Ants
Sometimes it seems that they find their way into your home no matter what you do. You can clean until your house is entirely spotless, taking out every bit of trash and mopping up each blemish on the floor or counters. Yet, there will be that one little crumb, a bowl of unattended pet food or open trash can lid that brings them crawling back. The culprit? Ants.
They are among the most harmful (and annoying) pests homeowners could face. These insects can come in droves of thousands, reaching parts of your home that few organisms can – or would even want – to go. Unfortunately, their reach is not exclusive to the inside of your home. Ants are quite versatile and will establish themselves in your yard as well, so there are few places you can go to escape their effects.
When outside, they are known to enhance the effects of other detrimental insects (as if they couldn’t get any worse). They’ve been observed to defend harmful bugs like aphids, whiteflies, and mealybugs, all of which can damage and even kill garden plants. Ants typically construct their homes in many places in the soil, under stones, tree stumps, or anywhere near your home that produces adequate ambient heat levels. Once they make their way inside, the risks get a bit more threatening. Ants are drawn into your house in pursuit of sweet and savory foods, such as sugar, fatty foods, and meat.
After locating their ideal food source, the infestation will likely worsen from there. For example, in Missouri and Illinois, the Odorous House Ant will flood into the home to look for sweets during rainy periods of the spring and fall. Carpenter Ants, on the other hand, will go for the tasty alternatives, in addition to the sugary substances. As the infestation grows, they can contaminate your food, weaken your house’s wooden structure, and may bite you if you’re caught off guard too close to one of their nests.
Placing these sweet and fatty temptations up high in hard-to-reach locations will do next to nothing to stop the insects from finding it. Their ability to climb vertically on seemingly any type of surface is mainly attributed to their complex feet. Their feet are equipped with adhesives and hairs that create frictional forces, enabling the ants to push and pull themselves wherever they wish to travel.
After a few ants strike gold with these food sources in your house, they are guaranteed to keep rolling in. These insects have a highly efficient communication system that enables them to remember where food is stored and locate different areas in the home that may also have hidden nutrition. They can even call each other to these spots with odor trails and their equivalent of “Morse Code” (i.e., tapping their antennae in certain ways to help each other navigate).
As invincible as these insects may seem, you are not without a solution. Calling a licensed pest control operator is your best bet to getting these bugs under control and out of your home. Cardinal Insect & Pest Solutions offers state-of-the-art integrated pest management techniques that address the infestation on multiple levels: chemical, environmental, and biological. These can protect your home up to four months at a time, keeping you safe with only three treatments year-round. To rid your Missouri or Illinois home of harmful ants, call Cardinal Insect & Pest Solutions today.
