How to Get Rid of Ant Hills in West Palm Beach
We’re all familiar with this scenario: It’s a nice day in West Palm Beach, and you decide to spend time outside. You go out in your backyard, enjoying the hot sun with an icy beverage when all of a sudden, your ankle feels like it’s on fire!
You look down and see that tiny red ants are crawling all over. You do everything you can to kick them off, and then once you do, you’re left with painful red blisters all over your ankles.
When you walk, very carefully, back by the area you got attacked in, you see that there’s a giant ant hill, the second you’ve noticed this week. How do you get rid of these ant hills? The purpose of this blog is to go over exactly that, and to answer all of your questions related to anthills.
Why Are So Many Ant Hills in My Yard?
The answer to why so many ant hills are appearing in your yard is simple - your yard is practically an ant haven. It has everything an ant needs to thrive outdoors, which is 3 things: food, water, and preferred soil conditions. Let's go over what each of these 3 things include.
Food Sources For Ants:
- Sugar (fruit, sap, honeydew)
- Invertebrates - dead or alive
- Insect eggs
Water Sources For Ants
- Standing water
- Birdbaths
- Fountains
- Gutters
- Leaky pipes
Best Soil Conditions For Ants
Anthills are designed to withstand a variety of weather conditions, but are most drawn to loose soil, sandy soil, soils or open structures and particularly dry soil in sunny locations with direct sunlight.
How Do Ants Build Ant Mounds?
Ant hills are built by the worker ants, which are all ants outside the queen. These ants remove below-ground soil during tunneling and nest chamber construction and build the ant mounds upward.
Why Do Ant Hills Appear After Rain?
You may have noticed that after rainstorms, it’s common to see ant hills pop up. This happens because the rain floods the underground tunnels, destroying them. To avoid drowning in their homes, ants will build them upward, making them appear above ground.
How to Get Rid of Ant Hills Without Killing Grass
It’s valid to consider your lawn when determining the best method of destroying ant hills. Luckily, there are several ways to get rid of ant hills without damaging your lawn:
Diatomaceous Earth for Ant Hills
Diatomaceous earth is a natural, pet friendly pest control product that can get rid of the ant hills in your yard. It’s a fine powder consisting of ground up, fossilized algae. It’s used to dry up the exoskeletons of many pests in West Palm Beach like ants and cockroaches.
When you spread diatomaceous earth on ant hills, the ants that walk through it will dehydrate and die, and as the colony dies, there will be less ants to maintain the ant hill.
To make sure the entire colony dies, reapply diatomaceous earth weekly and always add more after rain.
Best Ant Baits For Ant Hills
Using ant bait is one of the best ways to get rid of ant hills in your yard without causing damage to your lawn.
DIY Ant Baits for Ant Hills:
- Mix one part borax with three parts powdered sugar
- Use diatomaceous earth as ant bait
- Mix ¼ cup dish soap with one cup water in a spray bottle
- Sprinkle baking soda
Should I Pour Boiling Water on Ant Hills?
One effective way to get rid of ant hills is to pour boiling water over them. However, this will also damage your lawn. Is it worth the risk, if you get to completely eliminate those pesky ant hills? That’s up for you to decide.
If keeping your lawn healthy and green is important to you, you might want to consider other options that won’t damage your lawn, especially if you have multiple ant hills in your yard. However, if you’re only trying to get rid of one ant hill in your yard and you don’t mind affecting one part of your lawn, using boiling water might be your best move.
Another important thing to know about pouring boiling water over ant hills is that the water will only destroy the ants that come in contact with the water, and most likely won’t eliminate an entire colony of ants.
Should I Flatten Ant Hills?
If you’ve ever tried kicking over an ant hill, you’ll notice that it doesn’t exactly work. But it can be effective to flatten ant hills if you’re persistent about it. Use a rake to flatten the ant hill over until it’s smooth instead of using your foot, so you don’t risk the scenario we went over at the beginning of this article (ow).
If you flatten the ant hill often enough, the ants will eventually give up on rebuilding it. However, the ants won’t necessarily leave your yard as a result, they could just find a new habitat in the bushes, trees, or even inside your home. So, you may have to jump through a few additional hoops to completely eliminate your ant issue.
What Types of Ants Build Ant Mounds?
Not every ant species builds ant mounds. In Florida, the primary ants that build ant hills are big headed ants and red imported fire ants.
Big headed ants are invasive ants that can populate into super colonies, which can grow to over a million ants! It's common for big headed ant super-colonies to spread across multiple properties. Bigheaded ants will commonly build mounds near their nest openings.
Red imported fire ants are invasive ants commonly found in Florida. They are originally from South America, and are found in many other countries including Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and New Zealand.
Unlike big-headed ants, red imported fire ants are aggressive ants that bite and sting. So not only are they a disruption to the aesthetic in your yard, they can also cause a lot of discomfort!
How to Get Rid of Ant Hills Completely
If you’ve tried everything to get rid of ant hills with no success, it might be time for the next step, which is contacting a professional pest control company. Professional pest control is the fastest way to get rid of ant hills in West Palm Beach, FL.
Our ant control professionals know the ins and outs of ants and ant hills, from big-headed ant hills to red imported fire ant hills.
Our fire ant control includes broadcast bait systems and mound systems to get rid of every last ant mound in sight.
If you’re looking for the best ant control for ant hills in West Palm Beach, look no further than Native Pest Management. We offer our services all over West Palm Beach, as well as in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port St. Lucie, Tallahassee, and the surrounding areas. With over 3000 five star reviews across Google, Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, and Homeadvisor and an A+ BBB rating, we’re proud of our award-winning eco-friendly and pet friendly pest control.
Reach out to us today to learn more and schedule an appointment!