If the ant has been identified to be harmful to wood, the exterminator should look at all the crawl spaces and other areas around the home if at all possible. This will determine the level of infestation and to see how much damage has already happened. You need to make sure your
ant exterminator will check all areas of your home and if it is included in his price.
After the exterminator has made his identification and consultation, the next course of action in the process is to determine the method of exterminating the ants. A couple of choices include insecticides and ingested poisons. Your exterminator should give both the pros and cons of each method. The insecticides could possibly kill other problem insects whereas the poisons will not. Ingested poisons, in most ant infestation cases, are the preferred option in that the ants are communal and will share food; now the whole colony has been reached.
If the colony has been discovered, the ant exterminator will offer a quick relief by spraying the whole colony with an insecticide. Not all the colony's members will be killed, however, because some of the worker ants will be out searching for food. Because of this follow-up treatments are necessary in order to rid the problem over the long term. Being an ant exterminator is an art, the hardest part is to kill the queen of the ant hill.
The ant is one of Mother Nature's most unbelievable insects. They are sometimes referred to as the clean up crew. They will carry at least 25 times their body weight, and the queen can live to be about 30. They will clean up other insects, fruit, leaves, any type of dead creature. A colony has only one queen ant, worker ants and male ants. The workers can live to be 3 years old but the male ants have a life span of only a couple of weeks.
There are millions of ants occupying each colony and they will create their colony anywhere they can. That means in your walls, sidewalks, your lawn, concrete slabs, and your bathroom or kitchen just to name a few. How will the exterminator rid you of the ants? The first thing he needs to do is determine the type of ant you have. All ants can be exterminated but each species has a different method for doing so.
The ants nest will most likely be hidden from view or they are deep in the ground with many chambers. The egg chamber and the queen are usually well protected. Using gas or boiling water with an insecticide may or may not work. It may just force the ants to move their nest and regroup. Plus this method could damage the plants and
grass around the nest. Exterminating ants takes a bit of patience and usually a good exterminator.
The exterminator will seek out the ants' hideaway and use a two step method to get rid of them. The first is a spread of non toxic pesticide and the second stage, a drenching. Once this non toxic pesticide is spread close to the nest, the ants will carry it back into the nest for feeding every ant including the queen. This will cause the queen to become infertile and unable to lay eggs. This is also designed to kill as many ants, eggs, and hopefully the queen, as possible; it should be done in summer or fall when most of the ants are out foraging. The ants will choose a new queen if this one dies.
The second step is necessary in eliminating the entire colony. This stage will consist of mass drenching. This is accomplished by the exterminator using a
liquid organic pesticide that is applied liberally to the nest. This hopefully will kill the survivors of stage one. This two step method can be used for any type of ant and the best way of eliminating the colony. The
exterminators and their job of eliminating ants is basically the knowledge of different types of ants and how to eliminate them.
