Ants are insects that forage for their food. You often see some in your house, either looking for food or a place for shelter. A few ants arent any trouble at all, but ants are social insects, so if theyve decided to set up house in your home or yard, youve got a big problem on your hands. You could always try and DIY out of the problem, but just some ant spray isnt going to be of much help, and youll end up killing only the ones you can see. For an effective solution, it is important to understand the behaviour of the ants. Only then will you know what measures need to be taken to get the situation under control. Moreover, there are different kinds of ants and even different types of infestation that require different treatments. The
Strategy for controlling an ant infestation
The first thing that professional pest control services will provide is a thorough inspection. This is done to find the entry point in the house, to follow the pheromone trails that the ants have established in and around your house which they use to easily move to and from food sources, and to find the ant nest(s). Different ants have different habits and systems. So, if its carpenter ants, for example, that have infested your house, a night inspection is most effective since they are nocturnal. The inspection will be done under carpets and along their edges, on doors and windows, the entire kitchen area, foundation walls, any area with vegetation, and any piles of dried leaves or wood.
Ants can enter through the tiniest of cracks and can sense the tiniest amounts of food substances or water. Once the entry point is found, the trail can be followed all the way to their nest(s), which can be in, around or even under the house. Ant colonies can reach numbers of up to 500,000 and they can easily relocate if they sense any threat or danger. The colonies can live as long as 7 years, with the queen living up to 15 years. Professionals prefer using a bait method to eliminate ants. This is mostly because getting rid of ants you can see is easy, but eliminating the ants you dont see is the bigger task. Simply getting rid of the worker ants does not mitigate the problem when entire colonies of young ants are being groomed to be the next generation of worker ants. Pest control experts will place gel bait insecticides in specific locations based on the trail that they have found. Worker ants find the bait, carry it back to their nest(s) and feed the queen, which eventually leads to the elimination of the queen and any future populations.
Before and after pest control services
Cleaning your house properly many professional ant control companies helps make baits more effective, and making a note of exactly where youve seen the most ant activity can help find the ant trail more easily. After the baits have been placed, avoid using cleaners near the bait as this would wash away the pheromone trail along which the bait has been placed. Also, it takes some time for the bait to be carried by the worker ants back to the queen, but be patient, because it is the most efficient way to get rid of ant colonies.
