What You Ought To Know About Jacksonville's Ants

Ants can be creepy pests. You can go to bed one night with no ants in sight and wake up the next day with hundreds or thousands of them running around inside your home. This can be alarming! It is always best to catch the warning signs before ants get into your home. If you missed those warning signs and you see ants in your home, here are some things you should know about Jacksonville ants.

Types Of Ants We Deal With In Jacksonville

We have many ants that can be pests in Jacksonville, but there is a much shorter list of common pest ants. On the shortlist are Argentine ants, pavement ants, red imported fire ants, ghost ants, odorous house ants, pharaoh ants, acrobat ants, and carpenter ants. These ants have a slightly different way of behaving, and there are differences in how they need to be treated. If you select the wrong treatment method, you can make your ant problem worse.  

What Could Go Wrong?

There are two significant ways DIY ant control can result in a bad outcome. You must be aware of them.

Budding — Several ant species have multiple queens in their colonies. If ants have multiple queens, the colony may bud when worker ants start dying off. Budding is a process by which one colony turns into two or more colonies, each with its own queen. If budding occurs, your problem can become worse.

Failure — Often, when DIY ant control fails, homeowners don't realize it, especially in the case of nocturnal ants like the carpenter ant. When ants aren't adequately controlled, they're allowed to continue to cause problems.

Ant Problems

There are a few ways Jacksonville ants can present a threat.

Nuisance — Most of the time, ants are just a pain in the neck. They appear around kitchen sinks. They climb all over trash cans. They get into pantries. They're just frustrating to deal with.

Biting — Almost all of us know the familiar sting of a fire ant. When these ants get into your yard, they can spread like wildfire. For most, this is just a nuisance. But to those who are allergic to the venom of a fire ant, it can be a severe threat that requires hospitalization.

Damage — Some ants can damage your belongings. It is estimated that carpenter ants cost U.S. property owners hundreds of millions annually. This is because they chew galleries inside wood. Crazy ants, which are new in the Greater Jacksonville area, are estimated to cost property owners in the United States more than $146 million in electrical damage.

Illness — All ants can pick up harmful bacteria from trash and other dirty places and deposit these invisible organisms in sensitive locations. Still, there is one type of ant that is especially dangerous to health. Pharaoh ants are drawn to feed on the open wounds of pets, livestock, and wildlife. This can expose them to harmful organisms and pathogens.

How Do You Get Rid Of Ants?

It depends on the ant. When we perform a service call, we consider the species of ant you're dealing with. This helps determine what food source they're targeting, what areas are likely to have nests, and how these ants are getting into your home. We then apply appropriate baits and targeted treatments to address your ant problem. Having a licensed and trained pest control professional deal with your ant problem is the best way to go. Our certified technicians have a lot of experience and education. They can look at a concrete block and know that there are likely to be bighead ants nesting underneath. They can look at fungus on your landscaping and tell you that ghost ants are nesting in your vegetation and feeding on the honeydew produced by plant-damaging insects. They also know how to get rid of ants effectively, such as applying tiny bait lines to your foundation wall that the ants will take and bring back to their colony. While baits aren't as fast as spraying ants and killing them, the results are far-reaching.

Are You Dealing With Ants In Jacksonville?

Reach out to Lindsey Pest Services. We're standing by to help you with all your pest control needs, including ant problems. Get started by requesting a free inspection.