If there is anything that makes me cringe and shake my head in disbelief, it’s seeing school and community officials (or parents!) sprinkling toxic fire ant killer on lawns, playgrounds and other recreational areas.
Seriously?
Why would you EVER sprinkle poison where children run and play, kicking up pesticide-laden dust to breathe, track into the house, get on their skin and otherwise absorb into their growing bodies? You don’t necessarily have to eat a chemical to experience significant and negative biological exposure. Toxic pesticide powder and granules have no business being sprinkled anywhere near areas where children will be playing! Even adults would be well advised to steer clear.
Unfortunately, our modern society seems obsessed with convenience and quick fixes, rarely taking the time to stop and think about the long term consequences of a given action or activity.
If the stuff is sold at Home Depot or used on school playgrounds, it must be safe, right?
Wrong.
Let’s take a look at the active ingredient of the most popular fire ant killer brands on the market: Hydramethylnon.
Conveniently, the other 99% of the ingredients are unlabeled for these products.
Hydramethylnon is an organic compound commonly used as an insecticide for cockroaches and ants. It is in many popular brands of fire ant killer including Amdro, Combat, Blatex, Cyaforce, Cyclon, Faslane, Grant’s, Impact, Matox, Maxforce, Pyramdron, Siege, and Wipeout.
Hydramethylnon Dangers
According to the National Pesticide Information Center, the EPA has classified hydramethylnon as a possible (group C) human carcinogen due to the development of tumors of the uterus, adrenals, and lungs in rats. This classification means that, although hydramethylnon has been shown to cause cancer in one strain or sex of a laboratory animal, there is inadequate or no evidence that it may cause cancer in humans.
Besides the development of cancerous tumors, here are some of the negative reproductive effects when rats were exposed to hydramethylnon which is commonly found as the active ingredient in commercial fire ant killer:
- Male rats dosed with 200 and 400 ppm hydramethylnon over the course of two generations were less inclined to mate, and evidence of testicular degeneration occurred at all but the lowest dose. Hydramethylnon primarily affects the testes. Rats exposed to high levels of hydramethylnon may have prostate atrophy, testicular degeneration, and germ cell damage. Exposures of this magnitude may also result in small, soft testes of reduced weight.
- Fewer females became pregnant with implantation rates reduced.
The Fluoride Action Network Pesticide Project lists hydramethylnon as a possible human carcinogen and endocrine disruptor with the potential to be an environmental contributor to the development of cancer.
Organs affected include:
- Kidney
- Blood
- Bone
- Lungs
- Adrenals
- Testicles
- Thymus Glank
- Uterus
Opt-out of Pesticide-Based Red Ant Bait
While the EPA, local school administrators, and your local hardware store seem to think this stuff is harmless, as a mother attempting to raise healthy children who hope to have grandchildren one day, I will opt out, thank you very much.
Natural Fire Ant Killer That Works!
What is even more shocking than the liberal and mindless use of insecticides for fire ant eradication purposes is that these critters are so easy and cheap to control naturally!
And, when I say cheap, I mean it. How does free sound to you?
Here’s how I have controlled fire ants for the over two decades I’ve lived on our property in Central Florida, a place notorious for intractable fire ant problems.
I simply heat up a tea kettle full of boiling water and slowly pour it down the hole in the fire ant mound. That’s it! You don’t even need ant bait!
Not only will you kill the queen (she can’t get away quick enough from the boiling water coursing through the mound), but you pretty much kill every single ant in the mound as well.
Sometimes you will need a repeat treatment within a day or two, but usually, a single tea kettle full of boiling water will do the trick to eliminate even a large, thriving mound of fire ants.
The key is to make sure the ants on and around the mound are completely relaxed and undisturbed before you start pouring in the boiling water. If they are upset or anxious in any way, the queen will be long gone by the time you start the treatment.
Walking up slowly and quietly to the mound is the way to go. Don’t do this after your kids have been playing in the yard for a while, as the ants will already be quite distressed from the commotion.
Early morning works very well for this natural fire ant treatment in my experience.
Below is a video I filmed of me getting rid of a fire ant mound right near our driveway. Take a look and see if this method of fire ant removal might work for you too. It’s certainly worth a shot.
For those of you who may ask why I don’t use diatomaceous earth (source), the reason is simple. DE doesn’t work very well for fire ants in my experience.
You will feel good knowing that your children run and play in a yard around your home that is completely chemical free with nothing that can harm them … only help their immunity with exposure to good, “clean”, probiotic-filled dirt untainted by health disrupting pesticides.
More Information on Controlling Pests
Natural Carpenter Ants Removal
Steps to Remove a Tick Safely and Easily
Nontoxic Pest Control Ideas that Work
Bed Bug Removal Techniques
Fast and Effective Fly Repellent
Attracting and Using Ladybugs for Garden Pest Control
How to Resolve a Flea Infestation Naturally
Quick and Easy Homemade Fly Trap
Spider Repellent Guaranteed to Work
Fast Acting Mosquito Bite Remedy That’s Probably Already in Your Kitchen
I need a solution right now, a friend of mine does use Amdro for fireants, and I have a HUGE 3/4 acre and there everywhere, they must have killed the large black ants, because I don’t have them here anymore, these freaking fire ants.. I hate them.. they bit me so bad three years ago, I have horrible scars on my feet and up my ankle. I tried so many things, and your ‘boiling’ water thing just pissed them off. I need to use chemicals because these guys are relentless, I have to stop feeding the birds and my poor desert tortoise is being attacked too!! what to do? I have no choice but to use poison’s. Ants are hard workers and I do not like killing them, but these particular ants.. are like the drug cartel and the government /pharmaceuticals companies, so big and deep that I can’t reach the source to kill them.
I’m scared for my turtle and cannot get a dog or cat until they are all gone.
Hi! Thanks for the advice!But I have fire ants in my house! Upstairs in my bed room ( and bed!!!Ouch!) and down stairs… how do I kill them permanently and the colony
Hi did you find a treament that works. They too have took over my yard and well over 100 mounds. Weve had terminex here and ive tried home remedies. Its so bad now and i have multiple dogs an grandkids here so afraid to use toxic chemicals. Any advice …please help me get my yard back. Any help would be appreciated as i i am very allergic as well.
Thx for the tip. I am camping in AR n the fire ants r everywhere. NE suggestions 4 keeping them off my cat?
Boiling water can fail more often than you think, especially for deep nests where the water has time to cool on the way down but there is another method, using dish soap citrus oil (or orange peels soaked in water) that has been tested by UCLA & Texas A&M and proven to work The citrus oil is found in many commercial products.
The most effective way to get rid of fire ants is to make the following mixture and then drench the colony. Mix 1 1⁄2 ounces of orange essential oil, 3 ounces of liquid dish soap and 1 gallon of water. This will kill all ants that come into contact with it, and unlike boiling water, this method will continue to work over several hours/days. This method works because orange essential oil (actually all citrus oils) contain an extract, d-limonene and this extract kills imported red fire ants. To make this method even more effective you can try adding a few handfuls of molasses, as this will entice any ants to the mix, that were initially missed by the drenching.
Orange oil can be expensive, so another way to make this mixture is to use orange peels. You can actually also throw in some lemon and lime peels as well, but I would say go for at least 50% orange peel. To make the fire ant killing mixture, simply fill up half a 1 gallon container with the citrus peels and then top up to 1 gallon with water and leave for 4-7 days. Then just strain the mixture to remove the peels, add the liquid dish soap as above, and you’re ready to go. This method does require a lot of citrus peels, you’ll need to save them up, or you could ask a local restaurant or better yet, a juice bar, to give you their waste peels.
I just pour gas on those mounds. No need to light it or anything but that’s an option if you like watching them burn.
Seriously? That is so toxic to the groundwater and probably illegal.
I’m going to try this! I live on the GA/FL border, and it’s kinda bad this spring with ants. I’ve used several pesticides recently, but it doesn’t always work. This seems like a logical approach. I’ll let you know what happens… Thanks!
I just wanted to let you know how great this worked. Thanks.
I have fire ants in my veggie garden. I don’t want to kill them with a pesticide because I’m trying to grow only organic veggies and don’t want to add any poison. Any ideas on how to kill the ants but save my vegetables?
Diatomaceous earth works but you have to reapply every time you water or it rains. It also takes awhile to work.
talstar it kills all ants