One thing that amazes me about ants: on my one acre in the Tucson desert, is that, I generously use Amdro poison ant granules, which is a great help to control the strength and persistence of red imported fire ants. Despite that, everywhere there are at least a half-dozen other ant species, that seem little affected by the poison granules, and their populations seem very strong. Fortunately only the red imported fire ants have ever posed a problem for my honey bee colonies and the poison keeps their populations manageable, but doesn't really eliminate them completely.