How to Combat Ants at Home?
Ants are common insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants being eusocial insects possess the highest level of organization of sociality.
Fossil records found throughout the world indicate considerable diversity during the latest Early Cretaceous (that is 145 million years ago). Ants outweigh humans in terms of total biomass. Meaning, the weight of all ants is far greater than the total weight of all humans in the world. This is important insight even for dealing with ant invasion for residential and commercial properties.
Without diving too deep in history, simply realize that ANTS have been around evolving for millions of years. That means, whenever your home or business property is invaded by ants, you should not ignore their presence and take action as soon as possible.
Common Ant Species Found Throughout California Los Angeles
Some of the ants we’ve came across during pests control service in California Los Angeles neighborhoods range from the argentine ant, carpenter ant, harvester ant, Pharaoh ant, Tapinoma sessile, Solenopsis molesta, little black ant (shiny black in color, and native to North America), fire ant and velvety tree ant (often mistaken for carpenter ants). When searching for a licensed pest control company to eliminate Ants from your home or business property in or around Los Angeles, contact Maximum Pest Control Services.
How to Deal with Ants at Home
If you see an ant strolling along your kitchen floor or backyard garden you can always bet that there’s more not far away. Whenever you see an Ant in or around your home, now is the time to be curious like a seasoned detective. Find out what’s attracting the ants. It could be an apple toddler hid under the bed, the trash bag waiting to be thrown away or just a spilled tea. Once you have identified the source attracting the ants, remove it. Clean up and eliminate whatever the source that’s attracting the ants.
Next step is to follow them to trace where they are going or where they are coming from. Ants secrete pheromones that signal their fellow ants where to go or where the food is. To effectively get rid of this invisible road sign, you can use sprays to erase the scent that the ants left on the floor or on your walls. Remember, getting rid of ant trails stops more ants from invading your home.
Carpenter ants on the other hand love to nest around a dead tree or stumps, first approach to managing them is to trim tree branches and shrubs away from structures to prevent access.
Homemade Ant Spray
You can create your own homemade ant spray by mixing one part vinegar with three parts of water. Other natural home spray ingredients that you can find in your kitchen are peppermint, eucalyptus oil, and even a environmentally friendly liquid detergent. You would use such methods for getting rid of ant trails as opposed to eliminating their colony (which is almost always outside under ground).
Destroy Their Homes
Before they destroy yours, make the first move. Search for areas where the ants might have built their colony. Clean your garden (especially if ripe fruits are left unattended on a fruit tree), cut down lawn, trim down the bushes. They might be building their colonies in dark shaded areas of your garden.
If your house is built on wood, carpenter ants are your worst enemies. They might be building their new luxury apartment on damaged wood nearby the property, under your house or even in your attic. Call on expert pest control ant exterminators when you are dealing with well established ant colony as pest control professionals can help you in the search of, and removal of these annoying pests.
Residential Pest Control for Ants
As we’ve mentioned above, there are many different species of ants that can cause problems for your home in LA. The first step before implementing any pest control strategy is the proper identification of the pest that needs to be controlled. For example: is it a velvety tree ant or carpenter ants? Although both species look alike, when exterminating them from your residential property you’ll need different pesticides.
Ants are not like your usual pests. These insects are present almost everywhere on the planet, which is why its almost impossible to avoid them. Prevention is better than cure. All you have to do is ensure Integrated Pest Control measures are in place, keep up the regular property maintenance and act quickly before they build their colony. To learn more about dealing with Ant colonies, visit our previous post about how to get rid of Carpenter Ants
