It happens in even the best of homes. Black ants appear out of nowhere creating black patches along your kitchen walls or crawling all over your son's room. Ant control is important especially since they live in colonies which makes it harder to get rid of them. Learn more about how ants live and how to control them inside your own home.
It's an Ant's Life
Ants live in colonies; it is very rare that an ant will be walking alone because other members of the colony are following right behind it. The colony is run by the female queen who lays hundreds of eggs. There are males and workers who carry on responsibilities diligently every day. The workers, who are females that cannot lay eggs, go out to bring food. You may have observed that ants walk in a straight line because of the pheromone trail that is left behind. The ants can "smell" this and know that it will lead to food.
Ants can eat a variety of food. They are attracted to all sorts of food like candies. However, they also get food from wood and other matter that could have been part of a plant or animal.
Tips on Ant Control
Before applying remedies for ant control it is best to understand the two different categories of infestation. Knowing what kind of infestation you have will lead you to the best ways of controlling them.
Colonies outside of your home.
The ant colony may be living outside your home, but somehow the ants have found a way to march up to your steps and get inside. In order to stop this here are two ways for ant control:
• Look for openings such as crevices and seal them completely. Ants are very good in finding small openings.
• Scrub around the area to get rid of their trail, the pheromone. Ants will no longer have a guide going up to your house; as an added prevention, you can also spray the area with insecticide.
Colonies living inside of your home.
We may not know it but ants can actually create a nest inside your home. We can observe that there seems to be more activity especially when the weather turns warmer. They find their way into our food supply and can become such a nuisance.
Two tips on getting rid of them include:
• Spraying insecticide. This will be able to kill most of them; however, it is only a short term solution. As stated earlier, the female queen has many eggs and ants have a way of getting together to create another big colony. In addition, the insecticide will kill the workers outside of the colony; but it will not tackle the bigger problem which is to destroy the heart of it, the nest.
• Find the nest and destroy it. This is the most effective way of ant control. It can be done through creating ant baits. There are many kinds of bait recipes that are effective in trapping them. Generally speaking, baits are put in the places in your home where ants find food to eat. They then take these baits back to their colonies. Baits that are brought back to the nest will be able to destroy the colony.
Ant control can easily be done, but for more professional advice and inquires it is best to call Ant Control Lyndhurst NJ The Ant Extermination Lyndhurst NJ will also be able to offer services for ant infestation.
