How to get rid of Fire Ants

Incest are the most successful terristrial living organisms and why they should not be; They have managed to survive in the most harsh conditions one can imagine. They have survived in fresh waters, in hot deserts, in wells of Oil and other habitats. The reason behind their survival is their adaptability for certain types of environments. They have chitinous exoskeleton, they reproduce very rapidly, they can regenerate a lost appendage and what not. In the eyes of most people, insects are troublesome but it is not true among all the insects only 20 percent are trouble causing or even can cause diseases. Scientists for many years are trying to cope with this twenty percent of the insects. There are almost 32 orders of insects in which scientists have classified them into different orders then sub-divided into families, then into Genus and finally into Species. This classification helps us identify particular type of insect and can enlighten us with pros and cons of its. Indeed some insects like honey Bee and silkworm are used for Apiculture and Sericulture respectively are useful insects. For those who causes problems for Human and to their belongings there are many measures that one can put into application to deal with them, these methods includes Physical methods and the use of Chemicals. Among all problem causing insects Fire Ants are one that gets into the nerves of people. Before we discuss what preventive methods a person can enlist to avoid these Fire ants we need to understand their classification and their characteristic features.

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Classification: there are almost 200 species of fire ants, and their classification is as such, Fire ants belong to:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Formicidae

Genus: Solenopsis

And species may differ from habitat to habitat.

Characteristic features: like every other insects their body is divided into three segments Head, Thorax and abdomen but Hymenopterans have a peculiar character that their Thorax and Abdomen are joined by a slender petiol or Stalk. For their characteristics one can go through books of entomology or can get information from an entomologist. But the most astonishing character of theirs is that they produce formic acid which they spray and that is the reason they are included in the Family of Formicidae. They also can bite with their mandibulate mouth which can cause severe pain or in some instances can cause an allergic reaction if a person is more sensitive allergic reaction can appear within a few minutes after bite.

Behavior: Fire ants live in colonies near moist areas which includes bank of river, watered lawns, ponds and sometimes shores. Their colonies might not be visible to many because they build it inside of soil. In colonies there is a class system, ants are divided into a Queen which only reproduce and give birth to young ones, Workers; they build and repair the colony and in addition to it they also take care of young ones, and then there are Soldiers which protect their colony from any harm or invading element. Soldiers are the one which are sterile and can not reproduce and they are the one who produce Formic acid to spray or sting, they are equipped with strong mandibles to bite their enemies and to rip them apart.

After putting into consideration all their characteristics now we can discuss how to get rid of these trouble causing Hymenopterans.

There are many methods that one can put into consideration if want to get rid of Fire Ants but the problem with the layman is that they enlist Chemical method as first priority to cope with these ants; drawbacks of it are not even in their minds before putting in application of this method. Use of insecticides or pesticides is good option one can go for to get rid of them but the problem with these chemicals is that they have hazardous effects on the health of human beings and another problem is that insects will develop resistance against particular insecticide or pesticide and this resistance is transferred to their subsequent generation, so, one can consider the use of chemical for a quick solution but in the long run it itself is a problem to deal with. Here I will suggest that if one wants to get rid of these insects they should consider the following methods, Physical control, Biological control, Chemical control and blend of these three an IPM which is acronym of (integrated pest management). These above mentioned methods are discussed below in detail

Physical Control: Physical control includes proper sanitation of lawn or any place where colony of insect is found, they eat leaves and branches of plants so one should mow lawn proper, try to keep area dry where the colony of Fire Ant is found.

Biological control: when we talk about Biological control or BC in short we mean control or particular insect or pest by use of their natural enemies. These enemies Includes a wide range of organisms; from mrico-scopic Bacteria or Virus to multicellular Bird or Reptile and even plants. Pseudacteon is a fly which is Parasitoid it larvae causes damage to these ants, in plants Venus Fly trap helps to eliminate fire ants and there is specie of plant Drosera which releases some sort of sticky material in which ants get trapped.

Chemical control: There are numbers of pesticides and Insecticides available in the market to control these insects which includes (only active material or main ingredient will be mentioned here), Borax, Acephate, Hydramethylnon, Vinegar and essential oils, Silicon dioxide and many others. Among all available chemicals in the market I will suggest to go for phytopesticides because their main ingredient is mostly oil and are harmless to humans but these are pesticides are costly.

IPM: Integrated pest management is the blend of above mentioned methods. Chemicals controls is much more quick and efficient but it comes with hazardous drawbacks on health and on the other hand Biological control and physical control may not serve the desired results to control Fire Ants on time. That is why one should combine all the methods to achieve the desired results and avoid hazardous effects of chemicals.

I am Umer Adnan. I have been blogging since 2017.