Getting rid of fire ants (ANY method welcome)

Picking up the insect control theme of late: Our yard has been infested with fire ants since about a year after we got it. The exterminator and spot-treating mounds have kept them under control, but is there a way to get them out for good?

some help here

Part of the problem is that they are almost impossible to get rid of. You have to kill the majority of the nest as quickly as possible and possibly kill the queen or they may just relocate. If your neighbours have any infestations they are failing to control you can get a colony moving into your yard from your neighbours.

If your neighbours have a problem as well get together with your neighbours and coordinate a treatment solution so that everyone is acting in similar time frames to reduce the chances of nests simply migrating.

Friend of mine poured some kerosene down the moundhole thingy and burned them out. Lost a nice chunk of yard but eh, worked

Um. Kill It with Fire kind of defeats the purpose of getting rid of them to use the yard, I'd say...

Orthene fire ant killer. If you used it and it didn't work, something must have happened to it because I used to swear by that stuff.

Also, don't do the kerosene thing. If you're going to do something like that, get a piece of pipe and shove it into their mound, then pour gasoline down it. Do not set it on fire. Just leave it; the fumes will drive them out.

That's just cruel. Not even fire ants deserve that.

edited 17th Nov '13 7:33:13 AM by Frishman

Put a small stereo next to the mound and play Nickelback for three days straight. If that won't kill em I dunno what will, lol.

Pour some Drano down the hole.

Try not to get anything on you though, that shit burns like a motherfucker. Makes most acids look adorable

That's because its incredibly basic. Like, ph 11 basic. Shit's nasty.

Note that in every method, the ideal is to kill the queen, so just pouring this stuff on top won't work, as fire ants dig greedily and deep. The stuff may be counteracted by the time it gets there. Hence my recommendation of driving a pipe down there for direct injection.

While the OP is a bit dated I thought you all might find the following link interesing.

Aluminium casting of a fire ant mount.

Fight fire with fire.

Eliminate the fire ants and make a cool sculpture at the same time, I'd call that an everybody-wins scenario. Well, the ants don't, of course. But everybody else does.

Hmmm... copper's prettier. <biased>

Copper would indeed be lovely. Copper would make a gorgeous chandelier, if you carefully wound it about with tiny twinkle lights.

Copper oxidizes easily.

There is a similar vid where they used cement on a termite colony to see its shape. It is really cool looking.

edited 12th Dec '13 5:32:43 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I think you're talking about this:

bacon: Not quite but very similar. It was a termite mound and it had some unqiue structures.

Ahh I got it wrong. Not cement. The Termite surface mound or spire and was plaster of paris.

edited 12th Dec '13 7:40:01 PM by TuefelHundenIV

This seems to work too.

I happen to like both shiny copper and the various oxidising stages. <shrugs> I'm weird. But, I also know how to protect against oxidisation should I wish to.

A couple of coats of finish, and voilà! Alternatively, bolt some zinc on it and regularly replace that small patch. <shrugs> See? I did pay attention in chemistry!

edited 13th Dec '13 4:54:21 PM by Euodiachloris

Vinegar, bay leaf, chalk. Ants are stupid, and drawing a chalk line around the area means smoke to them.vinegar, they hate the smell,plus your house and yard will smell like picked.bay leaf...not so sure, but it works!

This thread is long dead.

If Willybyr hasn't dealt with the problem by now, frankly he deserves an infestation!

If Willbyr hasn't dealt with them I am sure they have carried him off and devoured him. Only to replace him with an ant human hybrid clone.

His typing has become erratic.

*chittering noises*

I knew it. I think we are going to need a bigger bug swatter.