The Best Way To Get Rid Of An Ant Infestation In Your Durham Home

Clear Signs Of An Ant Infestation In Your Home

Ants in Durham can secretly live in your home, and if they're allowed to live in your home, they can cause trouble. We'll cover the dangers of having ants in your home in a moment. First, let's look at a few ways ants lurk in the shadows and how you can catch them lurking.

Some ants hide in wood. If you have these ants in your home, they can hide from view as they grow a significant population. The kind of ant that does this most often is the carpenter ant. You can detect carpenter ants in your home by looking for two warning signs. The first sign to look for is wood damage. Carpenter ants can make holes in the frames around your doors and windows, baseboards, deck planks, fences, and more. If you see changes to the wood of your home, inspect the damage closely. Within the holes, you may see stacked tunnels or you may detect ants crawling around inside. The warning sign to look for is frass. If you're not familiar with the term, frass is a material composed of wood shavings, insect parts, and the fecal matter of carpenter ants. You may see this material near gaps, crevices, or holes that lead to where these ants are hiding.  

Some ants are nocturnal. They come out at night to feed on food sources in your home. Since they are active at night, they may have a schedule that is counter to yours. When you wake up in the morning, you may not even realize that your pantry or kitchen foods were mobbed by ants. If you want to detect these ants, you can get up at night and use a flashlight to inspect food storage areas or lay sticky traps down to catch a few. 

Some ants hide in wall voids and between floors and subflooring. It is hard to catch these ants infesting your home unless they're coming out to get food and water, which can alert you to their presence. Apart from seeing them, you may also look for soil leaking out of structural cracks. These ants tend to bring soil into homes to establish suitable habitats for building nests. 

Some ants eat outdoor food sources. You can have thousands of these ants in your home and never see them because they go outdoors to eat. One ant that may do this is the fire ant. Fire ants prefer protein food sources. If you protect your indoor food and keep your home clean, you may never see these ants appearing in large numbers. But you may see one fire ant, or get a sting from one. If you're stung by an ant in your home, contact a professional to get the problem checked out. 

One last warning sign to mention is the appearance of winged ants. A dozen winged ants inside your home is a clear indication that you have an indoor nest. It is also a warning that you're about to have more nests because winged ants are reproductives. The job of the reproductives is to create new nests. Contacting a professional for expert advice and trusted control can prevent a small problem from turning into a big problem.

Ants In The Home Can Create Many Problems

Why is it bad to have ants in your home and why is professional ant control so important? While the threats presented by ants vary by species, all ants can cause unwanted issues. Let's look at common ant problems from minor to severe.

1. Ants are annoying pests that increase in their ability to annoy as they increase their populations and multiply their nests.
2. Ants are often hard to control. Ongoing infestations can create frustration and a lot of unnecessary work.
3. Ants climb into trash, pick up invisible bacteria, and spread them. These germs can cause stomach ailments.
4. Ants have a way of prompting people to take action. But some of the ant control methods used by Durham residents are far more dangerous than the ants themselves.
5. Some ants tunnel in wood and can damage your property over time. While it takes years for significant damage to occur, these ants often fly under the radar and are given the time they need.
6. Some ants sting. For most people, fire ant stings are merely irritating, but for some people, one fire ant sting can cause an allergic reaction and could present a serious risk.

In light of these problems, it makes sense to get effective ant control when you detect an ant infestation or when you have trouble with ants in your yard. We'll discuss how a professional provides comprehensive ant pest control in Durham. First, let's talk about how you can keep ants out of your home.

Factors And Causes For Ant Infestations

You have many options to help you keep ants out of your home. The secret is understanding why ants get into your home. Let's examine the factors and causes for ant infestations and link these to common sense ant prevention tips.  

Ants Build Nests In Your Yard: Ants won't travel all the way across your yard to get to your home and then immediately infest it. They slowly encroach. They begin by finding factors in your yard that interest them. One example is nectar and plant sap. Encroaching ants find these food sources in lawn weeds. When you make an effort to address weeds, ant prevention is a side benefit.

Ants Love Your Landscaping: There are many reasons ants will want to live in the vegetation next to your home. If they make a nest, they'll live close enough to easily get into your home. You can make your landscaping less attractive to ants by reducing moisture and light. Why do these tactics work? Because moisture is a building block of life, and light attracts insects—which are food for certain ants. We recommend cleaning gutters, trimming plants, and replacing white exterior lights with bulbs that cast yellow light.  

Ants Are Drawn To Decay: Anything that is decaying will attract certain ants. If they establish a nest near your home, your chances of an indoor infestation increase. Clean your trash receptacles with soapy water and make sure to get all of your receptacles to the curb weekly. Taking these two steps will reduce the insects ants eat. 

Ants Climb In Cracks: If you have entry points in your exterior, you can expect ants to explore them. It is what they live to do. A caulking gun can seal gaps and holes. Replacement of weatherstripping around doors can remove potential gaps that offer entry. Use expanding foam to fill in gaps around pipes that pass through your foundation wall.

Ants Recruit Other Ants: If a worker ant finds food in your home, it can let the other ants in its colony know about it. They do this by laying down a pheromone trail. You can prevent this by keeping food debris off your floors, counters, and shelves. A clean home is resistant to ant infestations. 

If you're diligent to stay on top of lawn care, yard work, trash management, home repairs, and sanitation, you can reduce ant problems well below your threshold of comfort. But, the best way to have an ant-free home is to contact a professional.