Hi Everyone,
I really hope I've come to a good place to get some advice from the pros or those who know more about this than I do. We just moved into our newly built home in April 2010 (8 months ago), and I think we've built on top of a monolithic fire-ant colony.
Long story short about 10 weeks ago our house was literally invaded by fire ants, coming out in every room and even from one of our HVAC vents in the living room ceiling. Our house is on a slab (one story), and after calling a local exterminator who sprayed a few times we found a large stream of fire ants coming up from the sand trap in the master bath. He sprayed Termidor under it, the shower, under the front bathroom tub (through wall), plus inside the wall in our laundry room since they were coming up those pipes as well (note these are on completely opposite sides of the house).
That was 3 weeks ago and last weekend we started seeing more fire ants in the front bathroom. The bug guy game out once more and sprayed termidor inside the wall behind our sink and toilet, and thus far I've not seen any there, but tonight I killed two in the master bathroom. I removed the cover on the tub and didn't see anything there, so I'm guessing they're coming from the sink there as well.
So questions... Should I ask that he use Termidor inside the walls every place where pipes come through the foundation? I did some research and even though Termidor is labeled for outdoor use only I did read a few places where it's used inside the walls like our bug guy is doing, and luckily it seems to be working for the most part.
And with this, since it's not a repellent how long until we see zero ants? I just killed two in our master bath and I've seen a few dead ones, so I know they're still coming indoors. With two toddlers it only takes one ant to get in a diaper or bed to cause major harm. So being ants are under the foundation I'm guessing we have a huge colony under the house, so how's the best way to treat them? I've read that for subterranean termites the solution is often drilling into the foundation and treating that way, but that seems drastic for fire ants.
I'm at my wits end, and I'm meeting with the bug guy again tomorrow to tell him whatever it takes and costs. I just don't know what to expect or request.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention, after the bug guy sprayed and baited the yard and outside of house, we've seen zero ants or bugs of any type really -- other than dead crickets on the front porch. So treating outside isn't really doing much good here... the ants are subterranean and under the foundation.
Thanks for any advice...
Alex
I really hope I've come to a good place to get some advice from the pros or those who know more about this than I do. We just moved into our newly built home in April 2010 (8 months ago), and I think we've built on top of a monolithic fire-ant colony.
Long story short about 10 weeks ago our house was literally invaded by fire ants, coming out in every room and even from one of our HVAC vents in the living room ceiling. Our house is on a slab (one story), and after calling a local exterminator who sprayed a few times we found a large stream of fire ants coming up from the sand trap in the master bath. He sprayed Termidor under it, the shower, under the front bathroom tub (through wall), plus inside the wall in our laundry room since they were coming up those pipes as well (note these are on completely opposite sides of the house).
That was 3 weeks ago and last weekend we started seeing more fire ants in the front bathroom. The bug guy game out once more and sprayed termidor inside the wall behind our sink and toilet, and thus far I've not seen any there, but tonight I killed two in the master bathroom. I removed the cover on the tub and didn't see anything there, so I'm guessing they're coming from the sink there as well.
So questions... Should I ask that he use Termidor inside the walls every place where pipes come through the foundation? I did some research and even though Termidor is labeled for outdoor use only I did read a few places where it's used inside the walls like our bug guy is doing, and luckily it seems to be working for the most part.
And with this, since it's not a repellent how long until we see zero ants? I just killed two in our master bath and I've seen a few dead ones, so I know they're still coming indoors. With two toddlers it only takes one ant to get in a diaper or bed to cause major harm. So being ants are under the foundation I'm guessing we have a huge colony under the house, so how's the best way to treat them? I've read that for subterranean termites the solution is often drilling into the foundation and treating that way, but that seems drastic for fire ants.
I'm at my wits end, and I'm meeting with the bug guy again tomorrow to tell him whatever it takes and costs. I just don't know what to expect or request.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention, after the bug guy sprayed and baited the yard and outside of house, we've seen zero ants or bugs of any type really -- other than dead crickets on the front porch. So treating outside isn't really doing much good here... the ants are subterranean and under the foundation.
Thanks for any advice...
Alex