Ant Control: A Convenient Guide For Cypress Homeowners

When ants access your home, they mainly seek food and a place to nest. If your Cypress home is the closest place where an ant queen can choose to set up their colony, you may need expert ant control to eliminate them from your property. However, if you find a trail of ants in your kitchen or lawn, getting rid of them can be a matter of guessing or hiring professional pest control in Cypress from Modern Pest Control to deal with the infestation. The journey of ant control in Cypress or ant control in your house begins by inspecting your home and knowing the type of ants invading your space. So, continue reading to learn about the different types of ants that can get into your house, the issues ant infestations can cause, natural ant prevention tips, and how you can access professional ant control near you.

The Many Types Of Ants That Can Be Found In Cypress

If you find ants in your Cypress yard or property, they may be among the different types of ants in the list below:

Pavement ants: These 0.09 to 0.12 inch ants are known to make nests under pavement cracks. They are black or dark brown ants with pale-colored legs and uniquely feature two spines between their body parts and at the end of their thorax.
Acrobat ants: These are reddish, black, or yellowish ants. Worker ants grow to about 0.12 inches, while the queen grows to about 0.08 to 0.16 inches. This ant species nests outdoors in moist wood or damaged wood structures. When they perceive a threat, the worker ants lift their abdomen in a manner that resembles a scorpion. These aggressive ants can sting; the good news is that the pain is short-lived, and they rarely invade indoors.
Pharaoh ants: They are small and have a brown-to-yellow appearance that makes them look transparent. You will find them mainly in restaurants, hospitals, grocery stores, and hotels. This species is a disease-carrying type that requires professional help to eliminate.
Argentine ants: These light or dark brown ants grow to about 0.09 to 0.11 inches in length. They nest outdoors during the cold and in shadier areas in the summer. Indoors, you will find them in voids and wall insulation. Their colonies, which contain hundreds of queens, are massive. You will require professional ant pest control to get rid of them.
Red imported fire ants: These dark reddish-brown ants deliver a poisonous sting that contains the piperidine chemical. You may get diarrhea, vomit, and experience shortness of breath if you receive multiple fire ant stings. A fire ant has two mandibles on its head, a venom pouch, and a stinger on its abdomen.
Asian needle ants: These are small to medium-sized ants where the workers are smaller than carpenter ants but larger than sugar ants. The needle ants are slender, black or dark brown, with orange-ish to light brown-looking mandibles and legs. This species will sting when they feel trapped.
Carpenter ants: The average size of a carpenter ant is about 0.2 to 0.5 inches. Because they vary in size, they have a broad range of descriptions. Ideally, carpenter ants don't eat wood but chew wood to create nesting grounds inside wooden structures. So, you can find them nesting in trees outside or on roofs and other wooden items in your home.
Crazy ants: These are black ants that grow to 0.09 to 0.12 inches in length, and their colonies survive in dry and moist areas. For example, outdoors, they nest in soil, plants, mulch, garbage, and mulch, while indoors, you can find them under carpets, houseplants, and wall voids.
Dark rover ants: The average size of dark rover ants is 0.06 inches. They are dark brown and commonly nest outdoors, under objects on the ground, along grass edges, and in parking lots. Indoors, they nest in kitchens and bathrooms, and they prefer to eat sweet liquids.
European fire ants: Worker ants of this species grow to about 0.16 to 0.2 inches in length. Although most are reddish brown, they vary in color. These ants like to nest outdoors in shrubs, lawns, and gardens, while indoors, they like to hide under bathtubs and other warm, moist areas like water heaters.
Ghost ants: These are nocturnal foragers that like to eat insect honeydew and fungus. They have a dark brown head and thorax, with an abdomen and legs that are pale yellow. They do not sting and have an unevenly rounded thorax.
Field ants: Also known as red ants, field ants come in various colors, including brown, black, mixed red, and yellow-brown. These ants are not common indoors; they nest primarily in open areas in the garden and under dead wood. Also, field ants have painful bites because of the formic acid they infuse in a bite.
Odorous house ant: These shiny odorous ants are known to produce a smell that is similar to rotten coconuts. In most cases, you will find them nesting in soil or under objects like wood on the ground. They do not bite or sting, but they often move their nests.
Sugar ants: They typically grow anywhere between 0.1 to 0.6 inches. Female sugar ants are orange, while the males are black and with wings. Although they do not sting, the larger species can deliver painful bites because of their powerful jaws. These ants have two different castes: minor, slender workers, and the major, bigger soldiers.

There are many more ant species, and for the most part, they are categorized as pests because their colonies can cause a lot of damage to properties. If you discover an infestation of any of the ants above, ensure that you hire ant pest control services near you from Modern Pest Control.

The Issues Ant Infestations Create In Homes

There are many problems that ants bring when they visit your home. For example, pavement ants cause a lot of nuisance because they forage in trails under pavement, ground-level walls, insulation, and under floors. When you see them in huge numbers, you will feel overwhelmed. But to be fair, they are not as big a nuisance as their counterpart invaders, the odorous house ants, which produce a nasty odor when you crush or threaten them.

Contamination of your food sources

Food contamination is another danger ants bring. For example, odorous house ants will contaminate your food, not because they like feeding on them, but because they can nest anywhere. These ants do not have issues building nests in your pantry or food cabinet. In fact, they will walk to find food in your garbage bin and return to their nests in your food packets. Additionally, odorous ants spread Shigella, Salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus, streptococcus, and other bacterial organisms.

Invite more ants and other pests

Ants can also invite other pests to your dangerous property. For example, ants love honeydew, a sap-like substance that insects such as brown lacewings, mites, aphids, and whiteflies produce. So, if these pests move into your home, ants will protect them so that they can get a constant supply of their food source from them.

Damaging your wooden structures

Property damage is one of the main reasons you need professional ant control to eliminate ant infestations. Carpenter ants are a species of ants that nest in wood structures. They do not feed on wood but like to build nests in them. They will not hesitate to establish colonies inside your home furniture or wooden walls when they invade your home. The extent of damage these pests can inflict on your property will take some time to build up, but when they do, your repair costs will get into thousands of dollars. Sometimes, the damage will be so bad that you must replace the item entirely. Whenever you find any hint of carpenter ants on your property, hire the best pest control company for carpenter ants, Modern Pest Control.

Five Naturally Effective Ant Prevention Tips

The substances we recommend are not all-natural, but they are much safer for you, your loved ones, your pets, and the environment than chemical insecticides. In addition, they are inadequate to clear the entire colonies, but they work to some extent:

Borax powder - also known as sodium borate, combines boron, sodium, and oxygen. Boron is the practical element in an ant bait. The borax powder is poisonous to humans and pets if inhaled or absorbed.
Baby powder and baking soda - these elements suffocate ants by clogging their breathing system, and they also react with the acid in the digestive system, which causes the pest to explode when they ingest it. It is crucial to note that baking soda can cause your grass and soil to dry up.
Diatomaceous earth (DE) - DE consists of tiny fossil remains of diatoms which are several hard-shelled microalgae. It is non-toxic to humans and pets but deadly to ants. DE particles pierce through the joints and exoskeletons of the ants, drying up their fluids to kill them. DE, however, becomes unsuccessful when wet, so you must keep it away from moist areas, especially outdoors.
Filling the entire nest with water regularly - Filling the nest with water is a way to destroy ants. Remember, some ants can survive up to 24 hours underwater, so you must undertake the process more than once. This method will drain the ants, grass, and surrounding plants, leaving a wet spot on your lawn.
Soap water - the soap in the water weakens the cell membrane of ants and damages the water-resistant coating that prevents them from dehydrating to death. If you choose to add oil, you will block the ant's spiracles which are vital to their breathing, and cause them to suffocate. In addition, soap water will damage plants in your garden. So, you have to be mindful of its application.

These methods are safe for the family, pets, and the environment. However, they may not be efficient enough to eliminate ant colonies. In addition, water and rain can wash off your natural powder treatments, making it necessary to re-apply the powders when water gets to them. Since these remedies are not guaranteed, you need to contact Modern Pest Control professionals for Cypress' best ant control solutions.

Total Ant Control For Cypress Homes

We have seen the sort of problems that ants bring. If you are looking for effective ant control from the best pest control company for ants, Modern Pest Control is your go-to team. When professionals offer you pest control ant treatment, it will be a solution that will keep them off your property for good. You don't want to guess your way into temporarily eliminating these pests, especially the dangerous ones like carpenter ants. Avoid the issues that ants can cause by going for the best pest control for ants from the pros.

Many types of ants can invade your Cypress home. For example, pavement ants, acrobat ants, fire ants, sugar ants, crazy ants, and carpenter ants. If you decide to get rid of ants, you can use organic ant control for your homes, like borax powder and baking soda. But ideally, these options will fail to address the root problem because you cannot use them to eliminate odorous house ants that can nest in your food stores. In addition, ants like carpenter ants that live inside wood require a specialized way of removing their colonies. So, to prevent your home from nesting ants, hire Modern Pest Control for fire ant control solutions and outdoor ant control treatments you can rely on to deal with the issues completely. You can count on us to service your pest control needs because we are the best pest control near you for ants.