Pests We Treat - Huge Ant Trail in Aberdeen, NJ
Most of us don’t pay much attention to ants until they start infesting our homes or helping themselves to our food. And even though we want those ants gone, we have to admit that watching ant behavior is downright fascinating. After all, what little boy wouldn’t wan an Uncle Milton Ant Farm for his birthday? These little critters work completely on instinct and they somehow “know” their role in life and what they need to do to support the colony. The colony is really the living creature; the thousands of individual ants are just the parts.
Whenever I’m called out to deal with an ant infestation, I’m often bombarded with the same set of questions: Why do ants follow trails? What do ants eat? Why are ants in my house? All of these questions stem from the fact that ants are social creatures; their very survival depends on the survival of the colony. This is why the only way to resolve an ant infestation is to kill the nest. If you just kill isolated ants, the colony, which is an ant-producing machine, will keep supplying replacements.
What about those ant trails? As the nest is being built and the colony is established, food is provided by older ants who leave the nest to forage. Once a food source is located, the ants make foraging trails. As shown in this clip, these trails are long, tiny highways full of ants shuffling back and forth to bring food to the colony. These trails form when ants returning with their bounty to the colony lay down special chemicals called pheromones on their way back. The ants then follow this chemical path, continually reinforcing it until it looks as busy and crowded as weekend Jersey Shore traffic.
This particular infestation involved pavement ants. Like all other ants, and all other animals for that matter, pavement ants need water and a food source to survive. They’ll scout out any particular area and once they locate a water source, they’ll often build a nest within a few feet. Water can cause many headaches for homeowners, but being an attractant for insects is at the top. When we run into a dry spell and outdoor moisture and water sources drop, ants will ramp up their foraging efforts. What they don’t find outside, they’ll often find inside our homes. They’ll enter through foundation cracks, ripped screens, damaged weatherstripping, and any other gap or opening to find what they need. For ants, kitchens and bathrooms are prime real estate. Sink, dishwashers, showers and toilet bowls offer ants all the moisture and water they need. Why have ants decided to infest your home? Simple. Foraging ants are looking for food and water, and inside your home, they hit the jackpot.
With the proper formulation of any baits and non-repellent chemicals, the nest can be completely wiped out within two weeks. Effectively dealing with an ant infestation involves detective work. You have to figure out how they are entering the home and where they are coming from. Conducting an extremely thorough inspection is essential if you want to locate the nest.And once you find the nest, you can then target the treatment to eradicate the infestation as quickly as possible.