It’s that time of the year for pumpkin patches, college football, and hopefully some cooler weather. But it is also time for fall ant invasions! Cooler weather means it’s time for the ants creeping around outside your house to come knocking!
As the temperatures dip, the best line of defense to keep them from migrating into your home is to set up point-of-entry barriers. Treating the perimeter of your house offers the best autumn ant control, as well as pest control for other fall invaders.
Before they come marching to your door, stop them dead in their tracks with these simple tips for effective fall control.
- First, understand the ant colony and its queen.
To solve an ant problem, you need to first eliminate the ones you don’t see to get rid of the ones you do see.
It sounds strange, but it’s true. This is because the queen — the one who lays all the eggs — never leaves her nest. She just stays there, being fed by the workers (the ones you see) and continuing to reproduce more ants. So, you can spray and spray the ants you see, and she’ll just keep making more to take their place.
- Watch the trailing ants.
So, although it may sound silly, the first step in controlling them is simply watching the ones that enter your home to see where they are coming from and going to. They will seek food, but once it finds food, the ant will return to its nest with the crumb, leaving a scent trail behind it. By doing so, the ant leaves a trail for its fellow worker ants to help in gathering the food.
- Don’t spray them!
As discussed in #1, the ants that you see are worker ants. Their job is to find food and take it back to feed the queen and her young, who are being groomed as the next generation of worker ants.
Because of this, these worker ants are your ticket into the colony. If you spray and kill these ants, the colony will simply send out more workers, and you’ll never reach the queen.
- Hold off on cleaning
Although it is good to eliminate other food sources, you don’t want to mop away the ant’s odor trail yet. The trail will now lead the workers to your bait instead.
- Be patient.
The ants will carry the insecticide bait back to the nest, but it can take several days to eliminate the colony, or even a few weeks if the colony is very large or it has several queens. You may even need to replace the bait station if they empty the food or liquid bait.
- Keep it clean.
Sanitation is critical for the prevention and control of any pest. Like all living creatures, ants need water, food, and shelter for survival. Ants will leave the shelter of their colony to seek food and water. Don’t make it easy for them! Keep foods sealed, floors swept, and all surfaces cleaned.
We, at Southern Pest Control, hope that this information is helpful as we enter the Fall Season. Please remember when any pest control problem arises, our trained team of experts is ready to help. Please call us at 800 527-9832 if we can help. Please visit our website at www.southernpestcontrol.biz to meet our team and learn more about us.
