Ants

Ants Why Are They a Problem?

Although different ants have different behaviour patterns, all are annoying to people for the same reasons: Once they take up residence in your home or garden, they quickly reproduce, eat all the available food sources and can be very difficult to remove. It only takes a few to access the home before thousands more quickly follow, thanks to a chemical trail they lay, leading others from the colony to the food. Some look for sweet foods, while others go for pet food, crumbs and garbage. In general, ants themselves are not considered a health threat to people or pets, but they can contaminate food and destroy vegetation in the house and in the garden.

Ant Biology

Ants are social insects that live in colonies. Usually a colony has three distinct types of ants: queens, workers (females) and males. Each type looks different and has a different job. The queen lays eggs and depending upon the species, a colony may have only one queen or they may have several. The colony protects the queen, and she rarely leaves the nest. The larger major workers look for food and guard the nest. The smaller minor workers expand the nest and tend to the eggs and larvae.

Queens are usually the largest ants in the colony (about two or three times larger than workers). They lay fertile eggs for their lifetime, which can be five years or more. Workers perform many different tasks within the colony; young workers take care of eggs and larvae, while older workers look for food and protect the colony. Males are larger than these workers. Their function is to mate with the queen.

Most outdoor ants build their colonies underground and will only enter the home in search of food or moisture. If a large food source is found, these ants can become a nuisance. Interior nesting ants have adapted to living with humans and will create colonies in between walls or floors of homes and buildings, a habit that makes these kinds of ants difficult to eliminate. Once a colony has been established, the only way to eliminate it is to kill the queen.

How to Prevent Invasions & Infestations

  • Remove sources of food. Clean up food crumbs and beverage spills. A tiny crumb is enough to attract dozens of ants into your home once a worker ant has discovered the food and put down a pheromone trail back to the nest to attract other ants.
  • Keep packaged food in tightly closed containers.
  • Store vegetable oils and shortenings in the refrigerator.
  • Take steps to reduce ant access into the home: Caulk windows, ensure windows are tight fitting and repair cracks in foundations.

Recommended Treatment

When faced with an ant infestation in your home, you may want to choose Raid® Ant Baits or Raid® Ant, Roach & Earwig Bug Killer.

Baits should not be placed on surfaces that have been sprayed with residual insecticides. The ants will die as they crawl over the insecticide defeating the purpose of the baits. The goal is to get the ant to return to the colony with the bait poison (which it mistakes as food) and share it with the queen(s).