Ants are Always Best Handled by Professionals

July 10th, 2016

For such small and pesky insects, ants have actually become the main characters in a surprising number of children’s books and movies. A Bug’s Life, by Disney, was a major success in the late 1990s, and “Two Bad Ants” is a classic children’s picture book by Chris Van Allsburg that teaches about the dangers of greed. For all of their differences, these various books and movies all share one trait: an understanding of the fact that ants are social insects that follow one another to new sources of food. This means that when you find ants in your own house, not just in your child’s favorite story, you need to call the professionals to have them eliminated.

Why Do Ant Problems Occur?

Ants enter homes because they are such great food sources. They aren’t there to cause harm, simply to feed themselves and their young. Any crumbs you leave on your counters and floors, or any snacks not stored in airtight containers, are all fair game for ants. Once ants determine that your kitchen provides consistent food droppings for their consumption, they’ll return day after day for a feast. And once they arrive, they will rarely leave on their own.

The Downfalls of Contact Killing

Contact killing, which involves the use of some type of aerosol, is an easy and common technique to kill ants, but it isn’t very effective. Since ants communicate with their pheromones, they can sense where most pesticides are placed, and other than the ants that are killed when the aerosol is sprayed, the remainder of the ants will simply continue to forage while avoiding the locations covered with insecticides. In fact, contact killing can even make problems worse by encouraging one ant colony to split into two or more individual colonies for survival purposes.

A Better Baiting Technique

A pest control expert knows that different types of ants respond to various types of baits throughout the year, and those baits can be used to draw ants out of their nests until the colony is officially eliminated. Many baits are sweet, sticky liquids that the ants greedily consume, only to have the liquid interfere with their digestive systems. However, it’s important that a bait be slow-working so that the affected ants can travel back and forth to the colony to share the bait with others and establish a steady pheromone trail between the bait and the nest. With time, the bait works its magic.

Rather than experimenting with different solutions, trust a professional to identify and treat your specific type of ants.