Each year fire ants cause approximately $6 billion in damages across the nation. For the electric and telecom industries, the cost due to the stinging pests is $638 million. Primarily located in the Southeast, fire ants are continuing the migration westward and have spread as far west as California. Management is the best defense against fire ants, and professional pest control in Fort Worth is the best means to manage a lawn infestation, and secure indoor locations against them.
Fire ants invade electrical equipment, especially transformers, and build their large dirt mounds that can cause power outages and compromised equipment. They appear especially attracted to high voltage, and dead ants can build up in and around contacts, leaving behind equipment in need of repair.
HVAC technicians in Texas confirm that one third of all summer HVAC repairs are due to the ants. They invade outdoor electrical service panels, well pump controls, utility meters, electrical plugs and lamp sockets, and one of their favorites – transformers. Not even automobiles are exempt, leave behind food or drink, even crumbs, and fire ants will take up residence in your car, and under the hood.
Fire ants are omnivorous, meaning they will feed on animal or vegetable sources of food. The fire ant worker’s diet includes insects, earthworms, ticks, spiders, arthropod eggs, honeydew and other sweets. They will feed on weakened honey bee colonies as well. Plant sources of food include seeds, such as germinating seeds of corn, sorghum and soybeans. They kill plants by tunneling into young corn stalks, potatoes, okra and citrus fruit. Young and newborn vertebrate animals eaten by fire ants include birds, rodents and calves and others, whether the ants caused the death, or if due to other causes.
An interesting fact regarding fire ants pertains to the honeydew they love. Sucking insects, such as aphids produce the honeydew. Fire ants provide protection for the honeydew producing insects, though they will cull unhealthy or diseased members of the population, enabling the honeydew producing population to thrive. Fire ant management with pest control in Fort Worth will assist in controlling the population of sucking insects.
Management is required for these aggressive pests or they will continue to proliferate on your lawn. In the Southeast where they first invaded, there have been reports of 100 nests per acre. Even worse, some nests have been known to be large enough to cover a full grown adult human body though this is uncommon.
Even more dangerous is the fact that fire ants will invade a home and attack those unable to defend themselves, such as human infants and toddlers. When this occurs, not all survive. DIY treatment alone is never successful in fully ridding your lawn of fire ants; they simply spread back from neighboring untreated lawns. Even worse, after a while, they seem to develop a tolerance to retail treatments, requiring the homeowner to switch up several times during the warm seasons. Even season long treatments will not last throughout the entire season before the fire ants return. Fire ant management is best achieved with professional pest control in Fort Worth.
If you need assistance or advice on a fire ant infestation contact the professionals at The Bug Dude. Our specialists can provide the services to get rid of fire ants, and/or other pests with professional pest control in Fort Worth. Do not suffer unwanted pests in your home or on your lawn, contact the pest control specialists at The Bug Dude to schedule effective pest control in Fort Worth. We serve Fort Worth and the surrounding areas with professional pest control services.
