys seem to spring up colonies overnight and are vicious and persistent biters of humans. That’s why today, we’ll be going over what you can do, and who to call when you have a case of New Port Richey Fire Ants.
New Port Richey Fire Ants: The Rundown
Both native and invasive species of fire ants can sting.
Red Imported Fire Ants are very aggressive and their sting can cause reactions ranging from irritation and nausea to even more severe reactions.
Red Fire Ants are also known to attack animals that intrude on their nests. Besides attacking people and animals they can also cause damage to plants, buildings, air-conditioning units, and telephone wires. The reason is not clear, but fire ants seem to be attracted to electrical currents, and they cause damage by nesting in places such as electrical junction boxes. There are two kinds of Red Imported Fire Ants; the single-queen and multiple-queen types.
Workers in single-queen colonies are territorial, foraging only within their territory. Workers from multiple-queen colonies are not territorial; they freely move from one mound to another, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of mounds per acre.
Areas infested with single-queen colonies contain 40-150 mounds per acre (rarely more than 7 million ants per acre). In areas with multiple-queen colonies, there may be 200 or more mounds and 40 million Red Imported Fire Ants per acre.
The New Port Richey Fire Ant builds mounds in almost any type of soil but prefers open, sunny areas such as pastures, parks, lawns, meadows, and cultivated fields. Colonies can also be located in or under buildings.
What Can You Do?
Outside of drenching their nests and baiting them, there’s not much a layman can do about a serious infestation. That’s why you should give a call to a pest control specialist. Especially one that uses natural pest control methods, as chemical pesticides always come with a risk.