I know this sounds like a little bit of a crazy question, but if you’ve lived in Texas for any length of time, you get it! I had a farm outside Dallas for over 30 years and even though I was religious about trying to keep the fire ant problem down, it was virtually impossible. They’re terrible little monsters and can cause your horses a lot of pain and swelling. There’s no way they could lay down in the pasture and escape multiple bites. I have all state of the art spraying and spreading equipment, but it’s impossible to keep up with them. They are everywhere. I’m thinking about a move to AIKEN and wondered how bad a problem it is there.
We live over just east of downtown Ft Worth, I never had any great results with a spray. We use one of many granular fire ant baits which seem to work as mounds are killed. I apply at first signs of the devils which is after a rain (rare events here in the summer)
The things are evil
My older son worked at a TB training farm in Aiken I never heard him mention fire ants but he was an exercise rider who was working with young stock to get their starting gate cards
I understand your desire to relocate as this area has seen a pronounced population growth.
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They are terrible in central Alabama too. Horses seem to stay out of them but I sure get them all over me lots of the time. Not only do they build the huge mounds, they also build stealth nests so you don’t know they are there until you stick your hand down there. Amdro is about the only thing that seems to work and it only just keeps them under control. Unless you are in a suburban neighborhood where all the neighbors are treating them I don’t think you can eliminate them.
In Aiken I spread Extinguish Professional fire ant bail three times a year, and in between I monthly spread a wide band just inside my pasture fences to stop the new ones that start to invade from the perimeter. No matter what I do there are always colonies at the bases of my trees, and around the bases of fence posts and dressage arena rail supports.
We are probably better off than Texas, but you will still need all of your fire ant controlling skills should Aiken be in your future.
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Here in Florida… my rule is don’t lean on any fencing and be careful of opening gates. The bull ants have somehow made their way into the house. Not enough of them to find out how they are getting in. I sprayed around the windows and have been putting Extinguish down.
The fire ants are bad too and the wasps.
There are fire ants in Aiken. When I got too many nests I’d go sprinkle some ant bait near the nest and selectively get rid of some.
They may hurt BUT they eat fleas and ticks. IMO, I’ll avoid a few fire ant nests if it means I don’t have to worry about ticks.
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I have LOTS of fire ants here. Ditto ticks. Right now it is very hot and dry and the fire ants are hiding out underground waiting for rain. And I think the ticks are deep down in the lower areas where there is still moisture. I can go in my garden, get bit by fire ants and find a deer tick on me all the same day. Mostly the fire ants eat my tomatoes that have cracks in them. This is like saying that armadillos eat fire ants. Nope to that too. I have lots of both.
Oh my. Maybe I just got lucky. In the 5ish years I lived in fire ant country, my dogs never had fleas and I never pulled a tick off of myself.
Another fun fact about fire ants. They get into/eat into electrical systems. They kept destroying my neighbor’s air conditioner. I think they were building nests in there and eating the wiring. I told him he needed to start using Amdro or another bait to get rid of all the hills in his yard. He didn’t listen to anybody so he would pour diesel fuel on their mounds. It did not kill the ants, they just moved their mounds over a few feet and he had big greasy patches in his grass. This is not the high rent district but who wants their yard to be a Superfund clean-up site? I am not sure how many times he had to get his AC fixed because the ants ate the wiring. So something else to be aware of if you have these monsters.
@SusanO You’re totally right about the fire ants eating electrical wiring. I had heard that before, but chose to learn the hard way…and the little monsters ate my air conditioner too. That mistake cost me thousands of dollars. I hope anybody else reading this will decide not to learn the “hard way.”
