When going into battle it is important to know your enemies and ants are no different! As children you have seen these tiny creatures featured in your favorite cartoon or in a book carrying off your favorite picnic food, but in real life these nuisances are anything but cute. Like they are cutely depicted, ants are social insects working together in a colony much like a platoon. To win the war you must kill the queen ant.
There are different types of ants. Carpenter ants unlike termites chew the wood to make homes but do not use the wood for a food source. Carpenter ants tend to lurk in humid locations with damp wood in beams and foundation. Tiny black ants, when found inside homes are commonly found in kitchen and bathrooms.
The ants want to bring sweet, fatty foods to their dear queen so that they will seek out these foods in our homes. Some make their nests outside of our homes and travel inside for a quick bite like the small black ants or sugar ants as sometimes called. Others, will take up residence in our homes like carpenter ants. Ants leave trails of pheromones to find their trails back to their nest as well as to return to the food source.
There are steps that you can take to prevent an infestation in your home. Keeping surfaces clean and food in airtight containers is very important, because once you have an ant infestation it is very difficult to remove them entirely. Although difficult it is not impossible to rid yourself of these pests. Creating a barrier around pet food that is left out. Rinsing out food containers before throwing them away. Trimming trees and shrubs so that they do not touch your home will help to prevent carpenter ants from entering. Repairing, caulking and sealing cracks and crevices to block all entry points. Cleaning the entry points with chemicals to prevent the ants from following their pheromone trails. After the entry points are blocked and clean you should spray a non-repellent residual insecticide around the perimeter and entry points. Ant baits are also successful for the ants that have colonized inside of your home.
Finding the ants nests is an important step in ridding yourself from the ants infestation completely. Following the ants trails should assist you in locating their home. You may also set out desirable food to entice the ants. Placing ant baits closest to their ant colonies for the best results in eliminating the queen and killing the colony.
In the event of a major infestation contacting a professional pesticide company is the most important!!
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