Fire ants love this type of weather because the humid, damp air allow fire ant queens to continue producing high numbers of eggs and the colony remains in a highly visible state, as worker ants bring soil to the surface. Summer fire ant treatments may be necessary if no treatments were made in the spring. There are several alternatives that a homeowner may consider when deciding on a treatment. Broadcasting a bait product over your entire yard using a hand grass seeder, making sure to get uniform coverage and even spread. Keep in mind that if bait has been applied, it usually takes some time to work, and therefore not all mounds will need to be treated with a contact insecticide.
Baits are vastly different from contact insecticides.
Baits, as the name suggests, are used as food by foraging fire ants. The ants actively pick up bait quickly following application. The component is derived from a soil fungus and takes about 3 weeks to kill the colony. They do not kill ants. They disrupt the reproductive cycle of the colony and new workers are not produced to replace the ones that die of natural causes.