Is Pest Control in Portland all About Ants?

Professional help will make all the difference

Ants are not just a nuisance. Sure, they are gross bugs that do not belong in your home and scare off your guests. There are hundreds of species of ants, many of them originating and dwelling in the pacific northwest. Many homeowners alike are not aware of the dangers of not treating for ants the first time you see one. The most dangerous of ants is the carpenter ant. They damage the structure of your home, if this is not caught right away it does not take long for your home to literally fall apart from the inside out from these pests. There are things you can do to protect yourself from these foraging scavengers. Here are ten ways to protect yourself, your home and not scare away your company from ants. One. Stay very clean. Ants come into your home in search of a food source. It is easiest for them to get to on the floor. Sweep your kitchen and other hard surface floors daily. Vacuum daily to eliminate any food particles that may be embedded in your carpet. If there is no food source for the ants to find they will soon give up and leave your home. Two. Eliminate any water source that would make your home an accommodating place to dwell. This is most important in the hotter months where a water source outside is harder to come by. Keep your countertops and sinks dry. Place your pet's water bowl out of reach when not in use. Three. Eliminate the scouts. Whenever you see an ant in your home, this is most likely a scout. Scouts are 'explorers' if you will, that venture from the colony in search of sustenance and resources for the colony. When there is food and water to be found, scouts send word back to the colony and more ants are sent out to transport the food back to the colony. Eliminating the scouts will eliminate the transportation of information that your home is a place where hundreds of ants should venture to for food. Four. Eliminate the sent of a scout. As a scouting ant travels about looking for resources, they leave an odor trailing them so that other ants may follow. To eliminate the sent of a scout ant, simply lather some hot soapy water onto a cloth and wipe the area surrounding the site where the ant was killed. This will in turn make their path untraceable to the other ants. Five. Seal the points of entry. Ants can enter one's home through the smallest of cracks. Once they find a way into your home, their scent leaves a trail telling other ants of the colony where to go. Often times, these cracks are found in a gap under doorways, gaps under windowsills or near baseboards within the home. It is important to seal these entry points to ensure that new ants are not going to enter your home. Six. Find the nest. With ants, there can often be a large colony surrounded by many sub colonies. Once the nest is found, many preventative measures can be taken to ensure that the ants do not enter your home. One way this can be done is to place some bits of honey or something sweet in your yard, just outside where you have seen the most areas of activity. This will cause the ants to flood out of the nest, thus allowing you to locate the colony. Seven. Once the nest has been located, it will be more effective to cause damage to the population of the colony. One way to do this is to pour boiling water into the nest. Because ants can live under water, drowning them alone is not enough to get them away from your home. The boiling temperatures of the water kills the ants and eliminates their scent so that more colonies do not follow and dwell there once the previous colony is gone. Eight. Do not purchase insecticides such as 'Raid' from your local store. These products are not effective and can actually make the infestation of your home much worse. These kinds of products kill ants on contact. This gives the illusion that this will solve your problem. Unfortunately, pest control does not provide instant gratification and you must be patient when dealing with these persistent pests. The most important thing to remember is that the only way to permanently remove ants from you home is to trick them. Nine. Call a professional. Once you have done everything you can do on your own, it is time to call a trained pest technician. Some people might say that doing all of these things on your own will take care of the problem forever. This is simply not true. The only fail safe way to end your pest problem is to get the opinion of a professional. They will tell you the severity of the infestation you are dealing with. Sometimes, if a colony is large enough and has enough sub colonies, it can be next to impossible to tackle such a large population alone. Ten. Follow up. Ants, as well as many other pests become dormant in the colder months. Just because you do not see them, does not mean they are not there. Ants spend all summer storing enough food so that they will not have to leave the colony when the weather is poor. Do not allow the colony to gain strength and numbers during the winter, follow up with a pest technician every three months to ensure that your home is safe. Now you know how to protect yourself from these annoying bugs.

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