Parks & Athletic Fields

In parks and athletic fields, red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) are known to cause extensive damage to plants, lawns, playgrounds, golf courses, air-conditioning and lighting equipment, mechanical equipment, cement slabs, and electrical wires. They are also a serious threat to public health, injuring more than 20 million adults and children annually with their stings.

Fire Ant Behavior

Red imported fire ants are diligent architects. They build their nests outside in mounds of soil and live beneath them in an extensive network of underground tunnels where they quickly reproduce.

The mounds look like worked soil and can be anywhere from a few inches to a few feet across, with no visible openings. They are formed by ants pushing up dirt as they tunnel through the earth.

Mounds operate a bit like solar roof panels, regulating temperatures and humidity in the colony below to provide the best conditions for them to reproduce. They help keep the ants warm during cooler parts of the year and also help them survive severe weather.

If single queen colonies have inhabited your property, there may be between 40 and 150 mounds and up to 7 million fire ants per acre. If the colonies have multiple queens, you can expect to see 200 or more mounds and about 40 million fire ants per acre.

At athletic fields and parks, fire ants have a preference for building nests near bleachers, around goalposts and dugouts, in pavement cracks, and near HVAC equipment. They also like nesting in electrical and utility housings, causing shorts and other mechanical problems.

When their mounds are disturbed, fire ants react aggressively by swarming and relentlessly stinging by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of ants at once. Some people are allergic to the venom, known as Solenopsin, and others may go into anaphylactic shock, requiring urgent medical attention to prevent a deadly outcome.

Although very few people have extreme reactions to fire ant bites or stings, serious incidents can occur, and managers and landowners can be held liable for the harm caused by fire ants on their property.

Be Proactive

If you are responsible for a city or county park, athletic field, or playground, addressing a fire ant problem on your property today can help avoid future problems.

Fire Ant Specialists’ proven fire ant treatment focuses on sterilization of the egg-producing queen(s). Worker ants ingest our potent granular bait and take it down into the colony, causing the fire ants to die naturally. Once the queen is sterilized, the colony will disappear within 5 to 8 weeks, and no new ants will be born.

We highly recommend treating your property every four months to keep these troublemakers under control. Fire ants are like weeds; if you stop treating for them, they will come back. If you still have an infestation after allowing sufficient time for the treatment to work, we will re-treat that area at no charge.