3 Things You Need To Know About Ants
Ants are a valuable insect since they help to control even less friendly insects, but they're not so valuable when you find them running around your home. Many homeowners just spray or lay out baits, but they may not know some finer details that can help in the battle against ants. Once you understand them, you can more effectively craft a plan of attack that can guarantee you some solid results.
What Ants Want
Ants are extremely crafty creatures, and they can get into your home even if you have only a tiny, tiny opening for them to access. They ultimately want two things from your home: food and water. They'll take water anywhere that they can find it, so leaks under cabinets and around toilets are quite a draw for them. Different species of ants have different food preferences, but in general, ants prefer sweet or greasy foods. Either of those two types of food sources are going to be very attractive to ants.
How They Find What They Want
Ants maximize their resources. They don't send the entire colony out to forage for food and water, because that spreads the colony too thin. Instead, they send out scouts in various directions. When the scouts find something good, like the leak under your sink or the jar of honey with drips down the sides in your pantry, they scurry back to the nest and let the other ants know all about it. They do this by laying down a trail of pheromones that form a solid trail.
Colony Sizes
One of the most misleading things about an anthill is that it looks so small from the outside. What you can't see are the millions of trails and small caverns underneath the surface. Colonies of ants can contain anywhere from a few thousand to literally millions of ants, depending on the species. If the colony feels threatened, they can build a new nest almost immediately somewhere else. Truly eradicating ants in and around your home means destroying the nest entirely without giving the colony members time to relocate the colony and continue to infiltrate your home.
If your home is being overrun by ants, it's time to call in professional help. Call in an expert in ant control who can assess the problem and give you a solution that works. It's no fun having to keep running into those ant trails. For more information, contact Desert Pest Control or a similar company.