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Do you know those little red and black, disgusting crawlers that show up every summer? They make their way into your packaged food and snacks. It seems like no matter what you do, you can’t keep them out. When it comes to terrorizing and invading homes, there is none better than the ant. They might be small, but they prove formidable every year. If this sounds like a familiar scenario for you, it’s time to take back control of your life. It won’t be easy, but with the right knowledge and approach, you can eliminate this destructive insect from your life.
Understanding The Varying Species
The first and best place to start tackling your problem is with the right information. This is where most people go wrong. They run out and buy a bunch of chemicals and cleaners with the assumption that scouring and scrubbing their home will do the trick. By the time they realize their efforts are futile, they already spent hundreds of dollars and invested countless hours of time. Don’t end up like this.
Start by knowing that there are over 10,000 different species of ants. 1000 of them reside in the United States. Like many insects, they come in varying shapes and sizes. However, the one thing they share is that no one wants them around. Why is it important to know that there are varying ants of insects? Sugar ants, black ants, scout ants, and fire ants are just a few of the most common you will find in the States.
Each has a different personality and the approach to eliminating them will vary. That’s why it’s important to take the time to understand the insect you are dealing with.
How Ants Get Inside
You’ve likely already garnered the fact that ants use their size and shape to their advantage. Because of their small size, these crawlers can wedge themselves into some of the most unimaginable spaces. Despite this, all species of any usually enter the home or building in the same manner. This is through cracks on the outside of the home. Foundation cracks, exterior wall cracks, and openings around doors and windows.
These are all potential entrances for this creepy crawler. They are attracted to moisture, sugar, and food crumbs. Therefore, you’ll find the majority of them in the kitchen. Regardless of the species, you are dealing with or the number of crawlers in the home, the first and best place to start is by eliminating your enemy’s entrance into the home or building.
Ants Aren’t Dangerous, Why Bother Eliminating Them?
Most people assume because ants aren’t dangerous, they aren’t much of a threat. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. It indeed is true that they don’t carry diseases. Heck, with the exception of a few rare species, most of them don’t even bite. However, that does not mean they aren’t dangerous, or disgusting.
Because of their unique abilities and fortitude, ants can go from being a minor nuisance to being a major pest. Despite what you know about ants, you probably know that they travel in pacts, march in groups, and like to get in food. Well, what they are doing is tracking hormones. Ant colonies consist of members called scout ants. These ants are tasked with the task of their name.
They scout the land. These are the ants that will first enter the home in search of food. Once a food source is found, the ant will leave a trail of hormones that their counterparts can track. That’s why ants march in a line of sorts. They are tracking a chemical left behind by the scout ant.
How Do I Get Rid Of Ants?
Ants live in colonies, sometimes located thousands of feet from the home or building. This is one of the reasons that eliminating them can be so difficult. Once the scouting ant enters the home and lays down the hormone trail to a food source, all the worker ants from the colony will track this hormone trail. Successfully eliminating this entrance into the building or home will be the first place to start tackling your ant problems.
If you pay close attention to the ants, you can follow them back to their colony. Dealing with this creepy crawler will require not just eliminating its entrance into the home, but you’re going to need to eliminate the colony as well. Just cutting off the entrance to the home will force the ants to seek other entryways.
Successful elimination will require closing off the entrance to the home and destroying the colony. Doing such can be a long and thorough task. Your best chances of success are getting in touch with professionals that have previous experience in dealing with such insects. There are a variety of DIY methods available for treating ants, but the best way for guaranteed success the first time is by hiring a professional to handle the problem.
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