Fire Ants

How to identify fire ants

Reddish-brown to dark, 1/8 to 1/4 inch, with workers of varying sizes in the same colony. The giveaway is the mound itself — a loose, dome-shaped pile of soil with no visible central opening. Disturb it and ants pour out fast and sting in coordinated waves.

Behavior & biology

A single mature colony can hold 200,000+ ants and multiple queens, and North Texas mounds often number dozens per acre after a wet spring. Colonies relocate readily after heavy rain or drought, which is why mounds seem to 'move' across a yard. Winged reproductives swarm to start new colonies in warm months.

Why fire ants matter

Fire ants are primarily a health and nuisance threat: their stings cause painful white pustules and, in sensitive people, dangerous allergic reactions. They also damage electrical equipment — they're drawn to A/C units, irrigation boxes, and meter housings — and their mounds disrupt lawns and gardens.

DIY vs. professional control

Store-bought mound drenches kill the mound you see but miss the colonies you don't, and surviving queens simply relocate. A professional two-step approach — a yard-wide bait that the colony carries back to the queens, plus direct treatment of active mounds — controls the whole property, not one mound at a time.

How Definity treats fire ants

Definity treats fire ants with a broadcast bait across the property to reach hidden colonies and queens, followed by direct treatment of active mounds for fast knockdown. According to owner Johnny Lockridge, the mistake most homeowners make is treating one mound at a time — by the time you've drowned one, three more have moved in from the colonies you never saw.