There are several different kinds of ants that can invade your home and leave you with a pest problem. Some are just a nuisance to have around but others, like carpenter ants, can cause serious damage to your home. If you find any ants in your house, it is best to get a professional to take care of the problem right away. Contact Mega Pest Control and get your property examined by a professional.
Ants are a common pest around the home, parks, schools, and where people gather. Most people recognize ants by their coloring, often red or black.
There are several different control methods, various items available to get rid of ants and keep them from returning to your house. When selecting a treatment method and product, it is important to determine what type of ants are invading your room. With some ant species, certain methods perform better than other methods, and not all ant killer product is labeled for all ant species.
What do Ants do?
All the ants live in groups and never fly by themselves. They can generally be seen hunting along well-established foraging trails as a colony for food. When you see an ant trail, note if the size of the various workers on the trail varies, or if they are all the same size. When you are able to trace the ant trail back to the nest, watch the nest itself. Also, take note of when the ants are active–are they active mostly during the day, or are they most active at night?
If after seeing them in practice, you are still uncertain of the ant genus, if you have one, pick a few to study under a hand lens, magnifier, or microscope. Filling a small vial, pill bottle, or jar with a small amount of ethanol, or rubbing alcohol, is the best way to catch and kill ants for tests. To pick up the ants and drop them in your tub, use the end of a soft cloth, or a brush, wet with alcohol. The alcohol will kill your ants quickly and allow you to examine them more closely.
You can accomplish the location of carpenter ant nests by tracking the footprints of the worker ants themselves. Look for a clean, smooth cavity in the infested area, as well as slit-like windows in the damaged wood surface. Small piles of shavings of wood can also be found under the openings. It is advisable to contact a pest control professional after finding a colony, as there may be many satellite colonies elsewhere within or around the home or building.
Damage And Destruction Caused By Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants are wood-destroying pests. These ants are by far the most dangerous type of ants that invade our homes and businesses. They can also target outbuildings and any other wooden belongings stored on our properties or sometimes even inside our homes. In nature, these ants are beneficial as they aid in the decomposition of dead, decaying trees. But when they enter the woods of our homes, businesses, other buildings, or personal possessions, if left unchecked, they will leave enormous quantities of devastation in their wake. Homes that contain damp or decaying wood are especially at risk of invasions by carpenter ant as this is the type of wood they prefer to build their nests and galleries in.
Prevention Tips
- Store woodpiles away from your home’s exterior and if possible from the ground up.
- Conduct a thorough inspection of the base and outer walls of your house, and plug any openings, cracks, or holes you find to avoid entry points.
- Install door sweeps on all outside doors or test to ensure that existing door sweeps are functioning in good order.
- Seal spaces around your windows and doors, especially if they are in the basement.
- Seal any holes, such as wires and pipes, around appliances entering the house.
- Keep clean of crumbs and spills inside your home in case any ants try to find a way inside.
At Mega pest control we have the most professional pest control services in Abbotsford, trust your local pest exterminators; we have outstanding feedback when it comes to dealing with all kinds of pest issues. We deal with residential and commercial, real estate we guarantee a good outcome with personalized plans for each particular household and office. Thanks to an excellent team of experts we have worked methods for our day and night to develop eco-friendly methods our technique is up to date. Don’t wait for those pests to go away on their own, which will just exacerbate the problem. Call us for a consultation at our 24-hour helpline, or simply click the web button to get a free quote!