How to correctly identify Coastal brown ants
Infestations of big-headed ants are characterized by lines of inter-connected holes and small mounds of excavated soil. Excavations can be so extensive that brick paving is destabilised and the roots of plants and the lawn can become so aerated that the plants subsequently die by drying out. Often the small worker ants are hard to see, but food put out for pets can become covered in ants.
Look for two distinctly different-sized ants on a food source, with the larger worker ants having a disproportionately larger head.
Coastal brown ants (Pheidole megacephala), also called big-headed ants, are a major nuisance ant species in Western Australia. They are an urban pest and are often seen in lawns and in brick paving which they tend to undermine.
Controlling Coastal Brown ants
Ants are one of the most difficult insects to control. At any one time, what we see on the surface is only around 10% of the colony. Applying such remedies as pouring boiling hot water or petrol over the ants, or spraying them with an over the counter aerosol or repellent dust, will only result in tempory control. This will only be temporarily successful as the majority of the colony will remain safely underground and will simply relocate or resurface a few weeks later.
The latest approach to ant control
With the introduction of a new class of chemicals containing the active ingredient Fipronil, achieving long term control of ants through applying an external spray has produced outstanding internal control of ants. Fipronil which is slow acting and non repellent to ants and termites is the toxicant in the products Termidor and Fipforce, two of the leading products used by professional in Australia. An external non repellent spray to the perimeter of the house (30cm up and 30cm out from the wall) with Termidor or Fipforce together with the application of ANTHEM (Fipronil) granules to gardens, lawns and pathways) will control ants for up to 3 months and due to its slow acting transfer properties can wipe out the queen.