Pests We Treat - Ants follow the trail into Millstone Township, NJ home

When homeowners have an ant infestation, the underground nest is usually outside nearby the home and foraging ants find a way to access the home through gaps or cracks in the foundation or openings around pipes, windows or doors. Ants can also build nests inside homes in crawl spaces or wall voids, but that is less frequent. Ants will enter homes in search of food and water, and ant infestations often follow significant rainfall when their nests may be flooded and the ants are seeking safe higher ground. 

Foraging ants follow a pheromone trail from the nest to wherever they have found food or water. When conducting an inspection, it is important to follow the trail to determine the general vicinity of the nest. Here, for this homeowner in Millstone Township, NJ, I needed to find the ant trail for foraging ants making their way into the kitchen. Ant infestations are more than a nuisance. They can contaminate food and cause sanitation issues. 

I determined that the ants were following a path from behind the trash cans, coming up the foundation under the house siding, and then making their way inside through a kitchen window. I performed an interior-exterior treatment to eliminate the colony, using a gel bait in the interior and a liquid application that will be carried back to the nest and shared with the other members. With social insects like ants, it is critical to kill the queen and the members in the nest for a long-term resolution of the infestation. Killing isolated foraging ants will not permanently resolve the problem.