If you've recently relocated to the southern region of the United States, you may be encountering many different pests that you've never seen before. A large percentage of the insects and pests in this region are highly active during the end of the summer, so you'll be likely to see a lot of them. One such pest is the fire ant. If you're not familiar with these critters, you are likely to confuse them with a traditional ant. That can lead to painful stings if you threaten them. Here's a look at some tips for dealing with fire ant mounds on your property.

Safety First

Before you approach a fire ant mound to deal with it in any way, you need to protect yourself from the risk of stings. Wear long pants and tuck those pants into your socks. Place elastic straps over your socks to hold them in place. This eliminates any potential access to your skin if they do react aggressively.

Dig Up The Mound

If you've only got one mound (or even two), you may be able to just dig them up. Grab a tall bucket or a garbage bin and coat the insides completely with a powder like corn starch or talcum powder. This will keep the ants from being able to climb back out. The best time to dig it up in the summer months is the early morning. This is the time when you can be sure that the ants are mostly inside the mound.

Dig a perimeter around the mound with a shovel. Try to reach at least a foot deep. Dump all of the soil into the container you powdered. You may even want to have a few buckets so that you have plenty of space. Don't fill the containers too full because you need to put boiling water in once you're done.

Once the whole mound is dug up, it's time to combine some boiling water with a little bit of dish soap. Pour that mixture into each of the containers. Place the containers in direct sunlight, then leave them for an entire day. At the end of that time, you can dump the soil somewhere off your property.

Flood The Mound

If you have several mounds, digging them up can be too time consuming to be practical. Instead, consider bringing several gallons of water to a boil. Then, pour that boiling water directly onto the mound. As with digging, it's best to do this in the early morning during the summer months. You might need to apply water to it over several days for complete success, but it will work.

These are two common options for dealing with fire ants. If you're not comfortable tackling the job on your own, you can call a local pest control service like Emory Brantley & Sons Termite and Pest Control for help.