HOUSEHOLD ANTS

• Most often, ants live outdoors but come into houses from the outside looking for food and/or water. That’s why you often find them in kitchens, near sinks and on window sills (where flies and other insects are attracted to the light and then die).
• A few scout ants, that are seldom seen, look for food and when they find it, they lay a chemical or pheromone trail back to the nest to guide other ants to the food.
• Just killing some worker ants may give temporary relief from an ant problem, but they will be quickly replaced if the queen and young are not killed also. The queen and young are usually hidden in an inaccessible place, such as in the soil or in wood, so they can be difficult to kill. That’s why baits are so useful – the worker ants carry the poison back to the hidden ants.
• While many ant species are not pests, there are over two dozen pest ant species in the U.S. These ants differ in their behavior and, even within a species, behavior can vary depending on time of year and location. That’s why it’s probably impossible to control all ants all of the time in all places with any single product.

FIRE ANTS

• The main pest fire ant in the U.S. is the Red Imported Fire Ant, a native of South America that was accidentally introduced into the U.S. in the 1930s and which has since spread throughout the Southeastern U.S. into Texas and now California.
• There are two forms of Red Imported Fire Ant in the U.S. One form has many queens in each colony and colonies are very close together. The other form has a single queen and colonies are spaced further apart in independent territories.
• Fire ants nest in the soil and make mounds which provide a warmer place to raise their young in the cool of spring.
• Fire ants can abandon their nest mound and move to another location nearby if disturbed or incompletely treated with insecticide.

GRANULAR ANT BAITS
TOMCAT Ant Killer and TOMCAT Fire Ant Killer can be applied in a number of ways:

• For widespread ant problems, broadcast TOMCAT Ant Killer or TOMCAT Fire Ant Killer across your entire lawn or problem area.
• To prevent ants from entering your home, apply granule bait in a band around the foundation, perimeter, of the dwelling. This essentially sets up a barrier against ants entering your home.
• Granules can be applied directly to visible mounds, as needed. This gives you the option to do what is best for your situation. 

Once TOMCAT Ant Killer or TOMCAT Fire Ant Killer is applied, the scout ants will carry the bait back to the ant mound and distribute it among all life stages. With granule bait, you get control of the entire colony, including the ants that you cannot see. Unlike TOMCAT granule baits, lower cost products are typically ‘contact’ type killers which can only kill when ants come into contact with the material. Since only worker ants foraging outside the colony are able to come into contact, they are the only ones affected. This leaves the queen and colony intact, and able to repopulate your yard.  TOMCAT granule baits, on the other hand, work on the entire colony.

For Best Results, do not apply bait when rain is imminent.   Look for when a period of dry weather is expected.

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MSDS - Tomcat Fire Ant Killer
MSDS - Tomcat Ant Killer