Help, we have fire ants, but I can't find anything to use that is safe for our new puppy. They are building a house behind us, so I think the vacant lot, is adding to our problem. Dh took Amdro and put it down on the other side of the fence line, which is out of reach for our puppy. But, we need to treat the mounds in our yard.

Any suggestions?

By Mom2three1968 on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 07:32 am:

Well, I don't have any names of treatments that you could buy that would be safe but there is a website that you could try that has alot of good homemade rememdies for all types of ant, it's thriftyfun.com I got hooked on that when another momsview member passed it onto me there is alot of helpful info in there on nearly every subject you can think of!!

By Kaye on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 08:01 am:

Honesty fire ants are so hard to deal with I don't know that there is anything. What we do is treat the back yard and then the front yard a week later. It rains usually once a week so there is no poison left. I will say that my pups don't mess with ant piles, but I am sure it is because they have before..LOL

By Debbie on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 09:52 am:

LOL Kaye, living in Texas I know you can relate. They are as bad here, in Oklahoma, as in Texas. Fire ants are one thing I didn't miss when we were in Chicago. If I can't find anything, I have to take Cody to the Vet for another vacine in two weeks, I can ask her.

By Yjja123 on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 01:31 pm:

We dumped boiling water on them and they are gone. I read it somewhere and tried it. I was surprised that it worked--but it did!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 03:03 pm:

I'm glad we don't have fire ants, up here in WI! Mosquitoes and wasps are bad enough!

By Yjja123 on Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 05:26 pm:

Here it is....
Hot Water
Scalding or boiling water (190° to 212°F) has been used to eliminate colonies. Slowly pour about three gallons of hot water onto the mound. The water should drain into the vertical tunnels of the mound and eventually collapse the entire mound structure. Treatments may be more effective if applied on cool, sunny mornings. It has been reported that 20 to 60% of the mounds treated by this method have been eliminated. Several applications may be needed, and hot water may injure plants adjacent to treated mounds. One must be very careful when using hot water to avoid burning oneself.