PEST CONTROL BUMPS UP PESTICIDE SPRAYING FOR ANTS

Avoiding situations that lead to dampening or rot of structural wood can prevent carpenter ants attack and establishment in most cases. Prevention can be further insured by periodic home inspections. inspecting the foundation and crawl space area. use a sharp pick or screwdriver to test the support beams, floor joists, sills, and other wooden structural material for signs of decay, dampness, or piles of sawdust and dead insects. Point out these clues to pest control professionals

“Just as we’re ready to enjoy the outdoors and warm weather, ants are starting to invade commercial business buildings and homes, particularly our kitchens, which can threaten more than just our plans for a summer cookout,” says Barbara Halat, vice president of Ampm exterminators. “It’s so important to take preventative measures, because ants aren’t just a nuisance, they can contaminate food, damage property and some even bite if they feel threatened.”

With an abandant food sources and great conditions to multiply, the black ants have taken over large areas of the state, wiping out native ant species and routinely invading human households. The aggressive insect also has become a major pest because these little guys are notoriously tough to control. Kill the ones crawling around the bathtub or kitchen counter and 95 percent of them remain alive and well back home in the nest.

The exterminators study is among a few to examine a phenomenon seattle king county washington to have long suspected: that the majority of ants invasions occur during winter rainstorms and summer droughts.

“Our goal was to determine if there really is an association between ant invasions and weather,” says Gordon, “and if so, does pesticide use affect the intensity of infestation.”

To find out, the Ampm exterminators team surveyed 69 households in the heart of Seattle King County Washington – from Redmond City to kirkland-between January 2004 and July 2006. Each week, participants were asked to estimate how many ants invaded their home and whether pesticides were used to control the invaders. Gordon and her co-workers also collected weekly temperature and rainfall data from nearby weather stations for comparison.

The results of the survey demonstrated an “impressive” relationship between weather and infestation, according to the reseachers of the study.

“Ants are most likely to enter homes in cold, wet conditions, typically in the winter in seattle king county washington,” they write, noting that a smaller peak in the level of infestation occurs during hot, dry conditions – typically in August and September.

To control infestations, participants in the study reported using a variety of ant killers:

Cleansers, such as bleach, ammonia, soap, Windex and Formula 409;
Herbal and natural products, including hot pepper, chili oil, lemon and vinegar;
Sprays, such as Raid, Black Flag and Hot Shot;
Baits and traps, including Combat, Grant’s and Ortho Ant Kill.
It turned out that none of these products were effective in preventing ant invasions, although some did reduce insect abundance when infestation was high following a rainstorm or during periods of drought. Even then, sprays proved to be only slightly more potent than household cleansers and baits in getting rid of ants, while herbal and natural remedies were the least effective.

“Our study shows that black ant behavior is clearly tied to the weather,” says Gordon, noting that ants probably invade kitchens and dining rooms to escape searing heat or excessive dampness – and there is little we can do to stop them.

“When you don’t have ants in your house, putting out pesticides won’t make any difference,” she concludes. “The most reliable cause of a decline in infestation may be a change in the weather. They come in because of the weather, and they go out because of the weather.”

Reason why black ants are so difficult to control is because of their unusual biology, observes Gordon.

“Unlike other species, Little black sugar ants have many queens, and the workers can go back to any nest, so it’s impossible to kill off a colony by killing off one queen,” he notes.

Unfortunately, adds Gordon, most pesticides are designed to eliminate ants on direct contact from the applicator – a strategy that not only is ineffective on ants but also damages the environment.

“Pesticides are toxic to people, to our drinking water and lake washington,” he says. “By putting out ant killers when there’s no infestation, we’re only harming ourselves.”

Gordon advocates using alternative methods to eliminate marauding ants during cycles of rain and drought.

“Ants drink the liquid bait, store it in their bodies and regurgitate it back in the colony where the queen, her young ones and other worker ants eat the poison and eventually die,” he suggests. “I also recommend ,Home infestations are often traced to the lawn, so treating the lawn often solves the problem. A chemical barrier is a temporary but effective ant spray treatment if applied around the outside of the house.”

Gordon is quick to point out that cleanliness has little to do with ants invasions. The insects might go after leftovers on your dining room table, she says, but it’s the weather – not the food – that brings them into your home in the first place.

Ants enter homes primarily in search of food, typically looking for sweets or substances containing protein, and eliminating these sources can help keep them at bay. Although ants have replaced cockroaches as one of the most difficult structural pests to control, preventative measures play a major role in avoiding infestations. NPMA offers the following tips to prevent and handle infestations:

• Wipe up crumbs and spills immediately
• Store garbage in sealed containers and remove from the home frequently
• Keep food packages closed or sealed and store products in tightly lidded containers
• Repair holes or gaps in window and door screens
• Seal cracks and holes on the outside of the home including entry points for utilities and pipes
• Keep tree branches and shrubbery well trimmed and away from the house
• Replace weather-stripping and repair loose mortar around basement foundation and windows
• If you suspect an ant or any pest infestation in your home, contact a licensed pest professional to inspect, identify and treat the problem

As much a part of spring and summer as picnics and barbeques, ants begin to move indoors in search of food as the weather warms. According to a survey by the National Pest Management Association more than half of consumers name ants as their top pest concern. With more than 700 species and huge colonies, it’s no wonder that an ant infestation is of the utmost concern in the warmer months.

How to Kill Ants with the Correct Products-Ant Control Product Types and How to Kill Ants with Each Type

Understanding the behavior of ants is the key to killing and getting rid ants. Using Professional pest control experts Kill Carpenter ants, Sugar Ants, little black ants in your kitchen house building. The ants you’re probably having trouble with are Pavement Ants and Pharaoh Ants, Both Odorous and Pavement ants as sugar ants. What do they eat? They eat sugar, sweets, and other scraps of food. This is why we call them sugar ants. Little black ants have also garnered the name “sugar ant,” though their real name is, well, Little Black Ants. Not a lot is known about Little Black Ants, except that they eat just about anything (including other insects) and they really like rotting wood and dark spaces. Getting rid of little black ants, however, despite how little is known about them from a biological perspective, is as easy as getting rid of sugar ants.

Media Contact
Company Name: Ants control exterminators service
Contact Person: Daniel Hunts
Email: Send Email
Phone: (425) 495-0306
Address:15127 NE 24th St. Suite 221 
City: seattle
State: Washington
Country: United States
Website: http://antscontrol.info/