An ant infestation is never welcome in your home. Not only are they unsettling, but they are often difficult to remove. Ant removal in Bartlesville, OK is a challenging venture because the unique qualities of ants make them a resilient species. If you kill 100 workers, it is likely the queen will simply produce more! Here are six fun facts about ants that will help you appreciate the complexities behind controlling them:
- Ants have a complex social structure: The ant colony is based on hierarchy and specialized labor. There are three types: the queen, workers and males. Worker ants are always female and they do not have wings. They gather food and build mounds or underground tunnel systems. Male ants exist to mate with the queen, and once that is accomplished, they die shortly thereafter. The queen sustains the colony by laying eggs. Some species also have soldier ants, which defend the colony, gather food and attack competing colonies for food and nesting space.
- Ants are strong: A worker ant can lift 20 times her body weight. That is the equivalent of an adult human lifting a Ford F150 pickup truck. As you can imagine, this is a big advantage when gathering food or building material for the colony!
- They create trails: As ants travel, they leave a pheromone trail to signal to other ants where they went. If you leave a bag of sugar exposed or spill soda on your back porch, you will see a swarm before too long. This occurs because the ant that discovered the new food source used pheromones to signal others to join the feast.
- Ants have unique anatomy: There are two body parts missing with ants: lungs and ears. Rather than hear as we do, ants feel vibrations through the ground using their feet. As for breathing, ants have holes all over their bodies that allow oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to exit. It is almost like breathing through osmosis!
- Ants are peaceful—until they are not: Since colonies are highly structured, there is not much room for disputes. Every ant has a job and does it with few questions asked. However, just as with any living creature, conflict is a possibility. Males may fight to mate with the queen, or workers may wrestle over food. When this occurs, the fight is usually to the death. Also, some species take over the nests of competing colonies, kill the queen and steal the eggs. The stolen babies become “slave” ants once they hatch.
- The queen is it: A queen ant can live for years and have literally millions of babies. Without her, there is no colony. If she dies, the colony only survives a few months because the other females, the workers, cannot reproduce. There is usually not a replacement queen except under very rare circumstances. Most extermination efforts focus on killing the queen, and even if successful, it will take a little while to notice the results.
Excellence Pest Control offers ant removal in Bartlesville, OK and the surrounding areas. Call us today for a free estimate!
Summer is near, and ants across the nation couldn’t be happier. They’re coming out of their winter slumber and are ready to get inside your home to seek shelter and feast on all of your delicious food. The key to preventing a full-blown infestation is to call exterminators in Bartlesville, OK before it’s too late. Give our professionals a call ASAP if you notice either of the following signs:
- You see ants inside: Even though ants are small, they can be easy to spot inside your home—especially if they’re crawling across your kitchen counter, or if they’re hanging out in your pantry. Ants don’t live alone; if you see one, there are bound to be more lurking around somewhere. It’s not a bad idea to give us a call for extermination as soon as you see more than one ant in your home.
- You see ants outside: Ants inside your home are obviously a problem. But it’s also an issue if you spot any ants outside of your home. Any ants living in a nest near your home aren’t going to be content staying outside for too long. Sooner or later, they’ll be trying to get inside by any means possible. Don’t just sweep away an ant nest if you spot one, as the ants will just rebuild it in a matter of days. Give an exterminator a call as soon as you notice a nest outside. Our professionals will spray insecticide to get rid of the problem once and for all.
It’s also good to keep in mind that it’s possible to reduce the likelihood of an infestation by taking some preventative steps. Here are some measures you can employ to prevent an ant problem in your home:
- Sealing any cracks: One of the easiest ways for ants to get in your home is by sneaking in through any cracks in your walls or foundation. Call a handyman to seal anything that you can’t. Hiring someone to perform work around your home can be much cheaper than paying for ant exterminators after the fact. Also, make sure you’re closing doors behind you when you enter or exit the house.
- Cleaning up after yourself: Ants mainly try to get into your home because they want easy access to food. One of the easiest ways for them to eat is by snacking on any crumbs that fall on the ground, or sipping any spilled beverages. Wiping everything up with a wet paper towel will do wonders to prevent infestations.
- Calling us ASAP: Full-blown infestations can happen rather quickly. Call us as soon as you notice any signs of ants. Our professionals will take care of the situation quickly and easily with our non-toxic insecticides. We guarantee the quality of our work. Rest assured that you’ll never have to worry about an infestation after you pick up the phone and give us a call!
Time is ticking if you have any ants in your home. The longer you wait to call exterminators in Bartlesville, OK, the worse your infestation will get. At Excellence Pest Control, we’ve dealt with infestations of all sizes, and there’s nothing we can’t handle. Give us a call today for a free extermination estimate!
Spring is here, and the ants have awoken from their slumber. They are seeking warm places to make a nest with access to plenty of food. Your home can be a haven to these ants as they seek shelter from the heat of the sun and the spring rains. To make sure your house isn’t the new victim of an ant infestation, you need to take precautions now to prevent these insects from taking over.
Ant nests in your home
Ants seek food and warm shelter—things your home readily provides. They love the structural materials that your home is made of, and will burrow in the wood to make a nest for themselves. This can cause damage to your home’s structure that will have you quickly calling for ant removal in Bartlesville, OK.
To prevent these creatures from making a lunch out of your home’s building materials, you need to prepare for their arrival. Ants prefer wood that has moisture in it, as it is easier for them to make their way through it, and this makes it imperative that you have your home inspected for any moisture problems. This might be anything from a roof leak to a gutter issue that provides a moist area for ants to penetrate. With ant removal in Bartlesville, OK, you will be able to find out where these ants are getting in and prevent them from doing any further damage to your home.
Avoid ant infestation with these tips
Like your home, a tree or bush that isn’t healthy provides the perfect place for ants to nest, as the branches are usually soft and permeable. When these trees and bushes lean on your home or roof, ants have an access point to get inside. To keep ants from crawling into your home from a nearby tree or bush, keep your landscape neatly trimmed at all times. This will prevent ants from being attracted to your yard and making their way into your home.
Cracks in your foundation also provide an entry point for ants, making ant removal in Bartlesville, OK necessary to get rid of these nasty pests. You will want to inspect your home for any potential areas where ants could find their way in and make sure they are sealed properly to prevent their ability to make contact with the inside of your home.
Also, be careful about storing wood outside. You will want to make sure it is elevated off the ground, so it doesn’t provide a suitable nesting spot for ants to make a home. Ants like wood, and a woodpile is the perfect spot to create a nest, which can inadvertently make its way into your home as you bring the wood inside.
To avoid an infestation of ants in your home, be sure to call for ant removal in Bartlesville, OK and eliminate their presence in your house. Call Excellence Pest Control for all your pest needs. We can get to the source of your pest problems and help remove them from your home quickly and completely.
As the cold weather fades, the warm weather will slowly start to make its appearance felt. Unfortunately, along with the April showers and May flowers come those annoying pests that want to invade your home. Although many pests, particularly ants, will be looking for a place to call home when the spring weather officially arrives, there are several things you can do if you want to keep your home ant-free.
Here are a few different ways to avoid needing ant removal in Bartlesville, OK during the spring:
- Seal cracks and holes: Sealing cracks and holes may keep the cool air in your home on warm days and lower your monthly energy bill, but it will also keep the ants out. If you look around, you may notice that there are cracks and holes in various parts of your home, including around or near windows and doors. By sealing them properly, you can more easily keep ants out of your home and avoid needing ant removal.
- Thoroughly clean the kitchen: Your kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in your home. Between all of the meals you have throughout the day, it is easy for messes to be created and left behind. If you ignore these messes or don’t thoroughly clean them up, you are essentially welcoming ants into your home to enjoy a feast. By cleaning up after every meal and making sure things are spotless, there is no need to worry about the possibility of ants being lured into your home.
- Properly store food: As food is the primary thing ants are searching for when they enter your home, you want to eliminate any opportunity they have for being fed. Cleaning up messes in your kitchen is important, but you also want to be careful about how you store your food. If things are not sealed in airtight containers, Ziploc bags or other types of storage that offers a tight seal, ants will always have an easy source of food.
- Use a natural repellent: When you are trying to keep ants out of your home, you may be tempted to use a repellent. The problem with most of these repellents is that they are toxic. To keep from having the deal with the negative effects these toxic chemicals will have on your health, you could opt for something more natural. Many people have tried using peppermint oil, cayenne pepper and even vinegar around their home to keep ants away.
Prevention is key when it comes to pests. Many people would rather work hard to keep them out than deal with how uncomfortable it makes them to have to live with pests in their home. However, once they have found a way in, you are limited in what you can do to stop them. Should your efforts not keep ants out of your home, you will want to take action sooner rather than later.
Do you need ant removal in Bartlesville, OK? You can contact Excellence Pest Control today to schedule an appointment and finally get those annoying ants out of your home.
