Picture this: the weather has warmed up, you have just finished all your spring cleaning and your house and yard are all set for sunshine-filled days. Then you spot it: the dreaded ant crawling across your counter. And then another over by your cupboard. Then the next morning you find an invasion under your sink. Don’t let these new visitors dampen your mood. Here’s everything you need to know to get your ants under control.
Why do I have ants in my house?
Typically, ants invade your house for a few different reasons:
Accessibility
If you leave the door open, they’ll come in! A warm house, with endless food and water
supply is an ant’s paradise, so if they find access (such as through a crack in your foundation, through the door seal, or from the roof), they will take the opportunity and invite themselves in.
Food
They have either caught the scent of food and want to
come get it, or they are in search of food and have ended up in your house.
Water
Just like humans, ants need water, and they will follow the source. You may notice when it is particularly dry outside that you have an increased number of ants in your house, and this may be because they are following a water source.
What kind of ants do I have?
In the North York area, there are a few main types of ants that you can expect to see:
Pavement Ants
These are the ants you are likely most familiar with: the classic, small black
ant that is regularly seen crawling on sidewalks and in piles of dirt. They make their nests in
dirt, and then enter your house due to their attraction to sweet and greasy foods.
Carpenter Ants
These ants are characterized by their ability to chew through wood. They likely originated outside your house, in rotten wood or a damp firewood pile, then got inside your home and began to chew through the wood inside your house as they search for food to take back to their nest.
Pharaoh Ants
Like carpenter ants, these ants chew through fabric and rubber and are identified by their yellow to orange
colour and triple antennae. They multiply extremely quickly, so they require immediate attention.
Do I have an ant problem?
It may seem like an obvious answer: if there are ants, you have an ant problem. But the truth is, you may have an ant problem without seeing hundreds of ants running around, or with hardly ever seeing an ant at all. Not all types of ants like to be seen out on your kitchen counter. In fact, some of them do their most destructive work out of sight. When it comes to assessing your ant situation, you can assume that if you see a few ants, there are more! Ants regularly report back to their nest, so if you see one or two, they are likely headed to the nest and others are there as well. It’s time to call a North York ant
exterminatorto help find the source.
Carpenter ant evidence is especially concerning. These ants will leave little piles of sawdust-like material, or what looks like wood and paper fiber. Carpenter ants can be very destructive behind closed surfaces – like under your floorboards, or behind your walls – so investigate quickly if this is what you see.
Finally, ants crawling along the edge of your door or window sill on the outside is a likely indicator that they are coming inside. Even if you don’t see the evidence in your house, they are using the cracks in the door and windows to enter
in t your home, and from there are likely hanging out in the walls or the ceiling. Once you spot them
along your entryways, try to follow their path and see where they may be getting in and where they are going. If you can’t figure it out, time to call in an ant
extermination service.
If there is an abundance of ants running around on your counter or under your sink, it is a bit more obvious that you have an ant issue. And while they are annoying, the bigger issue may be to find how they are getting in and how to get rid of them at the source. Simply killing the
ants off is a band-aid solution to a bigger problem.
Do I need to get rid of ants?
You may feel that the ants aren’t really that much of a bother – maybe you only see a few at a time, and as long as you keep all your food, tightly sealed and clean up any spills, they don’t seem to cause any trouble. But it’s what you can’t see that may be more of an issue.
Depending on the type of ant you have, they may be literally chewing your house down. Carpenter ants gnaw through
wood at an alarmingly fast rate for their size, while pharaoh ants can chew rubber and fabric. These ants will set up satellite nests in whatever area they
choose, so that they can stay at their chewing post for longer and not have to go back to the main nest. Without the expertise of a professional ant exterminator, their
behaviour can cause serious damage to your home.
How do I get rid of ants in my house?
At some point in dealing with these annoying tiny creatures, the best solution is to call in an ant control service in North York. While you can try several at-home methods yourself, and some may indeed work for a while, if you don’t get to the root of the problem – where the ants are coming from and how they are getting in – chances are they won’t go away any time soon.
That’s when you should call Power Pest. We are committed to helping you get pests out of your house. We are passionate about working with homeowners while caring for the environment, and we seek to use natural methods when we can. We always address each issue as an individual case with a tailored treatment for your home. If this sounds like something you need, give us a call!
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