Ants
Not many pests are quite as annoying as the ant. Once the colony has a found your home as a shelter and food source, they relentlessly raid. You may see them wandering in the living room, drinking water from your sink or even worse, attacking your leftover cookie that you were PLANNING on enjoying later. These pesky ants live in the shelter our home creates and collect the minuscule food that drops on the floor, but don’t even offer to pay rent. Therefore, they must go.
Ant Biology
Ants are a very unique insect. Many biologists argue that ants are the most successful insect species in the world. An individual ant would stand no chance at being a successful species, but when combined with thousands of others, they thrive. An ant colony acts as an organism of its own. It has casts of ants that act as specific organs in a body. Some ants are used for finding and digesting food, others for defending the colony, and others for reproduction. A thriving ant colony has few predators, and may survive for hundreds of years. When treating ants as a pest control professional, we must consider that we are up against thousands of ants, not just one.
Ant control
Many a homeowner tries do it yourself remedies to exterminate ants. However, nearly every time though, they are unable to succeed. They may find relief from the ants in the short term, but the colony will not be eliminated. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before the ants return. The only way to successfully eliminate an ant colony is to use insecticides that are specifically designed to kill ants. These chemical formulas are sprayed around the outside of your home, often requiring multiple treatments. The ants pick up the chemical on their bodies, then carry it back to the colony, slowly spreading and killing the multitude of ants.
How to prevent ants
There are many ways to prevent ants from entering your home. On the inside of your home you should aim for zero food sources. That means vacuuming and mopping on a regular basis to keep food crumbs away. On the outside of your home try to eliminate at shelter areas for an at colony. These include wood piles, leave piles, large rocks or bricks, and anything of the sorts. Even with taking these actions, an ant infestation may be inevitable. Ants can travel many feet while foraging and may even start a colony in the foundation of your house.
The silver lining
While there are many downsides of an ant infestation, there are far worse pests. An ant colony is a fairly clean organism. They don’t carry any diseases and they consume dead plants and animals. Most ant species don’t have a harmful bite or sting. And they are an incredibly important part of an ecosystem.