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How can I control and get rid of ants ? . . . . .is one of the most common question a homeowner may have. Ants may enter your house foraging for food or seeking shelter. Understanding the behavior of ants will help you with the recommended pest control procedures outlined here. There are about 10,000 kinds, or "species," of ants. Within each species there are usually many different types. Ants are social insects that live in colonies and are some of the most successful insects . Ant colonies include one or more queens, as well as workers, eggs, larvae, and pupae. The worker ants maintain their developed structures known as nests. Nests protect the ants against their enemies, offer some protection against extremes of weather, and often are placed close to water and food sources. Some ant species nest in the ground, oftentimes under concrete or slabs. Some species are found in wood, such as fence posts, dead logs, hollow trees, or within buildings. Termites are also found in wood, but their damage will be a lot more extensive Ants cannot eat wood as do termites because they can't digest cellulose. Behavior All ants (small and large )live in colonies. Their colonies consist of an egg-laying female/s (queen or queens), short-lived males, and workers (sterile females). The ants you see foraging in your garden or kitchen are workers. It is the job for these worker ants to forage and lay down a trail pheromone that tells other worker ants where to find the food. nts may choose to feed on sweet foods, protein foods or greasy foods. They invade homes for these food substances. Ant Control There are two categories of ant control that will be encountered with an ant problem. There are ants that live outside and forage inside and ants that already have a nest built inside. The ant control strategy that you should take depends on your type of infestation. Ants that live outside and forage in the home. Ants that live outside will travel inside the home to search for food. Some species may ultimately reside in houses. To prevent both of these scenarios, follow these procedures: First, cracks and crevices should be caulked and sealed to eliminate passages into the home. You may not be able to seal all the entry points as ants are extremely industrious in finding entry points. Second, clean around entry points with a detergent (to remove the chemical trail pheromone) and spray a non repellent residual insecticide around perimeter and entry points. Ant control bait treatments and insecticides can be used to control ants in the outside nest. The best insecticides for ant control are non repellent insecticides such as Taurus SC, Termidor SC or Phantom Aerosol. . If you choose to bait, bait in areas of ant ant activity so the ants can find the bait and take it back to their colony. Generally speaking use both sweet based bait and a greasy/protein based bait combination in order to make sure that the bait choice will cover their wide range food choices. If you use a repellent insecticide near these baits, it may contaminate the baits and or kill the ants before they can bring the bait back to the nest. It may take a couple of weeks for baiting to work When the ants eat up their baits, replace it with more baits. It is working, just be patient ! Insecticide dilutions can be used outside to successfully drench ant nests such as fire ant nests. Generally speaking you use a low dilution rate, but plenty of volume of finished solution to drench a fire ant mound. It may take a couple of gallons per mound. Ants that live (nest) inside your home. There are some ants that don't just come and go in your home foraging for food, but actually establish a colony inside. This occur year round, especially in warmer climates. You may have ant species that live in homes include argentine ants,crazy ants, odorous house ants, pavement ants, pharaoh ants, thief ants, and carpenter ants. All of these ants may infest food products. More of this topic in the following links: pest control northshore
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