Booming fire ant population sweeping through HRM
Posted Jun 16, 2010 05:56:58 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
While most HRM residents are welcoming the return of warm spring weather, they’re probably less pleased with the pest that comes with it – a critter that’s a literal pain.
The European fire ants are back in bigger numbers and in more places around the city.
The mild winter we experienced has helped increase the numbers of the stinging fire ants, and according to masters student Susan Horton, they can now be found right across HRM.
“There’s very few parts of the city which don’t seem to have them, so if people are living on blocks where they don’t have any indication of them, they’re quite lucky, she said.
The Saint Mary’s student, who is doing her thesis on the fire ants, says there’s currently no guaranteed method of exterminating the stinging pest.
“It’s extremely adaptable and it has many many queens,” she said. “The only way to actually kill off a colony is to eliminate the queen, but they can have hundreds and hundreds of queens in one nest area.”
Richard MacLellan of HRM says tried and true methods like baiting just don’t work.
“That works well for most ants, but seemed to be difficult to do with fire ants,” he said. “Some people are going through and applying pesticides on an annual basis, so it’s both expensive and again you’re applying pesticides to your property every year.”
Horton says a hot, dry summer might help control the infestations.
“I’d say hot and dry is not going to make them happy,” she said. “They’re not going to reproduce quite as much, and they’re not going to be out nesting so much.”
Horton is hosting a public talk about fire ants tonight at 6 p.m. at Oakwood House in Dartmouth.
