Why Ant Hills Seem to Be Popping Up More on the SouthCoast

If you're looking around your yard and noticing that it's been infested with ant hills this early into the year, you're not alone.

Over the weekend, I was doing some yard work in the front and back yard and noticed that there were mounds of ant hills and dirt all over the place. It's not that it's uncommon to see ant hills here on the SouthCoast; however, it is a bit early for them.

I reached out to a local exterminator in Mattapoisett by the name of Carl Bonnell, the CEO of a veteran owned bug extermination company called Old Colony Pest Control, to pick his brain on the current infestation I was having and he couldn't have been more knowledgeable.

"The ants are coming out more frequently in an overabundance and attacking the yards and homes here across the SouthCoast," Bonnell said. "Part of the problem is that people are getting mulch from landscaping yards where the mulch wasn't being treated with the proper chemicals. Therefore, the ants and termites and other invasive insects are being transported everywhere."

He also mentioned that the recent heat wave we endured mixed with the heavy precipitation also play a big factor in why ant hills are forming earlier in the season than expected.

"It really all depends on the current weather," Bonnell said. "If we have hard rain that's followed by a hot day the very next day, that's another reason why we're seeing a sudden surge of ants and ant hills."

For a quick and easy way to get rid of the ant hills in your yard, just pour boiling hot water into the top of the mound and that should take care of most of the colony.