Fire ants are notorious for their painful bites, and it has a well-deserved reputation. These pests are absolutely invaders, both for your home and for the country as a whole. They are not native to the U.S., but rather they were brought here, and unfortunately as a result you now have to live with the potential of fire ant bites if you find them on your property. Fire ants are annoying and also dangerous. They need the most efficient pest control in The Villages, so get the best with Bertram Pest Solutions.
What Do Fire Ants In The Villages Look Like?
Fire ants are actually much smaller than the average ant, only measuring about? to ? of an inch long. Fire ants in the Villages can most easily be identified by their dark reddish-brown coloring, as well as the interesting shapes of their nesting mounds.
The average ant makes traditional ant hills that actually look like hills, but the fire ant mounds in your yard are very different. Fire ants create their nests in wide open and sunny spaces, and because they like the sun so much, their nests are very flat and irregular. While you may not find tall fire ant hills in your yard, you will find these mounds that can destroy your yard and make it difficult to mow your lawn.
How Dangerous Are Fire Ant Bites?
The reason fire ants have earned such a bad reputation is that their bites can be extremely painful. Contrary to the name, these bites are actually stings. The fire ant will grab your skin with their strong mandibles, and then sting you, injecting you with painful venom. This sting by itself is not particularly severe, just leaving a welt, but often you are not just encountering one fire ant. Instead, you are stepping into an entire nest, potentially causing many fire ants to sting at once.
Is It Possible To Have An Allergic Reaction To Fire Ants?
Fire ants are very aggressive and can be easily agitated. Consequently, when their nest is even slightly disturbed, they can attack. Their venom is strong enough to trigger allergic reactions in some individuals, and if there are enough fire ants all attacking at once, they can even trigger anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can be life-threatening if not treated immediately.
Many resort to using a store-bought fire ant killer for their yard like a spray or granule, but unfortunately, these have varying effectiveness. For proper fire ant treatment in The Villages, the best thing that you can do is get the help of the professionals at Bertram Pest Solutions.
Fire Ant Prevention Tips
At Bertram Pest Solutions, we have more than 20 years of providing the highest quality, reliable pest control service there is. For your fire ant issues, we will inspect your property to find out where these pests are, then use a combination of bait and liquid treatments to ensure the entire nest is treated.
Before these pests become an issue on your property, there are things that you can do to prevent them. The most important things that you can do are:
- Put weather stripping around windows and doors.
- Seal spaces around AC units and pipes.
- Install door sweeps to prevent ants from coming into your home.
- Put tight-fitting lids on trash cans and clean up crumbs and spills outside to keep ants and other insects away.
These are only a few of the things that you can do, but they are essential in keeping your home pest-free, keeping these dangerous pests away for good. If fire ants are causing problems in your home or yard, call Bertram Pest Solutions for effective fire ant control in The Villages.