We’ve assembled some ant prevention tips that are guaranteed to help prevent these pesky little critters from buggin’ you.

1. CLEAN UP SPILLS. This is the number one way to prevent ants in your kitchen. If there’s nothing available for them to eat, they’ll look for somewhere else to live.
2. If you’re eating outside, cover all food dishes.
3. Sweep floors after each meal – especially if you have small children and no dog to pick up the crumbs!
4. Wash dishes immediately after a meal and don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink.
5. Empty trash cans daily.
6. Search the outside of your home for small cracks through which ants could enter and seal openings with caulking.
7. Clean Fido’s pet bowl daily!
8. If you attempt do-it-yourself ant control, you’ll likely kill only the ants you see. Because the preferences of ants vary depending on the species, home remedies don’t consider that different kinds of ants require different treatments to be effective.

Call DA Exterminating at 800-650-PEST!

A DA reporter has recently had the opportunity to do an actual interview with one of the most troublesome ants in existence – the thief ant. Here’s the transcript of our interview with  Antie.

DA: So you’re known as a thief ant. Does that mean you’re a convicted felon who has spent time in the slammer?
Ant: Yes, I am a thief ant. You’ve got to be kidding! Just because my name is “thief” ant doesn’t mean I’ve spent time in ant jail! I know a guy named Woolweaver but he doesn’t weave wool! Geez! We get our name from our habit of nesting close to other ant nests from which we steal food. But we’ve avoided the ant police so far!

DA: What’s your favorite food, Antie?
Ant: Unlike most other ants, we prefer something greasy like a potato chip or other greasy things in a kitchen. When the lady of the house spills something greasy, that’s a banquet for us. But we also feast on sweets as well! We’re not picky!

DA: Where do you like to live?
Ant: Well, where do YOU like to live, smarty? We like the exact same environment that you do – one with lots of food and water.

DA: How do you get into homes?
Ant: We thief ants enter structures through cracks in the foundation or small openings in woodwork.  We forage in trails throughout a structure seeking protein, sweets and liquid. We’re smaller than most other ants, so we can squeeze through the tiniest opening!

DA: You look a lot like other ants. What’s the difference between the way you look and the way your cousins look?
Ant: Not that you’re going to check, but we thief ants have tinier eyes than most other ants and we’re lighter in color. And we think we are beautiful! In fact, we’ve entered our most lovely specimen in the 2018 Miss Beautiful Ant contest.

DA: In all ant colonies, there is a queen. What’s your queen’s name and is there a king?
Ant: We’re not like other ants, really we’re not! We can have more than one queen and NO, there is no king! Our colony has 3 queens, Irene and Arlene are OK but that last one is a real pain in the @#$%! Ilene brags about the number of eggs she lays. . . like we care!

DA: We’ve heard that ants are extremely strong. Is that right?
Ant: You betcha! We can lift 50 times our own weight, and that’s without going to the gym!

DA: Do you actually communicate with other ants?
Ant: Well, we don’t chatter like people do, but we communicate, and we’re very good at it. We use chemicals, vibrations and touch to communicate with individuals and/or the entire colony. Communication is not the problem for us that it is for you crazy humans.

Call DA Exterminating at 800-650-PEST!

Ant prevention isn't too different from general insect prevention: the overall goal is to keep them on the OUTSIDE and prevent them from entering your home. If you take the following steps, ants should not be a major problem:

• Eliminate water sources, one of the ant’s life requirements. That means repairing leaking faucets, water heaters and other water sources inside the home.
• Eliminate food sources, including any sweet spills in the kitchen. Most tiny ants that enter your home are looking for sweets, whether it’s a spilled Coke that hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned up or an open bowl of fruit.
• Pet bowls can attract ants, so keep them clean! Fido’s bowl may LOOK clean but give it a quick wash with detergent before the next feeding.
• Seal any cracks and crevices on the outside of the home with silicone caulk, paying special attention to areas where utility pipes enter.
• Rake back mulch, pine straw or other landscape bedding at least 6 inches from the structure to create a "dry zone" that ants are likely to avoid.
• If you have fruit trees nearby, remove ripe fruit from the trees and off the ground around them.
• Store outdoor trash cans and dumpsters as far away from your home as possible and be sure they have tight-fitting lids.
• Thoroughly wash out trash cans and dumpsters with an ammonia solution when needed.
• The best way to prevent ants – call DA Exterminating! 800-650-PEST

As summer approaches, ants of all kinds become more active and may invade your kitchen in search of sweets and other goodies that they love. We’ve compiled some information here about ants that we hope you’ll find interesting. Watch our June 15 blog for a list of prevention tips to help keep them out of your home.

Ants are social insects that live in colonies which are usually located in the ground, but many enter buildings for shelter and food. Ants feed on practically every type of food, but those entering homes are looking for sweets and substances containing protein.

Inside of a typical ant colony you will find thousands of ants living together and performing their individual jobs like reproducing, construction, foraging for food or defending the nest from invaders. Inside the nest the queen or queens are responsible for the reproduction of the entire colony. Worker ants remove the eggs from the queen and tend to them until they are able to care for themselves.

Why should you care?
One of the interesting things about ants is that once they enter and find what they are looking for, they “tell” the rest of the colony and before long, you have an ant circus on your kitchen counter! So long as an appealing food source is present, more and more ants will eventually find their way into your home. Once inside, they are masters at finding other sources of sweets so they will quickly spread around your kitchen.

Ants may not threaten your home like termites, or be the same threat to you and your family as poisonous spiders, but they are a terrible nuisance that are not easily eradicated. Certain ants, like carpenter ants, do pose a problem to your home as they damage wood that they nest in. And of course, if you’ve ever happened onto a fire ant nest, you know the havoc they can cause with their stings.

What to do if you have an ant infestation.
Call DA Exterminating right away so we can stop the ants before they become a real problem. (After all, who wants Aunt Ethel to see ants on the counter when she visits!) Call 800-650-PEST!

The last thing you plan for when preparing for a picnic is ANTS and other bugs. There are several things you can do to keep these pests from bugging you and ruining your festivities.

1. Use fans. If you’re planning a cook-out around your deck or patio, turn fans on high outside to keep small flying insects away.
2. Don’t wear heavy perfumes or scents that might attract bugs.
3. Choose foods that are neither sticky nor sweet. Insects are particularly drawn to foods like melon, grapes, fruit juices, and soda – to them, they’re like flower nectar. They can easily detect these foods and will be persistent in their pursuit. While they may be terrific summer foods, avoid them at outdoor meals, or keep in well-sealed containers that you open only when everyone is ready to have some.
4. Keep lids on sweet drinks and food bowls.
5. Smoke repels mosquitoes and flies. Tiki torches and citronella candles add ambiance to outdoor entertaining, plus they’re affordable, effective and have a pleasant scent.
6. Here’s one you may not have thought of: to keep ants off your table, put table legs in pie tins of water!
7. Cover up with a colander. A simple wire-mesh colander can be used to keep bugs off dinner. If you are setting up a buffet-style meal, an upside-down colander over a plate of food protects it while keeping the dish on display. You can also buy domed food covers or nylon netting.
   
   

Have pest issues? Call us at 800-650-PEST!