Where to look for fire ant nests?
Unless you disturb a fire ant nest, you are more likely to see the nests before you see the ants. Fire ant nests are COMMON in:
- open grassed areas
- around or against garden structure
- in or around hay bales
- around utility pits or electrical transformer boxes
- near water sources
- in areas with exposed soil
- school yards
- parks and sporting facilities
- roadsides and median strips
- near new residential developments, or
- near recently imported carrier materials such as turf, soil and mulch.
Fire ants are RARE in shaded, undisturbed areas such as bushland, forests, or inside homes.
What to look for?
Fire ant nests commonly appear as:
- mounds or flattish patches of soil
- loose or crumbly appearance on the surface
- up to 40 cm high
- with no single obvious entrance holes
- nests are generally higher in cooler weather
- if disturbed, fire ants will aggressively swarm from the nest in large numbers, stinging simultaneously.
Find them
Around utility pits like water and gas meters, near water sources and along footpaths and driveways.
In rural areas
Look around dams and irrigation lines, on the edges of cultivated land and along fence lines and cropped land.
Small fire ant nests
May not be obvious and you may find them in gardens, on roadsides or on landslips. They also be found on eroded or exposed soil caused by earthworks.
Look
Fire ants can be found next to and under timber, plant pots, pavers, rocks, logs or bricks.
Check
Nests have been found in piles of organic matter and in hay bales.
Mounds
Fire ant mounds have no obvious entrance and can be found in rural, residential and industrial areas.
