Dealing With Ants

How can Mississauga Pest Control Services help?

Ants are one of the biggest pest problems in Ontario. Each species has a separate group of physical and social characteristics that requires very different extermination techniques. Killing the ants you see will not be effective in eradicating the colony in your home. Some queens may live over 20 years which means extermination techniques must target the colony in order to have lasting results. Mississauga Pest Control Services can help.

How does Mississauga Pest Control Services eliminate Carpenter Ants?

A technician will come out to your property and perform a thorough inspection with you in order to get as much information about the infestation from you as possible. Any information you can provide the technician will help them to determine the location of the nest or satellite colony. During that initial inspection, the technician will show you what may have attracted the Carpenter ants to your property and make any preventative recommendations they see necessary. After the technician has assessed the information provided by you along with any observations made during the initial inspection, they will explain the plan of action necessary to exterminate the Carpenter ants.

The technician will then begin the extermination process. Each Carpenter ant infestation has its own unique qualities, and so each extermination also has its own unique character. In almost all cases, a spray of all baseboards and door and window frames must be done. You will be required to leave your house for 4 hours at the start of the application in order to allow the pesticide to dry. If the technician has successfully located the parent or satellite colony during the inspection, they may need to drill small 3/16” holes into walls and blow a dry insecticide into the wall. Strategic baiting is done in almost all cases, in which bait is placed in secure locations near the affected area. The theory behind baiting is the Carpenter ants will take the bait back to either the parent or satellite colony and poison the colony. Finally, during warmer months, an exterior spray of the building will be done in order to prevent the Carpenter ants from leaving or entering the building.

Aanteater believes in looking for the root causes not in masking the symptoms.

Where will I find carpenter ants?

Carpenter ants sometimes search for areas of high humidity or moisture although more often interior colonies are dry. Occasionally colonies will produce swarms of winged ants which will cluster close to the location of the colony. Fine sawdust or frass may accumulate below wooden beams or other wooden structures and provide very good evidence of the location of a colony. If you have had water leakage from a plumbing leak, a leaky roof, a leaky door or window, or a leaky basement, a colony may be near the affected area. Sometimes the faint crackling sound inside a wall of Carpenter Ants busily gnawing on wood to excavate the galleries for their colonywill help to pinpoint the precise location. Carpenter ants may construct their nests anywhere in the home including walls, ceilings, attics, crawl spaces, doors and window frames. Carpenter ants are mostly nocturnal.

How does the weather affect the size of a carpenter ant infestation?

Warm and moist weather are the most ideal conditions for carpenter ant colonies to establish themselves. Typically, the summer months are when carpenter ants are most active, but it isn’t uncommon to see carpenter ants in the middle of winter.

How do I know l if I have a carpenter ants?

The first clue to look for is physically seeing the worker ants in your home. Once you see carpenter ants in your home, check all areas where you suspect moisture. Should you notice and abundance of carpenter ants in one area (10-50 ants in a 10 foot radius), the colony isn’t too far away. Look for frass (chewed wood looking like sawdust) as an indication of an active nest. Any winged ants found in the homeshould be a cause for immediate concern, and a professional in pest control should be contacted.

What should I do before the technician arrives?

The technician will need access to most of the baseboards in the home. It may be near impossible to move all furniture away from the baseboards, but we ask all clutter and any furniture that can be moved away from walls be done BEFORE the technicians arrive. We also ask that the area affected (under the sink, in a crawl space, etc…), be clear of clutter so the technician can easily access those places.

Signs you might have Mice

Other than seeing a mouse dart along the edge of a room, the most common sign of mice are droppings. Droppings are black, 3-6mm in length, rod shaped and pointed at each end. They are generally found close to the wall and behind furniture. The cupboard under the sink in the kitchen is a common place to find droppings . Another indication of mice is damaged goods. Nibbled bread or other food items in the kitchen may the first sign or bathroom soap or sometimes candles tucked away in a drawer. There may be small holes at the bottom edge of baseboards which are also common. Rub marks from oils on hair may be occasionally seen along passageways.

Do I need to clean anything when I get home?

We recommend not disturbing the bait left by the technician until the carpenter ant activity has slowed down. You can vacuum or wash your floors as needed, but we recommend not washing or vacuuming the floors along the baseboard until three weeks after the treatment. Leave a space of 6 inches to one foot from where you are washing the floors to the baseboards. The technician will not be spraying furniture or counter tops, so it is not necessary to clean such areas after the treatment.

General Carpenter Ant Info

Appearance

Carpenter Ants are the largest species of Ant in southern Ontario and vary in size from 6-12mm (¼ - ½ inch) in length. They are usually black but may have areas of red as well with very large developed mandibles. They are mostly nocturnal but it is not uncommon to see them during the day. If it is a large black ant in your house, you can assume it is a carpenter ant.

Habits

Carpenter Ants have a varied diet consisting of insects, sap, juices, ripe fruit, meat and household foods like sweets and sugar. They commonly gnaw into wood to build the galleries for their colony however they may also nest in a convenient dark void. In the forest they play an important role in decomposing decaying trees. Unfortunately this trait may be destructive to manmade buildings. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood and so the damage they cause is usually not as extensive.

Life cycle

Swarms of winged males and female ants may leave a mature nest anytime between January and June. Fertilized females will then chew off their wings dig out a small area to live and lay eggs. The eggs will hatch into larva within about 2 weeks. The queen then spends all hertime feeding and caring for her larva, she lives off energy stored in her body and does not eat. By the following year the colony is still only made up of 15 to 25 ants after which growth increases rapidly. Within 3 yearsa colony may have thousands of workers and begin producing winged reproductives.Queens may live 20 years.

How does Mississauga Pest Control Services eliminate Pavement ants?

A technician will come out to your property and perform a comprehensive inspection with you. They will ask very specific questions in regards to the infestation during this inspection. This information will enable the technician to determine the most effective way to exterminate the pavement ants. The technician will point out what may be attracting the pavement ants to your property, and will also recommend any preventative measures which can be taken.

After assessing the information provided by you along with any observances made during the initial inspection, the technician will decide the best treatment procedure and will begin the treatment process. You will be required to leave your house for 4 hours at the start of the treatment to allow the pesticide to dry. Typically for a pavement ant treatment, a spray of all the baseboards in the home will be necessary. Weather permitting, an exterior spray of the perimeter of the home will be done as well. A spray of a nearby patio may also be necessary at the discretion of the technician. The technician will also put out some dual ant bait stations in your home near the infestation with the intention that the workers will take the poison back to the nest and poison the colony.

How do I know I have pavement ants?

Pavement ants are sometimes confused with other types of ants, but there are a few different ways of determining if your ants are indeed pavement ants. Pavement ants rarely climb. If you are noticing ants on a counter, or climbing a wall, chances are they aren’t pavement ants. Size is also a good determining factor. Pavement ants are between 1/8th of an inch to 3/16th of an inch long, with no variation in size. Carpenter ants, by comparison are anywhere from 3/16th of an inch to ½ of an inch long, and vary in size. Typically pavement ants hold true to their name and are found outside in cracks of pavement. In a home, pavement ants are often found close to a door frame relatively close to a patio, or in a basement or crawl space. In some rare occasions, pavements will be found on the second floor of a building, but always are found on the floor.

What should I do before the technician arrives?

The technician will need access to most of the baseboards in the home. It may be near impossible to move all furniture away from the baseboards, but we ask all clutter and any furniture that can be moved away from walls be done BEFORE the technicians arrive. We also ask that the area affected, (under the sink, in a crawl space, etc…), be clear of clutter so the technician can easily access those places.

Do I need to clean anything when I get home?

We recommend not disturbing the ant stations left by the technician until the pavement ant activity has slowed down. You can vacuum or wash your floors as needed, but we recommend not washing or vacuuming the floors along the baseboard until three weeks after the treatment. Leave a space of 6 inches to one foot from where you are vacuuming or washing the floors to the baseboards. The technician will not be spraying furniture or counter tops, so it is not necessary to clean such areas after the treatment.

Are pavement ants attracted to food in my home?

Ants feed on almost any type of food, but those pavement ants found in your home are looking for sweets and protein-containing substances. We strongly recommend good housekeeping practices to help prevent infestations.

General Information About Pavement Ants

Pavement ants are a very common ant pest in southern Ontario.

Appearance

This species is small, (2.5-3mm) between the size of carpenter ants and pharaoh ants. It is medium brown to black in colour. Positive identification can be made with a magnifying glass. There are many small parallel groves running front to back on the ants head.

Habits

Pavement ants live in colonies usually in pavement cracks (hence the name), between patio stones, under rocks or just about anywhere. These are the little brown ants making the piles of sand on the sidewalk during the summer.

Life Cycle

Development time from egg to larva to pupae to adult is 40 – 60 days. A mature colony will produce winged reproductive in the spring however these are rarely seen in homes in southern Ontario. Adult colonies have many queens. Sometimes a queen may just leave a colony with some workers and begin a new colony. How do you exterminate rats and mice?

How does Mississauga Pest Control Services eliminate Pharaoh ants?

If you suspect you have pharaoh ants, it is extremely important that you DO NOT SPRAY ANY RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL PESTICIDES TO STOP THE INFESTATION. IF YOU HAVE SPRAYED, STOP DOING SO IMMEDIATELY. A technician will come out to your property and perform a comprehensive inspection with you. The initial inspection is extremely important in positively identifying the pharaoh ants as the treatment process is much different than for other types of ants. A MISDIAGNOSED PHARAOH ANT TREATMENT WILL RESULT IN A WORSE INFESTATION. If possible, it helps the technician out immensely if you can catch a sample ant to show them if you suspect you have pharaoh ants.

When the pharaoh ants are positively identified by the technician, they will begin the treatment. The treatment is unlike other treatments for ants. No spray will be conducted, as spraying pharaoh ants will cause the colony to panic and they will expand the colony as a survival tactic. This makes the problem exponentially worse. Pharaoh ant treatments require a protein and sugar bait program, along with strategic placement of dual ant bait stations in the kitchen and bathroom. Small dots of two custom-made mixtures will be put in strategic locations in the kitchen and bathroom. The treatment is a passive treatment, meaning the ants need to eat the bait as opposed to relying on a chemical spray to kill the ants. Pharaoh ants are extremely difficult in exterminating, and patience on behalf of both you and our technician is necessary in ultimately winning the war. You are not required to leave your house during a pharaoh ant treatment.How do you exterminate rats and mice?

We use bait, snap traps and one way doors on rats. We generally do not use one way doors on mice since they may never leave your building once they have entered and they may also have many different points of entry. We also provide complete exclusion services which will achieve long term results. We recommend exclusion where infestations are constantly recurring.

How do I know I have Pharaoh Ants?

Pharaoh Ants are often confused with pavement ant, as they are quite similar in size. Pharaoh ants do tend to be smaller than pavement ants, as they are about 1/16th of an inch in size. It can often be difficult to distinguish the difference between the two based on size alone. The behaviour of the pharaoh ant, however, sets it apart from the pavement ant. You will find pharaoh ants on counters and around sinks in both kitchens and bathrooms. Pavements ants tend to stay on the floor. Pharaoh ants also have been known to bite, where pavement ants never bite. Pharaoh ants also appear transparent with a reddish hue, where pavements are almost exclusively black.

Why shouldn’t I spray pesticides for pharaoh ants?

According to the Ontario Pesticide Training & Certification Structural Manual, pharaoh ants are not only extremely difficult to eradicate because of their inaccessible colony location, but also because the colonies have multiple queens. The use of insecticidal dust or sprays easily causes the colony to bud off to initiate new colonies. The spraying of pesticides causes panic in the colony and the multiple queens scatter and set up new colonies over a large area.

How do I know I have Pharaoh Ants?

Pharaoh Ants are often confused with pavement ant, as they are quite similar in size. Pharaoh ants do tend to be smaller than pavement ants, as they are about 1/16th of an inch in size. It can often be difficult to distinguish the difference between the two based on size alone. The behaviour of the pharaoh ant, however, sets it apart from the pavement ant. You will find pharaoh ants on counters and around sinks in both kitchens and bathrooms. Pavements ants tend to stay on the floor. Pharaoh ants also have been known to bite, where pavement ants never bite. Pharaoh ants also appear transparent with a reddish hue, where pavements are almost exclusively black.

Why shouldn’t I spray pesticides for pharaoh ants?

According to the Ontario Pesticide Training & Certification Structural Manual, pharaoh ants are not only extremely difficult to eradicate because of their inaccessible colony location, but also because the colonies have multiple queens. The use of insecticidal dust or sprays easily causes the colony to bud off to initiate new colonies. The spraying of pesticides causes panic in the colony and the multiple queens scatter and set up new colonies over a large area.

Are Pharaoh Ants harmful?

In hospital settings, pharaoh ants have become a large problem as they can transmit infectious diseases because of their attraction to blood and body fluids. They readily bite humans, not to mention the swarming factor which can occur if food is left out, thus contaminating food.

What should I do before the technician arrives?

If at all possible, it is important to try to catch and contain a sample for the technician to see. A preparation letter will be sent to you prior to the technician arriving. IT IS IMPORTANT TO READ AND DO ALL NECESSARY STEPS CONTAINED IN THE PREPERATION LETTER, otherwise the treatment will be compromised.

What should I do after the technician leaves?

As the treatment for pharaoh ants is a passive treatment, it takes time and patience for the treatment to be effective. Good housekeeping after the treatment is very important. Food must be put in sealed containers. Dishes cannot be left out for extended periods of time. Basically the only food that can be made available to the pharaoh ants is our bait, otherwise the treatment will not work.

General Info About Pharaoh Ants

Originally from North Africa Pharaoh ants are now found all over the world. In southern Ontario they are confined to buildings as they are unable to survive our winters outside. Despite their tropical needs, they are very common all through North America.

Appearance

Workers are tiny, approximately 2mm in length and vary from yellow to orange to red in colour. Queens are 4mm in length and have wings although they do not fly. Thief ants are very similar in appearance but much rarer. Absolute identification requires a microscope however tiny red ants in your home are usually Pharaoh ants. Pharaoh ants have 12 segmented antennae with three segments in the club end while thief ants have only 2 segments in the club.

Habits

Inside, Pharaoh ants nest inside wall voids close to sources of food and water, usually in the kitchen. Approximately 90% percent of workers remain in the nest at any one time with a small number out foraging for food. Foraging ants may venture far from the colony in search of food and water. Colonies may range from a few ants to thousands with each colony having many queens. There may be just one or even thousands of colonies within a single building making control particularly difficult.

Life Cycle

Although winged reproductive are produced, Pharaoh ants do not swarm. Mating takes place within the colony. New colonies are generally created by “budding”, where a single queen will leave the main colony with a few workers carrying several pupae and start a new colony else ware. Development time is about 40 days and queens live only about 8 months.

Ready to deal with your ant issue?

Let the experts at Mississauga Pest & Wildlife Control Services at 905-270-1916 or 1-888-390-PEST(7378), as one of our trained, experienced professionals will be able to determine how we can help with yourant issue.

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