Keep Ants Away This Fall
10/09/2018
Keeping ants away from kitchens and bathrooms is a challenge many Maryland homeowners face each spring. But how do we deal with big ant problems wh...
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When you walk into a room and find a piece of furniture covered in ants, there is no way you can live with that. Is it happening right now? Is that why you stumbled onto this article? Well, you're in luck. Breathe in. Breathe out. And read on.
Ants are individuals.
It is important to understand this if you ever want to keep ants out of your home. The queen doesn't send out mental signals to control her minions. Each individual ant makes decisions for itself. It just so happens that it is wired to make decisions that work for the benefit of the whole ant colony. For instance, ants don't know how much food the colony needs, but if an ant senses that it is getting lean, it will leave the nest and go searching for food. You'd think that this search for food is because the ant is hungry, but it isn't. Ants can't swallow whole food. They must pick up food and bring it back to the colony so that it can be turned into something they can eat. By doing this, the whole colony has more to eat. If an ant finds food in your home, they will nibble a piece and return to the colony. Along the way they will leave a scent for other ants to follow back to the food. As individual ants come across the trail they go to the food and return to the colony, leaving more scent as they go. This continues until the food is gone and the scent evaporates.
Understanding that ants are individuals can help you stop them from coming into your home. Wherever your ants are feeding, you know they are leaving this scent. Vacuum up the ants--disposing of the bag outside--and use soapy water or vinegar to hide the scent from other ants. This will arrest that specific current ant invasion.
If those ants made a trail, follow the trail back to where they came in and use a caulking gun to seal up the hole. It is helpful to look on the outside of the home as well. When ants are on the move, it is the best time to find where they are exploiting your exterior walls. They can come in through rotted holes, gaps around air conditioning units, cracks in your basement walls, and even through entry points in your roofline. Look for where they are getting in and seal things up.
This may solve your problem altogether. But, if you're still getting ants in your home, it may be time to call a professional pest controller. American pest has certified technicians who know how to locate and eliminate colonies in your yard and in your wall voids. We also have treatment programs that keep ants and a host of other pests at bay. With year round treatment you don't have to worry about pests surprising you. You may think a thousand ants on your couch is an unwelcomed surprise, try dozens of wasps pouring into your living room.
Life is better without pests. Increase your quality of living with year-round pest control.
