The short answer
The reason retail ant sprays fail is that they kill foraging workers — roughly the 10% of the colony you can see — while the queen keeps producing replacements. Effective ant control uses slow-acting bait that workers carry back and share, eliminating the colony at its source, combined with an exterior perimeter barrier to stop new colonies establishing.
The ants that matter in Central Texas
- Red imported fire ants — the mounds in your lawn. Aggressive, painful stings, and a genuine hazard for children and pets. Mound treatment alone is temporary; they simply relocate.
- Carpenter ants — large black ants that excavate nesting galleries in damp or damaged wood. They don’t eat wood like termites, but the structural damage is real.
- Odorous house ants — the small dark trailing ants in kitchens and bathrooms. Crush one and it smells faintly of coconut. Colonies have multiple queens and split when sprayed, which is why DIY treatment often makes them worse.
- Tawny crazy ants — erratic, fast-moving, and present in parts of Central Texas. They form enormous supercolonies and can overwhelm electrical equipment.
Why they came inside
Ants come indoors for water and food, in that order. Summer drought drives them toward kitchens, bathrooms and AC condensate lines; heavy rain floods colonies and pushes them to higher ground — which is often your slab.
Entry is usually along utility line penetrations, weep holes, expansion joints, or branches and shrubs touching the structure and acting as a bridge.
How we treat ants
Identification comes first, because treatment differs sharply by species — the bait that eliminates an odorous house ant colony is not what works on fire ants.
- Targeted baiting placed on active trails, using a formulation matched to whether the species is currently feeding on protein or sugar.
- Broadcast granular treatment across the lawn for fire ants, followed by individual mound treatment where needed.
- Perimeter barrier — a residual band around the foundation, weep holes and entry points to stop re-entry.
- Conducive-condition fixes — we’ll point out the branch touching your roofline or the leaking hose bib that is feeding the problem.
One thing we’ll ask: stop spraying the trails yourself before we treat. Repellent sprays cause colonies to bud into several satellite colonies and make the job significantly harder.
What a visit looks like
Every job starts with a free quote — we walk the property, confirm what you’re actually dealing with, and show you what we found before quoting anything. You’ll get a written price with no hidden fees.
If pests return between scheduled visits, we come back at no extra charge. That’s part of the service, not an upsell.
What affects the price
We quote after seeing the property rather than publishing a flat rate, because the honest answer depends on things we can’t know in advance:
- Property size — square footage and the linear footage of your foundation.
- Severity — an early problem costs considerably less than an established one.
- Service frequency — monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly.
- Access and construction — crawlspace, slab, multi-storey, dense landscaping.
- Interior, exterior or both.
The quote is free and there’s no obligation, so the fastest way to a real number is to request one.
Frequently asked questions
Retail sprays kill foraging workers but not the queen, so the colony simply produces replacements. Worse, repellent sprays can cause some species to split into multiple satellite colonies, turning one problem into several.
A broadcast granular treatment typically shows major reduction within a couple of weeks, with mound treatments acting faster on individual nests. Fire ants reinvade from neighbouring properties, so lawns usually need seasonal maintenance rather than a single application.
Not usually, but they are still a structural concern. Carpenter ants hollow out galleries in wood that is already damp or damaged, which means finding them often reveals an underlying moisture problem worth fixing.
Please do not spray it. Visible trails tell us where the colony is foraging and where to place bait. Wiping up food spills is helpful; chemical sprays are not.
Yes. Interior treatment without exterior work is temporary, so our standard approach covers the perimeter, the lawn where relevant, and the interior entry points together.
Dealing with ants?
Free quotes across Hutto, Round Rock, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Taylor, Manor, Austin, Kyle, Buda and Liberty Hill. Same-day service is often available, and we’ll tell you honestly if you don’t need us.