Why Do Ants Infest Your Home?
The most effective way to avoid an ant infestation in your home is with a preventive pest control solution. You can continue reading below to learn:
- Why ants may target your home
- How ants gain entry
- The pest control options you available to help prevent an ant infestation
When you are ready, our Top-Rated and Diamond Certified Pest Control Experts are here to help develop a pest control solution that will eliminate your ant problems. You can live ant free in no time!
Why Do Ants Infest Your Home?
First understanding why ants have targeted your home is key to successful ant control. Ants constantly search for a reliable source of food, water, and shelter. Initially, scouting ants gain entry to your home through gaps in window or door seals and cracks and voids in the house foundation.
The scouting ants move around your home, specifically on the walls or counters, looking for a food source. Their food can be sugar, protein, fats and oil-based depending on the type of species. They mark their path by leaving behind an odor for others to find them.
Once a source of food and water is identified, a full-blown ant infestation can quickly become a problem as they move in and take advantage of the resource. Ants can establish colonies in your walls, under home foundations, or in a nearby lawn to access the food source.
Your best defense against unwanted ant invaders is taking solid preventive pest control measures including:
- Quickly cleaning and removing dirty dishes from a sink
- Regularly wiping and disinfecting countertops which come in contact with food
- Emptying and disinfecting trach cans that hold food waste
- Sealing or plugging gaps and cracks that ants will use to gain access to your home
- Regular Pest Control Treatments around the perimeter of your home
What Problems Do Ants Create?
Aside of the nuisance ants create in your home, food contamination, damage to your home, and bites or stings are all issues related to an ant infestation. While only a few ant species are known to transmit diseases, any type of ant can make your living situation uncomfortable.
Carpenter Ants and Fire Ants are two of the most common species which create more problems than simple annoyance. Carpenter ants can inflict costly damage to your home as they chew tunnels through wood beams and boards in your home. Fire ants are known to sting and can being a problem for you and your family members. The stings can involve envenomation that causes pain or more serious symptoms or allergic reactions, especially in people who are hyper-sensitive to ant stings.
Pest Control Maintenance Process
Unfortunately, many ant control solutions only treat the ants you see. Failing to address the whole ant colony means the problem can just return later. Some important factors to understand about a successful ant control are:
Entry Access
Ants can enter your home through the smallest of cracks. Failing to fix their access points means more ants can find the entry and infest your home again.
Scent Trails
Ants leave behind an invisible trail which consists of pheromones to alert other members of their colony to the location of a food or water resource.
Ant Nests
An ant colony can create a nest in many locations, both in and around your home. Common nest sites include walls, lawns, tree stumps, and beneath the home’s foundation.
Size of an Ant Colony
Ant colonies can include 250,000 to 500,000 ants. The whole colony can quickly relocate when they feel threatened.
Lifetime of an Ant Colony
Ants can have a long-life expectancy. The queen of a colony can live up to 15 years while worker ants can live up to seven years.
Do-It-Yourself Treatments
Attempting to fully eliminate an ant infestation with common over the counter treatments are generally not as effective as a solution from a trained pest control specialist. Many home treatments do not target the root cause of the problem or only target specific types of ant species.
What is the Best Way to Get Rid of Ants?
When ants infest your home, you want them gone, not just now but for good! Luckily you have found All N One Pest Eliminators! Our team of Pest Control Specialists have helps customers just like you live ant-free for years. Our proven ant control process not only targets the current ant problem, but the reasons you home was targeted in the first place.
Depending on your unique ant problem, our Diamond Certified Ant Exterminators will follow this process:
Ant Identification
With over 12,000 known ant species around the globe, identifying what species is infesting your home is vital to creating a successful treatment plan. Once our treatment specialist has identified what type of ant is causing your nuisance, we will create a plan of attack.
Access Treatment
If we identify any cracks and/or holes in your home’s exterior or foundation ants could or are using to gain access, our treatment will begin by sealing the entry points. Branches of trees which touch your house can encourage ant access. Depending on the severity of the overhang, we may trim the branches or bushes back or recommend a professional service tend to them.
Habitat Modification
To alter the living conditions which facilitate ant activity, a change in environment is necessary. If your water pipes are leaking and causing dampness in or around your residence, repairing them would go a long way in managing ants. All food sources should be removed or tightly sealed to eliminate access to the resource. When the ant habitat is altered, they find it hard to survive and may die or relocate elsewhere.
Organic Insecticide Application
Once the root attraction has been identified and treated, our ant control specialists will address the existing infestation with a treatment of insecticides. When choosing insecticides to treat your problem, we take care to select the most environmentally friendly options available. Your technician will take special precaution to protect your family and pets in a safely and proven manner before, during, and after treatment. We concentrate on areas such as wall voids, mulched areas, cracks and crevices, foundation slabs, exposed woods, and anthills/ mounds.
Ant Baits
Ant baits can be a less invasive method of controlling ants. They target specific colonies and can be used in sensitive areas. However, their outcomes may be slower than the use of insecticides. Your pest control specialist will review all options with you after their initial inspection.
Common Types of Ants in Northern California
There are more than 12,000 known ant species around the globe. Luckily, there are only a fraction of ant species that cause problems in Northern California. Some of the most common ants we can eliminate for you include:
- House Ants (Black Ants):
- Acrobat Ants
- Carpenter Ants
- Crazy Ants
- Odorous House Ants
- Pharaoh Ants
- Rover Ants
- Sugar Ants
- Red Ants:
- Red Imported Fire Ants
Areas We Service in Northern California
All N One Pest Eliminators proudly serves customers in Northern California. Our experienced technicians are capable of providing safe and effective pest control services to any location in our service area. Our service area includes the following:
