Tips For Ants In Alexandria

Do you have ants in your Alexandria home? If you're not an entomologist, you could probably care less what type of ant it is. But when you're done with this article, you may be inclined to take a closer look.

Not all ants are created equal.

Be honest. When you see ants you have only one question: "How do I kill them?" But before you kill those little buggers, you may want to ask the question: "What kind of ants are these?" You see, not all ants are created equal.

• If you have little black ants, which are normally around 1/16 of an inch long, you don't have much to worry about. This ant loves to live in homes, especially rotted ones. Though it can be a pest, you don't have much to worry about.

• If you notice ants that are about ⅛ of an inch and have a brownish tint to them, you're dealing with odorous house ants. This ant is slightly more annoying because it gives off the smell of rotten coconut when you squish it. Unless you're particularly fond of rotten coconut, this is probably an ant you don't want crawling around. But, besides its smell and irritating propensity to crawl all over your food, you don't have to worry about this ant either.

• If you have a black ant with a brown tint that is ⅛ of an inch, you have pavement ants. This ant typically stays outside, but when it gets cold the warmth of your home can draw them in. Nothing to worry about here, though. A typical pavement ant colony only has about 3,000 to 4,000 ants. This is trivial compared to the 100,000 workers in an odorous house ant colony.

• If you see a large black ant ¼ to ½ an inch in length, you may be in some serious trouble. You have carpenter ants. This is an ant that can do thousands of dollars of damage and permanently warp the structure of your home, garage, porch or patio. If you've known anyone who's had to rip a room off their home and rebuild it from the ground up because of carpenter ants, you know exactly what these ants are capable of. But it doesn't end here. Carpenter ants are also a sign--one you should seriously take heed of. If you have carpenter ants in your home, there is a good chance your home is being damaged by water because this is an insect that prefers soft, decaying wood. You need to find and repair these areas and isolate the source of your water problem. This is not an issue you can ignore.

Carpenter ants exploit rotted areas and gain access to wall voids, basements areas and attic crawl space--to do more damage while both all ants forage for food in kitchens and elsewhere they may find a food source. Have a professional pest control company do an inspection of your home and show you where it is vulnerable. Their insight can help you take the right measure to repair the damage and reseal your home.

So, the next time you see ants crawling across your floor, take a closer look and figure out what ants you have. If you do, you may be able to save yourself thousands of dollars in unnecessary repairs. And, that is never bad.

American Pest offers effective pest control for ants in Alexandria, Reston and throughout Northern Virginia. Contact us today to find out our home pest control programs may help you protect your home against these invaders.