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Little Black Ants on Your Porter Property
Little Black ants get their common name from their very tiny size and shiny, typically black coloring. Their colonies are medium to very sizeable, usually featuring many queens. Generally speaking, ants are among the most hearty, resilient, and adaptable insects around, and most species can be difficult to get rid of once they’re indoors, so it’s a good idea to know what type of ants you’re dealing with to help you in managing them. Little Black Ants (Monomorium minimum) Little Black ants only range in length from 3/10″ to 3/5″ in length (queens are about twice as large), and shiny black in color. These ants are known to increase activity between June and August, when they typically forage for food, and can be found along your Porter property’s sidewalks and driveway. They love feeding on proteins, oil, meats, as well as on fruits and vegetables. They will even feed on sweets, honeydew/plant secretions, other insects, and on stored food like corn meal. Little black ants are most commonly found in wooded areas. They tend to nest underneath landscaping rocks, decomposing logs in your yard, and underneath firewood, piles of bricks, and lumber. If they find their way into your home in search of food and water, they will occupy woodwork, wall voids, damp/rotting wood, and masonry. Must Read:GET RID OF PHARAOH ANTS IN YOUR KINGWOOD HOME How Do I Get Rid of Tiny Ants in My Kitchen? As with many other ant and insect invader pest species, keeping your lawn well kept and the interior of your home wiped down and clean is a major key to keeping Ghost ants out. No matter how clean your home is, keep in mind that ants can show up in even the cleanest of homes. Try the following tips to help you get rid of Ghost ants in your home. Keep firewood and mulch at least 20 feet away from your home, and clear your yard of debris. Mow your lawn regularly and keep it clear of lawn clutter (logs, branches, stumps, leaf piles, etc.). Trim your shrubs and trees at least an inch or two away from the side of your home. Promptly wipe up food and beverage spills, keep your sink free of empty dishes, and sweep and mop regularly in your kitchen. Make sure all leaks indoors and outdoors are repaired. Seal up cracks and crevices in the baseboards, doors, and windows. Screen off pipe and utility entry points. The location of the Little Black ant nest is important when considering treatment. These ants are difficult to notice with the naked eye, but if you can find a trail of them, you can follow it back to their nest. As with other ant species, baiting is the most consistently reliable and long-term way to eliminate entire colonies instead of spraying with a conventional repellent residual spray. But you can spot treat for ants with a good spray, just don’t spray where you’ve put down bait, or the ants won’t come anywhere near the bait like you want them to. You can also spray your yard with a good yard bug spray. Be patient! Depending on the colony size, it could take from a few days to a few weeks to eliminate it entirely. No matter what you do to help prevent Little Black ants and other pests from establishing a home in your house or yard, there’s still a chance you may end up dealing with a serious infestation at some point. But what about all the good weather? Call our Porter, TX pest control experts today at 832-898-0190 to save yourself all sorts of time, headaches, and money, and to keep your weekends with friends and family free. Let us help you enjoy more of grilling season in your backyard!
Watch Out for Carpenter Ants Attacking Your Kingwood Home
Most ant species are relatively harmless, in that they are nuisance pests, and the worst they do is contaminate food and then some species might sting you if disturbed. It’s different with Carpenter ants. They can inflict serious, expensive damage to your Kingwood home if left untreated. There are some things you can do to help prevent them, but the best advice you can hear in relation to Carpenter ants is to call a pest control company as soon as you notice them on your property. Carpenter Ants (Camponotus) Carpenter ants are a large ant species native to several forested parts of the world–there are about 14 different species of them in Texas alone. They can build nests inside wood after they’ve excavated galleries in the wood, chewing with their mandibles. They prefer dead and/or damp, rotting wood. They can damage homes similar to the way termites do LINK to termites article, but they don’t consume wood like termites. They discard sawdust-like material as they go excavating. Carpenter ants usually measure from 3/8″ to 1/2″ in length, though one species is only about 3/16″ in length. These ants have a “waist” with one node and a thorax (area behind their head) that is evenly rounded from the side view. Their workers are usually red/black to completely black or red and black, though even within the same species, sizes of major and minor ant workers are known to vary somewhat in size. Queens and male Carpenter ants are larger than workers and they feature wings. Queens can measure up to an inch in length, and will lose their wings once they start building a new colony. How to Prevent Carpenter Ants The best thing you can do to prevent Carpenter ants indoors is to eliminate damp conditions. Try the following: Do what you can to replace damp and/or moisture-damaged wood. The less of this there is, the fewer Carpenter ants will be attracted. Make sure stored wood or lumber in your garage or basement is off the ground and well ventilated to keep it dry. Keep firewood as far away from your home as possible (at least 20 feet). Remove the stumps and roots of trees and shrubs from your yard. Keep branches that touch your home, roof, and eaves trimmed (trees and shrubs). This will remove a bridge ants often use to get inside your home. Also trim branches back from electrical lines, as Carpenter ants can travel from these branches to electrical lines, and then get into your home. Keep you lawn mowed, and keep cracks, crevices, and holes around your home’s exterior sealed with caulk or spackle. Screen over pipe/cable entry points. You can spot treat for ants indoors with a good home bug spray, but you won’t be addressing the source of the problem. It can also be helpful to treat around the outside of your home regularly with a yard bug spray. There are definitely preventive steps you can implement to help protect your home from Carpenter ants, but there is no foolproof DIY methodology to keep them away for good. The best method to control them is to apply pesticide directly into their hidden nests, and this is best done by a professional. Remember, if you see Carpenter ant activity in or around your home, call a pest control company immediately! You will save yourself plenty of time, stress, and money by calling our Kingwood, TX pest control experts today. Let us help you protect your home and get your yard and house Carpenter ant free so you can enjoy the summer with your family and friends! Recommended Read : WATCH OUT FOR CARPENTER ANTS ATTACKING YOUR KINGWOOD HOME
Learn How to Get Rid of Big-Headed Ants in Your Conroe Home
Big-headed ants are so named because of the appearance of their main colony workers. They are easy to distinguish because they have notably large heads in relation to the rest of their bodies. Conroe homeowners often find these ants underneath the slabs of their homes, or near to the foundation. Sometimes these ants find their way inside through foundational cracks or through other entryways indoors around doors and windows. Most species of ants can be difficult to get rid of once they’re indoors, so it’s a good idea to know what type of ants you’re dealing with to help you manage them.
Different Types of Ants
How to Get Rid of Ants From Your Porter, TX Home
How to Get Rid of Ants From Your Porter, TX Home Ants are the worst house guests: they show up without an invitation, get into everything, track bacteria everywhere, and just stick around to wear out their welcome. With all the extra time you’ve been spending in your Porter home with your family, an ant problem is enough to drive you crazy.
4 Compelling Reasons for Kingwood, Texas Pest Control
There are some important things to consider if you’re wondering whether or not to invest in professional pest control for your Kingwood home. Have you or your family ever been plagued by cockroaches at home? Or had your yard infested with mosquitoes, and/or ticks? Had your cookout ruined by ants? Pest problems that you can actually see are usually an indication of a deeper problem (and lots more pests) that you can’t see. Several kinds of pests are harmless, and not more than just a nuisance. Other pests can make your life and the lives of your family and pets miserable. Consider the following:
DIY Ant Killer – What Will and Won’t Work
Fire ants and other yard ants can be an extreme nuisance. When trying to get rid of ants, it is important to understand what is necessary to permanently kill a colony. Ant colonies have a very special and advanced social structure that allows them to live and thrive. One of the ant “classes” is the worker ant. If you see ants roaming outside of their colony searching for food, that is most likely a worker ant. While you can easily kill these ants while outside the colony, it will do no damage to their mound. There are thousands of worker ants born everyday! The most important ant in the colony is the queen ant. She is the only ant that can lay eggs and spends most of her life doing it. Sometimes, colonies can have multiple queens but often times there is only one or two. Knowing this is extremely important because the only way to completely remove an ant mound from your yard is to kill the queen ant. Now that we know a little bit about ant colonies, we can begin to look at what DIY ant killers do and do not work. Must Read :HOW TO PREVENT MOSQUITO BITES Destroying the Nest There are a few DIY ant killers on the internet that target destroying the ant hill itself. This method can be successful but only if you are able to kill the queen. First here are a few things that likely will NOT work: Pouring hot water on the mound. This technique can sometimes be successful in killing at mounds but since ants can live fully submerged in water for several days it is important that the water be at least boiling temp. Even then, it is likely the ants may survive. If you are going to try this technique you will need to repeat pouring the hot water on the mound multiple times. This can be fairly tedious. Pouring gasoline on the mound. This one does actually work but is quite dangerous and can destroy the surrounding soil so we do not recommend it. Digging the mound up. Sometimes just kicking the mound or throwing it around with a shovel can seem enticing but this will definitely not kill the colony. They will most likely end up rebuilding the ant hill in the same spot or just in another section of the yard. Now, lets talk about a few DIY ant mound control techniques that DO work: Vinegar. Pouring large amounts of vinegar slowly over the mound for a few days is sure to do the trick. Similar to the boiling water you will have to do this for at least three days before seeing results. Unfortunately, this will also kill the surrounding plants and grass. Hot water and salt. According to Tipnut, using a large amount of salt in boiling hot water can kill ant mounds. Once again, this must be repeated for at least three days and may kill the surrounding plants. Boric Acid. You can pour boric acid powder directly on the ant hill. This will most likely kill the ant hill. We recommend mixing it with something sweet or yummy such as sugar or peanut butter so it is more enticing for the ants to pick up. Carbonated Water. We have not tried this tip out but according to Solution Stores, pouring carbonated water on an ant mound is extremely effective. This is works because the carbon dioxide replaces the oxygen deep in the ant mounds. Hopefully when it comes to destroying the nest, we can save you a little time and money. Over the counter ant baits can be quite effective in destroying small mounds as well. If your yard has more than three hills we recommend calling a pest professional. It is highly likely that the multiple hills indicate that they are all one giant ant network! This means there are many tunnels and queens that must be targeted.
6 Bugs to Look Out for This Summer
Summer is coming and we know that you can not wait to enjoy the warm weather and time by the pool. Unfortunately, summer time is also the favorite season of lots of insects. Not only will you be running into some of these pests when you go outside but they also may find their way into your home. That is why we have put together a list of the most common bugs you will see this summer and a few ways that you can help avoid them.
Crazy Ants in Kingwood
There’s a reason why Crazy Ants have this particular name. These ants are widely spread in many places all over the country and their primary identification is that they have crazy movement and they are very erratic when you disturb them to begin with. Another interesting thing about these ants is that their antennae and legs are longer when compared to their bodies and other types of ants. These ants are invasive and in many situations even the fire ants are easier to treat because their mounds are easy to find.
Common Ant Questions Answered
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON SPECIES OF ANTS? There are more than 700 species of ants in the United States. Some of the most common include argentine, carpenter, odorous house, pavement and red imported fire ants. All ants are social insects that live in colonies. They can be identified by their three distinct body regions: head, thorax, and abdomen. However, the biology and habits of each ant species is different and understanding these differences is necessary to effectively control an infestation.