Most people are no stranger to ants. You can find them in the park, on a tree, or even simply walking in a line on the sidewalk. However, the one place you never want to see ants is in your home. While most ants are only classified as a nuisance pest, ants can spread bacteria throughout your home, and some, such as carpenter ants, can do thousands of dollars of structural damage to your house. Therefore, prevention is crucial.
The fact of the matter is, regardless of which species of ant you may be dealing with, you should act with urgency to eradicate them. That is why you need to be able to both identify ants, as well as to know some of the best ways to prevent them from infesting your home.
Identifying The Ants In Your Area
All ants have three body sections: head, thorax, and abdomen. In addition to this, they have antennae, chewing mouthparts, and six legs. The reproductive ants in a colony will also have wings. However, there are several species of ants that you may encounter in southeastern Florida, so being able to tell the difference between them can be very beneficial to get rid of any infestations.
Local species are:
Big-headed ants – red, brown, or yellow and relatively small ants.
Carpenter ants – black, red, or a combination of the two. Large ants.
Crazy ants – dark brown and black. Identifiable by the erratic patterns in which they walk.
Ghost ants – their heads and thoraxes are dark brown while their abdomens are a pale yellow.
Sugar ants – small and black and very attracted to sweets and sugary liquids.
Tropical fire ants – reddish-brown color and vary in size.
White-footed ants – small black ants with white feet.
While this may seem like a lot, you don’t want any of these ants infesting your home as ants are known to cause a myriad of problems.
The Problems With Ants
As previously stated, while most ants are considered nuisance pests, ants can and do still cause quite a few issues if they invade a home. They can contaminate food, spread bacteria, and are extremely hard to eliminate once they’ve invaded. Moreover, carpenter ants have been known to cause serious structural damage to homes and also to wooden furniture. That’s why knowing a few prevention techniques is so important.
Techniques To Help Prevent Ants From Invading Your Home
The predominant reasons ants will enter your home is because they have found access to food, water, or shelter. Keeping this in mind, here are some useful techniques you can utilize to keep ants out of your house.
Seal cracks in the foundation, exterior, and roof
Remove areas of excess moisture such as low-lying areas in the yard which may collect water
Store food in tightly-sealed containers
Wipe up spilled food or drinks
Take out the trash regularly
Keep outdoor trash in tightly-sealed bins
Keep tree branches away from the exterior walls of your property as ants may use them as a bridge inside
These prevention techniques should greatly help limit your exposure to an ant infestation.
The Only Surefire Way To Deal With Ants
The unfortunate truth of the matter is that you may use every prevention technique possible, and still find yourself dealing with an ant infestation. Should this be the case, fear not, simply contact the professionals here at Pest-Aside, and we’ll help you to eliminate current infestations, as well as help to protect you from future ones.
So, don’t hesitate to give us a call today.