Insect and Spider Identification: Yard overrun with apparently new kind of ant - poison feeds? them!, 1 by jeffpas

jeffpas wrote:
Been living here almost 20 years and never seen this. These ants are small and reddish colored, but build big mounds. I call them \'mound builders\', but no idea what kind of ant it is. We\'ve had merciless tropical heat the past month here in C. Illinois, but things finally cooled off this week.

They\'re rapidly spreading all over the yard, so fast its alarming. Probably 20 mounds or more now, they\'re literally everywhere. I put Terro Liquid Ant bait out in about 12 places, and for the life of me it looks like things exploded afterwards.
The main triple-mound got considerably bigger a week after the poison went out, and now I see strings of hills in the yard, 5 or 6 in a row. Its almost as if they\'re feeding on the Terro, but that can\'t make sense.
Also- there appear to be two more big mounds in the back alley too.

I envision them inunndating the house as soon as they run out of food, or the weather turns colder.

What the heck are these, and what to do? Is there a more effective way to kill an ant nest than these baits, because they clearly aren\'t working.