Central Texas has more ant species causing real problems than almost anywhere in the country. The treatment that crushes a fire ant mound is the wrong treatment for an indoor odorous house ant trail — and a disaster for a tawny crazy ant infestation.
Red imported fire ants
The dome-shaped dirt mounds in every San Antonio and New Braunfels lawn. Spot-treating mounds with a contact product knocks down what you see, but the colony just relocates. A two-step program — broadcast bait across the yard, then mound-treat survivors — gives 90%+ control through the season. We time broadcast applications for spring and fall when foragers are most active.
Odorous house ants and sugar ants
The tiny trails on your kitchen counter. Spraying them with a repellent product splits the colony into satellite colonies and makes the problem worse. Correct treatment is a non-repellent bait the foragers carry back to the queen, plus an exterior perimeter treatment to cut off resupply.
Tawny crazy ants
Established in pockets across South and Central Texas. They don't sting, but they overwhelm — billions of ants per acre, killing native insects and shorting out A/C units, breaker boxes, and irrigation controllers. Crazy ants require a specialized treatment program; over-the-counter products do essentially nothing. If your yard is suddenly carpeted in fast-moving small brown ants and the fire ants have vanished, call us.
Carpenter ants
Big black ants in damp wood. They don't eat the wood like termites — they tunnel through it to nest, which means they're telling you there's a moisture problem. We treat the nest and refer the moisture issue (leaky window, missing flashing, AC drain line) so it doesn't come back.
Identify the ant before you treat. Different ants need different bait, different timing, and different application methods — and getting it wrong usually makes the problem worse.