Ant Control

Carpenter ant control begins with a search for the colony or nest. Don’t spray an over the counter pesticide because this will simply spread the colony over a larger area and make it more difficult to treat. Spraying has no effect on the queen. If a large number of worker ants begin to die the queen will increase egg production to replace the lost worker ants. Many chemical sprays act as a repellant to the ants and the ants will go to great lengths to avoid it. This can result in a colony splitting into several new nests and “satelliting” over a much larger harder to control area.

The pharaoh ant queen can lay hundreds of eggs in her lifetime. Nests can be tiny, located between sheets of paper, in clothing linens and food. They can be found in drains, toilets and bedpans as well as in sealed packs of sterile dressing, intravenous drip systems, on surgical wounds and medical equipment.

Small reddish brown to black about 1/8inch long. They eat a variety of foods including meats, pet food, candy and insects. They can be found under sidewalks, in driveways, on stones and logs.