Do You Want Ants? This Is How You Get Ants.

    If it feels like there have been more ants around your home in the past few years, you’re not imagining things. Ants are officially the most commonly reported pest problem in the United States. (They’ve dethroned the cockroach, which is quite the feat!) The team at Natural State have noticed, too: we’ve experienced a spike in calls for ants this spring.

    Though there’s no single reason, it’s likely that expanding urban sprawl and milder winters are contributing to the ants finding their way into our kitchens and pantries.

So… what can you do?

    There are dozens of species of ants in the US, and they vary greatly in size, behavior, diet, and preferred environment. If you’re identifying an ant problem in your home in Northwest Arkansas, you’re likely looking at some type of sugar ant, carpenter ant, fire ant, or odorous house ant. An infestation of these different species are treated similarly by pest control technicians, but there are several things you can do in your home to help prevent an infestation.

1. Keep foods sealed and hidden away.

   It’s not hard to guess why one of our most common ant species is called the sugar ant: they love sweets as much as we do. If you’re seeing an increase in small black ants, it’s likely they’ve found something good to eat in your home. It’s not just sugary foods though, ants will go after a much wider variety of food than we would. That includes pet food! Pet bowls should be cleaned regularly during the spring and summer months, when ants are most active. Sealing food is one of the best ways to discourage a scouting ant from coming back with his friends. Airtight plastic or glass containers are a great option, and it’s always a good idea to repair the seals on refrigerators or dishwashers that get looser over time. As a bonus, storing your food will also prevent infestations of other household pests like weevils and cockroaches.

2. Keep an eye on the wooden structures around your home.

   Carpenter ants are one of the more destructive species of ants for homes and businesses. Though they don’t eat wood, carpenter ants love to live in it. If you find wood shavings or sawdust someplace where there hasn’t been any construction, it’s likely a colony of carpenter ants has moved in. They’re attracted to wood and moisture, so it’s always best to keep stacks of firewood away from the foundation of your home and repair any wood that’s been damaged by moisture. It’s also important to trim the limbs of any trees that reach over and touch your house– these ants will climb incredibly high in their search for a new spot to call home.

3. Keep abridged of their movements (if you can!)

   Most ants prefer to move around at night, when there’s less chance predators (and you) will be active. Some species of ant found in Arkansas, like the odorous house ant, move their nests very frequently– as often as every 21 days! This means that a perimeter treatment works better than using baits, especially indoors. Since it’s difficult to track an ant colony’s movements, the best practice is to create a barrier around your home. Intel from homeowners tells us where to strike, so we can eliminate the problem faster! Once we’ve treated the house, ants do a lot of the work for us. They’re very adept at communicating danger to one another– once they learn that your home is surrounded by a protective barrier, they’ll give it a wide berth.

4. Keep your home sealed up tight.

   It sounds simple, but there’s truth to the adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nobody lives in a house that’s 100% pest-proof, but window and door seals age and break down over time. This makes the break-in easier for ants. Ensuring that caulking around windows and doors is in good shape is a huge win in the battle for keeping your home pest-free. Ants are remarkable little contortionists and can squeeze through holes only 1mm in size!

So… what do the professionals do?

    In order to treat an ant infestation, our technicians first examine where the ants may be coming from. They’re tiny and smart, so the source of an ant problem could be nearly anywhere in the home. We’ve found them in all kinds of places. Since most ants love moisture, it’s not unusual for us to find them coming in around the plumbing. They love to harbor under decks and against the perimeter of your home in tall grasses and landscaping beds. If you have veneer brick walls, even a small crack in the mortar is the equivalent of an ant autobahn. These guys are remarkably tenacious: one of our technicians has seen ants climb the wall of a two story house, access the attic, and then come all the way down to the ground floor of the interior to raid a kitchen!