We have quite a variety of ant pests in our service area. Honolulu has a fertile ecology that allows ants to thrive. But it isn't fun when ants start thriving inside your home! Today, we'll take a look at how to detect ant problems, the kinds of problems ants cause, and how ant pest control works to get rid of ants. We'll also look at how to keep ants away from your exterior and how to deter them from wanting to live inside your home. If ants are driving you up a wall and you want to speak with a professional about them, remember that you can jump to our contact page at any time for assistance with ant pest control in Honolulu. Our friendly and helpful technicians have the training and experience needed to guide you in finding an effective ant control solution.
Clear Signs Of An Ant Infestation In Your Home
Ant problems reveal themselves in many ways. Some signs are clear and unmistakable. Other signs are hidden, but uncovering them will provide a clear warning sign of trouble. The first step in any ant control strategy is to evaluate routes that ants are using, conducive conditions that attract them, and current habitation. Here are some specific examples.
- Ants are crawling all over: It isn't hard to tell that you have an ant infestation when ants frequently appear in common areas of your home. While ants can infest your home in large numbers at any point, frequency reveals a greater and constant source—potentially an indoor nest.
- Ants are bringing dirt into your home: When you have an indoor nest, you may see soil leaking out of gaps and cracks. Some ants bring soil indoors to create a habitat that is suitable for their nests.
- Ants are creating sawdust: If you have black carpenter ants in your home, you may see frass. Frass is a mixture of sawdust, insect parts, and droppings. You may see frass leaking out of a gap, or you might find a pile of it underneath kick out holes. Carpenter ants create tiny kick out holes in wood to eject frass from their tunnels.
- Ants are traveling on branches: When branches touch your roofline or the exterior of your home, ants can use them as bridges. A large infestation can begin with tree or plant overgrowth.
- Ants are scaling your foundation: You can track ant activity and figure out where they are entering your home. If you track an ant trail to a gap around a pipe or PVC conduit, you don't have to wonder if you have an infestation.
- Ants are appearing in your pantry: Pest ants eat many of the foods that humans eat. Your pantry is a good place to inspect if you are wondering whether or not you have an ant infestation. We recommend checking at night with a flashlight so you may catch nocturnal ant species.
- Ants are causing damage: Carpenter ants, particularly black carpenter ants, can damage the wood of your home. If you see changes to wood frames or structural timbers, it is evidence of an infestation in your walls or floors. Search for frass and nocturnal ant activity to remove all doubt.
- Ants are creating mounds near your home: Many ant pests create mounds near hard surfaces, such as foundation walls, slabs, walkways, and driveways. They may also create mounds in your landscaping. Mounds that are close to your home increase the chances of indoor ant activity and the creation of indoor satellite nests.
- Ants are crawling on your vegetation: Many ants hunt for insects, both alive and dead. These are food for them. They also search for honeydew produced by aphids and other plant-damaging pests. Inspect your landscape plants day or night to reveal ant activity near your home. If you're noticing indoor ant problems on the side of your home where you have landscaping, it is time to get the caulking gun out. You have entry points.
Once you track ants down, evaluate the data and consider a course of action. All-natural ant control and green ant control require effort, so it is helpful to consider the problems ants may cause in your home. Often, ants are an incredible nuisance, which is enough to make Honolulu residents take action. But some ants are not a nuisance, so they can cause trouble without pestering you enough to do something about them.
All The Problems An Ant Infestation Can Create In Your Home
Ants can invade your home by the thousands. That is enough reason to want them out of your home. But subtle ant problems may not catch your attention. Here are a few to consider:
- Carpenter ants can live in your home and never invade your kitchen or pantry. They survive well on outdoor food sources. They're also nocturnal ants so they are active at night when it is harder to see them—particularly if they're black. It is important that you do see them because carpenter ants tunnel in wood and carve out galleries for their nests. Over time, a carpenter ant colony will replicate and become several colonies. Slowly, your problem will worsen, even though you may not realize you have a problem.
- Fire ants are often a noticeable problem, but sometimes they sneak up on a side of a home that doesn't receive much foot traffic. When they create mounds near your home, they may start getting inside. Once inside, they present a unique threat to infants. Babies cry for many reasons, and it can happen frequently enough that you may give your baby time to cry, settle down, and go to sleep. If fire ants sting your baby, you may not realize it at first. Moreover, babies have an undeveloped immune system which can make them vulnerable to serious symptoms.
- Certain ant pests get into powerboxes, outlet voids, electronic devices, and automobiles. In these places, they can cause electronics to short and may chew through wire shielding, which can cause electric outages. Are your lights going out? You may have an ant infestation.
- Ants get into garbage and often feed on rotting organic matter found in yards, on floors, and on the sides of ovens. When ants get into stored foods, they can contaminate them. Do you have an ongoing issue with stomach illness? You may have an ant problem.
These are only some of the mysterious ways ants can cause trouble in Honolulu. But these examples provide a good reason to take steps to keep ants out of your home. The most effective way to address ants is by getting a professional pest control ant treatment.
The Best Way To Get Rid Of An Ant Infestation In Your Home Fast!
Ant control requires specialized knowledge. A trained and experienced professional knows how to track ants down, evaluate your ant infestation, and select appropriate products to eliminate ant colonies and arrest ant activity fast.
- Your technician will select appropriate baits that your pest ants will take, and apply the correct amount to prevent bait aversion. What is bait aversion? When incorrect quantities are used or inappropriate baits are applied, ants can learn to avoid the hazardous food source, making them harder to control.
- Your technician will use monitoring devices to track ant activity, such as strategically applied sticky traps. These help to evaluate the success of the bait program.
- Your technicians will use physical exclusions to prevent ants from entering through gaps around pipes and other potential entry points.
- Your technician will choose to apply mound treatments for species that require this form of treatment.
- Your technician can provide ongoing liquid barrier treatments to make it hard for ants to live near your home or get in through gaps in your exterior.
Ant control is complicated, and there are ways misapplied treatments can make your problem worse by causing bait aversion, colony budding, and other unwanted results. It pays to have a licensed technician handle ant control products.
Naturally Effective Tips To Prevent Future Ant Problems In Your Home
There are many all-natural ways to keep ants away from your home and prevent them from getting inside. These work to prevent future infestations after you've had an indoor ant treatment, or to guard your home if ants haven't gotten in yet. Here are our best ant prevention tips.
- Keep trash receptacles free of strong odors and keep lids securely on top. Refrain from overfilling receptacles, which can prevent the lid from creating a seal.
- Trim branches and vegetation away from your exterior.
- Remove weeds and grass next to your home.
- Maintain healthy plants and wash aphids off when you find them attached to your vegetation.
- Move birdfeeders away from your home, particularly hummingbird feeders.
- Use a caulking gun or expanding foam to seal gaps in your exterior.
- Replace door sweeps and weatherstripping if you see gaps around exterior doors.
- Clean your gutters and make repairs to prevent soil dampness near your home. Oversaturation creates puddles and ants come to drink from those puddles.
Controlling food sources, moisture, and blocking routes are all that are needed to keep ants out, in most cases. When more control is needed, contact a professional. For assistance in Honolulu, remember that Pest Tech Hawaii is always available to help. We offer ant control treatments and year-round pest control that provides coverage for ants.
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