Ants

Do you have ants in your home our on your lawn?

Cape Fear Termite & Pest Control offers reliable ant pest control services to your home and business. If you’ve noticed ants in or around your home, don’t hesitate to call us! We are here to handle your pest control issues promptly and efficiently. We also assure you that we only use the most effective and environment-friendly methods for your safety.

Quick Ant Information

Ant control can be difficult. However, learning about ants’ behavior can help protect you and you and your home. Ants can enter your home through even the tiniest cracks. They look for water sources and sweet or greasy food. Typically, that means that the most common areas of the home that ants will infiltrate are the kitchen and pantry. Once ants have entered your home, they will leave an invisible chemical trail made of pheromones so that others can follow them and find the food source.

Once they are in your home, ants can nest about anywhere in and around your house; in lawns, walls, stumps, even under the foundation. Their colonies can number up to 300,000 to 500,000. Furthermore, an entire colony can uproot and relocate very quickly when threatened.

Colonies are resilient. A colony of ants can live a relatively long lifetime. Worker ants may live seven years while the queen may live as long as 15 years.

DIY or Call A Pro?

The majority of Do-It-Yourself ant control only targets the ants that you see. As with most insects, the ones you see are the tip of the iceberg. Some of the more effective ant control products on the market can penetrate and destroy nests, which helps prevent these pests from returning. However, DIY solutions don’t account for the fact that there are many different kinds of ant infestations and species that can all require different treatments.

Basic Ant Life Cycles

The ant life cycle has four distinct stages: egg, larvae, pupae, and adult. While it depends on the species and environment, it generally takes between several weeks and several months to complete the life cycle.

Eggs

A female ant that successfully mates with a male ant will become a queen and she will lay eggs. Fertile queens find shelter to begin their nest and subsequent colony, then begin laying eggs. Ant eggs are very small. They are only about a half of a millimeter in diameter. The eggs are oval, white, and transparent.

Larvae

After about 1 – 2 weeks a grub-like, legless ant larvae hatches. At this point the larvae require a massive amount of food. The adults spend much of their time feeding the larvae with food that they digest and regurgitate.

Pupae

The larvae molts and shed their skin to enter the pupal stage. Pupae look somewhat like adults except their legs and antennae are folded and pressed against their body. Ant pupae usually start white and slowly darken in color as they age.

Adult

Once the pupal stage is complete, the ant becomes an adult. At this point the ant is fully grown, but it will continue to darken as it ages.

Ants have three different colony castes; queens, workers, and males. Queens are fertile females that lay all the eggs in a colony. Workers are females that do not reproduce, but gather food, feed the larvae, and maintain and clean the nest. Workers are wingless. They forage for food and defent the colony from intruders. The male ants are winged. Their only job is to mate with the queens during the swarming process.

Ant Species Variations

Ant species are extremely varied and can exhibit many different traits. The information above is a rough guideline of what you can expect from some of the more common ants in North Carolina. In the end, it’s import to remember that ants are extremly prolific and can maintain extremely large numbers in a very short period of time.

If you notice that you are starting to have trouble with a potential ant infestion, don’t hesitate to call us. Cape Fear Termite & Pest Control will make sure to take care of your problem for you. We can identify the extent of the damage as well as the right course of action.

Call Cape Fear Termite & Pest right now to get rid of what bugs you!

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A Special Note About Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are easy to identify. They are:

Large ants, typically 1/8-5/8-inch long, the queens are often larger
There is a single node pedicel (segment between thorax and abdomen)
There is a circle of hairs at the tip of the abdomen
Overall dull black in color, including antenna and legs
Long, yellow hairs closely cover its abdomen
Workers range in size from 1/4-to-1/2 inch in length

Carpenter ants nest exclusively in wood and in wall voids. They have main colonies located outside while maintaining satellite colonies inside structures. Total colony size for carpenter ants range from a few thousand up to 15,000. Carpenter ants feed on sugar solutions from honeydew-producing insects. Unlike termites, carpenter antsdo not eat the wood as they excavate their nests. Their foraging trails can extend up to 300 feet and are visible when inspected. They look like narrow, worn paths. They enter structures via gaps and cracks as they forage for food. They feed actively at night from well after sunset through the early morning hours.

We focus our carpenter ant inspections on all satellite colonies within a structure. We look for established infestations, a number of satellite colonies may be involved. Sometimes baiting programs are successful in eliminating satellite colonies; however, spray and dust programs can miss one or more satellite colonies. That means we will require additional time in inspection and perhaps in treatment. We check garages and out buildings. Inspections should include all buildings on the property with as much attention given to these outbuildings and garages as to the home.

Grooved siding, plywood, lumber, and ornamental driftwood that are stacked in attics or in the rafter of these outbuildings may be the source of the ants that have invaded the living space. Large trees in landscaping can be home to carpenter ants. Healthy trees may be supporting a main colony and can be the source of satellite colonies within a structure.

We are extremely thorough in our inspections. Carpenter ant control is ideally accomplished when the main nest and all the satellite nests can be located. Preventative measures include: keeping vegetation from contacting roof or exterior walls and foundations; preventing wood-soil contact; ventilating to prevent moisture accumulation in attic and crawlspace; stacking firewood and lumber off the ground away from buildings; repairing leaks in roofs and gutters; and pretreating before and during construction of new buildings. Treatment of carpenter ants includes removing as many of the above conducive conditions as possible.

A number of treatment options are available. We can apply a dust formulation to wall voids effectively eliminates satellite colonies living in these areas. A perimeter spray applied to the lower edge of the exterior siding, around window and door frames and on the sill plate if a crawlspace is present accompanies this type of treatment. Baiting for carpenter ants is another option to be used for when the ants are foraging. Several baits may be offered. Perimeter sprays are also suggested as a preventive measure in areas where there is a high population of carpenter ants or the main colony was not located.

Again, don’t hesitate! If you suspect carpenter ants, call Cape Fear Termite & Pest Control.