Frequently Asked Questions About Killing Fire Ants

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 Inspect your property for mounds (nests) of fluffy worked soil, especially a few days after a heavy rain. Unlike most ant mounds, fire ant mounds lack a center hole through which ants enter and exit. Gently blow on the mound to see how the ants behave. Fire ants are naturally aggressive and will swarm out of the mound to attack.

Fire ant workers are 1/8- 1/4 inch long with 2 nodes and reddish-brown and black. The workers (all sterile females) are the ants within the colony that will sting. Reproductive ants are larger than workers and sometimes have wings. Queens are large with reddish-brown and black bodies; males are black with enlarged thoraxes. Males and queens aren’t often seen except during or shortly after mating swarms. Mating occurs on warm, moist days, often after rainfall or irrigation. Males die after mating. Queens chew off their wings and find a site to dig and begin a new colony.

 Fire ants bite and sting! Individual worker ants can bite and sting several times. When stinging, the worker attaches to the skin with its jaws (mandibles), pulling the skin, pinching it, and raising

it slightly, causing a pricking sensation. Then the ant arches its back, doubles under its abdomen,

and forces the stinger into the tissue. After inflicting the first sting, it may remove the stinger and, rotating or pivoting around its head, may sting several more times, leaving a circular pattern of sting injuries. The venom they inject causes a burning sensation and sometimes red bumps. Urgent medical care may be required if a severe allergic reaction occurs. 

 Our potent, food-like granular bait is approved for use around people, pets, livestock, and agricultural land. It uses an insect growth regulator that sterilizes the egg-producing queen in each mound and prevents her from reproducing. This leaves the remaining ants in the colony to die of old age. The average life cycle of a fire ant is about five weeks, so we expect for you to see significant results at that time. 

 Yes! Fire ant control by Fire Ant Professionals is a terrific way to protect your pets. Our bait has no re-entry interval. This means that your family, pets, and other animals can walk anywhere on your property immediately after treatment. 

 You can pour liquid insecticides, chemical dust, or granules into or around the mounds, and you may kill some of the ants. However, the bait never reaches the queen. This method will not get rid of the colony, and the chemicals are often toxic to people, pets, gardens, and the eco-system. It may also cause the colony to disperse and start a colony somewhere else on your property, making control more difficult. 

 Fire Ant Professionals cannot guarantee you will never have fire ants, even in treated areas. However, if our service does not work within the time frame specified to you at the time of application, we will retreat the area of infestation free of charge. The label recommends year-round control of 3 treatments a year for best results to sustain a good fire ant control program. 

 Fire ants spread as queens lay new winged female eggs, often during the spring and fall. When not treated, these new queens can fly onto your property where they will start an entire new colony. 

No,  there are no contracts or commitments for service.  We will send you a reminder in 4 months when it’s time for another treatment.  You can choose not to get the treatment at that time, but you will probably call us shortly after that telling us that the fire ant mounds are coming back because new queen ants can fly from another property and move into your territory. Another bonus of keeping up with regular treatments is that you are locked into the price of your treatments. This is one of many ways that we honor our loyal customers.

Yes, our team is licensed and insured to provide pest control services in Texas.