Unpopular ants, and especially the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta can be difficult to manage and most people reach for poisons. The poisons in common use are dangerous to people and the environment. For example fiprinol is PFAS based, super toxic and highly persistent - a danger to people and to ground-nesting wildlife. Similarly, ant baits containing pyriproxyfen have been found to react with the commonly used herbicide glyphosate and cause embryo malformations and miscarriage (reference here).
Fire ants can be managed via a number of non-toxic methods, for example, by using hot water. A recent study has shown that the hot water approach can applied to reduce fire ant impacts on sea turtles and ground-nesting songbirds and be used to protect a range of other ground-nesting species in different habitats.
In the study, fire ant management using hot water provided 90% or greater control, significantly improving survival of both turtle and bird hatchlings, without the use of pesticides. The success of the method and the availability of necessary equipment shows that hot water control of fire ant populations should be considered as a tool for wildlife affected by fire ants and is useful for a wide variety of other scenarios where fire ant controls are desirable or necessary.
The method does require that 1) wildlife nest locations are known and that 2) nearby fire ant colonies can be found and treated with hot water. The method can be used as a complement to broadcast or bait-station baiting strategies or as a stand-alone method for managing fire ants.
