Here’s The Thing About Ants in Florida:
If you’re just spraying the ones you see, you’re spinning your wheels. Those contact killers only take out the foragers. What you actually need are slow-acting baits—liquid or granular, like borax or hydramethylnon—that the ants carry back to the colony and feed to the queen. That’s how you shut the whole operation down. Also, plan on reapplying outdoor treatments often, because our summer rains will wash away most perimeter barriers in no time.
Why Florida Makes This Harder Than It Should Be:
- Humidity and heat drive ants—ghost ants, sugar ants, fire ants—inside looking for water and cooler air. It’s not if, it’s when.
- Multiple queens are common in fire ant and ghost ant colonies. Hit one mound with a spray, and you’re more likely to scatter the colony than kill it. They’ll just split and set up shop elsewhere.
A Straightforward Game Plan:
- Indoors: Place sweet liquid baits (Terro works fine) near active trails. Let the ants feed undisturbed—they need to carry the poison back with them.
- Outdoors: Apply granular perimeter treatments or a bifenthrin-based lawn spread around your foundation to discourage new nests from moving in close.
- Mounds: For visible fire ant mounds, treat them directly with mound-specific bait or a drench, ideally in the morning when the ants are active.
- Prevention: Seal gaps around doors and windows with caulk. Store pantry goods in hard plastic, airtight containers. And don’t leave pet water bowls out overnight—it’s an open invitation.
Let our Property Manager know about any ant mounds in the grass areas around your unit. They will alert the landscapers. Our landscapers normally will treat any mounds they find around the property as they go. But you can never really have too many eyes looking. Look closely around the roots of trees.
For Indoor Ants:
Best bet is to treat the ants close to where they are entering the unit not inside where you see them. Follow the line of ants from where you find them to the door, window or opening. Find the trail on the outside of the unit. That is the best place to treat with ant bait. You won’t need much.
I have had the best success with a liquid insecticide called Advion Ant. Put a small line of the bait near the trail. They will begin eating it almost immediately. They take the bait back to the entire hive and share it with all ants, killing the queen.
Spraying with any can ant poison inside will only kill the ones you see and spray. Using the bait outside will get them to stop coming into the unit and take the bait back to the nest.
Ants In Cars:
In Florida, ants frequently invade cars because they are attracted to sweet spills, food crumbs, or high humidity seeking shelter. Common culprits include ghost ants, pharaoh ants, and fire ants that climb up from parking near outdoor nests or near lush vegetation.
The best way to remove them from your car is using the same tactic as above for indoor ants. Put the liquid insecticide in small lines around the tires where you see them climbing up into the vehicle. Killing them in your car will only leave a nasty odor from the spray poison and a mess to clean up. Use the bait trick to get them to take the poison to the queen. On the rare chance that they have created a nest inside your car – using the same bait poison will kill the queen. Put the bait close to where they are swarming. You won’t need much.
Prevention Tips for Cars:
- Avoid eating fast food or leaving open drink containers, wrappers, or cups in your cup holders.
- Inspect and wash the undercarriage regularly, as nests can form near wheel wells and door frames.
- Avoid parking directly under blooming trees or heavy foliage during the warm rainy seasons
Just one neighbor’s take—always worth fact-checking against the pros. Good luck out there.