Getting Rid of Lawn Ants

Are biting ants in the lawn preventing your children and pets playing safely?

Are funnel ants turning your lawn into a lunar landscape and devaluing the price of your property?

Pest ants in the lawn can be annoying, painful and costly. DIY options for the homeowner are limited as there aren’t suitable products available in the hardware stores or supermarkets. Fortunately, specialised ant treatments from Gold Coast Pest Services provide complete and long lasting solutions.

Biting ants in the lawn

There are a number of different species of biting ants that occur in the lawns on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. Although there are a range of black biting ants of various sizes, the most common (and most painful) is the green-head ant. In terms of brown biting ants, the one we all need to keep an eye out for is the red imported fire ant.

Green-head ants

Green-head ants build their nests in lawns or under rocks in garden beds. As we all know, they can deliver a very painful sting that can itch for days afterwards. For some people it can result in a life threatening allergic reaction that require immediate medical attention. If you have green-headed ants in your lawn, you should certainly take action, especially if children or pets are around.

Our green-head ant control programs involve treating the affected area with a granular bait, which is very effective in controlling the colony. Ants take the granules containing a slow acting insecticide back to the nest, where it is fed to other members of the colony. There will be a big drop in ant numbers in 1-3 days with complete colony control within 1-2 weeks.

Once your property is clear of green-head ants, it should remain clear for a number of months. However, if  you are in a neighbourhood infested with green-head ants, over time the ants will re-invade from neighbouring properties. As such it may be necessary to treat your property once or twice a year to keep it ant free.

Baits are also used for the other species of black biting ants but sometimes we also need to treat the lawn with a specialist ant spray.

Fire ants

The red imported fire ant (RIFA) is a serious invasive pest. The Queensland Government (Biosecurity Queensland) are currently running a fire ant elimination program over an area extending from the west of Brisbane out into the Lockyear Valley, down to areas on the Gold Coast.

Fire ants are a reportable pest, which means that anyone suspecting they have fire ants on their property needs to contact Biosecurity Queensland. Alternative you can contact Gold Coast Pest Services for a fire ant treatment and we can inspect the property, treat the nests and complete the necessary reports for the Government.

But how do I know if I have fire ants?

Identifying fire ant nests

Small fire ant nests are very hard to spot but once they get larger they form a distinctive mound of soil, with no obvious opening. Often they will be in grassed areas, next to an object (log, rock, path, etc). When the nest is disturbed the ants will swarm out of the nest, “like a volcano”.

Identifying fire ants

Fire ants are quite small and vary in size from 2-6 mm. They are a shiny, brown red colour and are quite aggressive! A single sting is painful (a bit like a bee sting), but they tend to swarm over victims delivering multiple bites.

Funnel ants

Funnel ant nests can be a real mess of lawns and impact property values

A funnel ant infestation can make a real mess of lawns, with their underground excavations resulting in multiple above ground funnels. Apart from being unsightly, their activities undermine the soil structure making the lawn uneven and difficult to cut, causing twisted ankles and damage to mowing equipment.

Ever tried selling a home with a funnel ant problem? It can significantly devalue the price of the property.

It’s not uncommon for the DIY homeowner to spend hundreds of dollars on supermarket or hardware products and countless wasted weekends, only for the funnels to return. The bottom line is that with the ants living underground, it is very difficult to get control.

The DIY products available to homeowners will kill ants that come into contact with the treatment, but the treatments tend to be repellent, which means the ants avoid treated areas.

However, Gold Coast Pest Services use specialised funnel ant sprays which are non-repellent. Ants coming into contact with the treated soil are unaware they are contacting the slow acting insecticide. The fact it is slow acting is important as it allows ants that have come into contact with the treatment time to return to the nest underground and spread the insecticide to nest mates, resulting in the elimination of the entire colony.

Apart from the fact the treatment actually kills the nests present, it remains in the soil for many months, preventing ants from outside the area re-invading. It’s not uncommon for our funnel ant treatments to last twelve months or more.

No need to suffer, reclaim your backyard!

Everyone wants to enjoy their outdoor areas, and so keeping the lawn ant free is pretty important. So if you need to get rid of ants in your lawn, just give the ant experts at Gold Coast Pest Services a call (07 5574 8515).

More information on our range of specialist ant treatments.