If you are building, landscaping or developing in Ipswich, fire ants are a compliance issue as well as a pest problem. Ipswich sits inside the fire ant biosecurity zone, and the zone is reviewed regularly as new detections are found. Inside the zone, materials that can carry fire ants, such as soil, mulch, turf, hay, potted plants and quarry material, cannot simply be moved off a property. The person moving the material carries the responsibility under the Biosecurity Act 2014. This is where an inspection pays for itself. Before soil or turf leaves a site, our licensed technicians check the stockpiles, the surrounding ground and any equipment for fire ant activity, treat what we find, and give you a written report. For larger sites we can map nest locations, so you have a clear record for the builder, the council, an auditor or an insurer. New homes in estates such as Ripley and Springfield Lakes are a common place to find fire ants, because fresh turf, new garden beds and disturbed ground around the house all suit them. Look for low, flat patches of loose soil in sunny parts of the lawn, along fences and beside paths. Fire ant mounds in Queensland often look nothing like a classic ant hill and usually have no visible entry hole. In some areas the National Fire Ant Eradication Program supplies bait for residents to use at home, and that can work for a single nest in a backyard. When there are multiple nests, children or pets nearby, a commercial site or a deadline, licensed treatment is the faster and more certain option. We are a private business, not the government program, so we work to your timeline. Suspected fire ants must be reported within 24 hours. Once you have reported them, call us to have the nests treated properly.