How many ants do you think there are on Earth? According to some estimates, that number is 10 billion billion ants, with a biomass of 3 billion tons. There are also around 13,00 species in the world, and they’re spread on every continent except Antarctica and a few island formations. This means that you will likely have to deal with an infestation at some point in your life.
Why ants enter a home
Ants are an essential part of nature – they perform a lot of the cleaning duties. They are very efficient at finding food and gathering it, and if you have any food laying around your home in the open, odds are that sooner or later, ants will find their way to it. They are also on the lookout for water, so any leaking pipes will be a draw as well.
Ants are particularly active during the summer, and since the weather is warm and dry, they will be even more actively looking for water sources. However, if heavy rains start to fall, that might not actually satiate the ants. Instead, their nests might get flooded, and they will be on the lookout for new locations that are sheltered from the rain. This will often force them into nearby buildings.
Ants are eusocial insects
An ant colony can have up to several million members. Despite this, there seems to be a huge amount of coordination between the ants of a colony. Once a single ant detects a reliable food source, it can rally hundreds of others to it, and even lead to the creation of a new colony near the food source.
Ants are capable of this, because they are eusocial creatures, just like bees and termites. They use pheromones to communicate with each other, and create trails to various food and water sources.
Getting rid of an ant infestation
The first step to getting rid of an ant infestation is making sure that there are no food sources in the home. Keep your floor and counters free of crumbs, and keep all your food in sealed containers. This will protect you from other pests as well. Then you need to make sure that there are no water sources, so any leaky pipes need to be fixed.
Once the preventative measures are in place, it’s time to get rid of the ants themselves. The best option here is using bait, which is poisoned ant food. Ants will find the bait and take it back to their colony, where it will reach the queen. Once the queen is poisoned and killed, the colony will die as well.
Sometimes however, an infestation is too big to handle without professional tools and products. If you’ve tried to get rid of the ants yourself and you did not have any success, contact us today, and we will send over a pest control specialist to take care of the ants.
