Ant Control 101: A Helpful Guide For Lawrenceville Homeowners

They're on the counters. They're on your walls. You have them running along your baseboards, crawling across your floors, and scaling your kitchen trash receptacle. Where will they turn up next? Will they get into your food? Will they climb on you while you're watching television? Ants are super annoying and often hard to control. Don't worry. We have you covered. We've put together all the facts you need for effective ant management. We'll look at the social hierarchy of ant colonies and how they're wired to get into your home. We'll discuss some challenges to consider when ants enter your home so you can prevent big problems. We'll explore some ant prevention challenges and pitfalls to avoid, and tell you what the experts at ProCare Pest Services do to deal with ants. If you'd like to see, first-hand, how our technicians address ant pest control in Lawrenceville, give us a call, text us, or drop us a line on our contact page. We can schedule a service visit. With that said, let's dig in and talk about ant control and prevention in Lawrenceville.

Ant Behavior: Social Hierarchy And Communication

Scientists say that one of the things that makes animals and humans uniquely different is that animals don't teach what they've learned to each other. For example, a human might figure out that using a spear is the best way to hunt, and show other humans how to use the spear, where to hide, and what technique to use when leaping from the bushes. Ants don't do this – which actually makes what they do all the more impressive.

• A scout ant knows to journey out away from the other ants in search of food inside your home.
• The scout has the ability to lay down a trail of pheromones, which other ants can follow to the food.
• Each ant knows to gather the food and add it to the trail as it returns to the nest.
• The ants work together to collect larger food items without any need for a foreman or manager.
• As they collect the food, they are continually running into each other, grooming, and searching for harmful materials.
• When ants die, they are collected and brought to a burial location.
• When a liquid source is found, ants are able to collect droplets on their backs and carry them home.

Ants do all of these things as a part of their programming. Pretty cool, huh? But do you know that you can use these facts to help you get rid of an ant infestation and prevent future infestations? Let's walk down through the facts presented above and look at them from a slightly different angle.

• When a scout ant explores your exterior and is unable to find an entry point, it may stay outdoors and find food sources in your yard rather than your kitchen.
• When a scout ant gets into your home but doesn't find food, it has no reason to lay down a pheromone trail on its way back to its colony.
• When you see ants crawling around in your home, you can confuse them by washing surfaces with soapy water to remove the pheromone scent. You can also use the ant trails to track where the ants are coming into your home. If they seem to be everywhere, try blowing on them and watch as they quickly group together and head back along the trail in response to your interaction.
• Consider all food sources fair game for ants, and make sure everything is covered and protected in your kitchen.
• When you apply control materials, you can make your ant problems worse. They detect these materials as they groom. When detected, it can send a signal back to the colony and lead to a process called budding, which turns one colony into several.
• Control materials that target ants have little or no impact on the colony as a whole because the contaminated ants are segregated. Only materials that are undetectable to ants have success addressing the source of ant problems.
• Since ants can collect liquid, there are some liquid bait solutions. When applied correctly, they can get the job done, but liquid baits can become inert or ineffective when applied in sunny areas.

When asked about DIY ant control, we commonly turn people toward pest maintenance steps, like applying pest-proofing, deep cleaning, protecting food, washing down surfaces, and other all-natural solutions. If a control material is required, it is best to contact a pest management professional.   

Now that you know a bit about how to get rid of ants naturally and why ant control is best performed by a professional, let's turn from the "how" to the "why" of ant control. It is critical to consider why you should go with effective ant control provided by a trained person.