Spring is a beautiful time of year, especially in Illinois. The weather becomes warmer, flowers start to bloom, and honey bees come out to pollinate your garden. However, there is another bug that also comes out of the shadows every spring and has the potential to cause damage to your health and property: ants.
Ants may seem harmless due to their small size, but as a unit. They can cause tremendous harm. Ants infestations are a common occurrence during the spring due to a number of factors. Ants are cold blooded, therefore they rely on external sources of heat, hence they become more active as the weather starts to warm. There are also dangers of spring floods, which can damage their nests, causing them to seek shelter indoors.
In this article, we will discuss the kinds of damage ants can cause, how to identify an infestation, how to prevent infestations from happening, and what steps to take when one occurs.
Understanding Different Kinds of Ants:
Before we discuss damages caused by ants, it is important to understand different types of ants we see in Illinois so we understand variations in type of infestation and prevention strategies.
Carpenter Ants:
Carpenter ants are the most noticeable ants found in and around homes in Illinois in spring and remain active through early fall (IDPH).
They can be recognized by their size and color. They range in size around ¼ to ¾ inch and are typically blackish in color.
They will establish nests at different locations such as tree stumps, hollow logs, or any other large piece of wood. The best way to target carpenter ants is to destroy the parent nest with dust of residual insecticides. Finding the carpenter ants colony can be difficult.
They have an ability to burrow into wood and create intricate tunnels and nests that can cause damage to the structural integrity of your property.
Their diet consists of anything that humans eat, i.e., carbohydrates or proteins.
Pavement Ants:
Pavement ants are smaller than carpenter ant; they range around ⅛ to ⅙ inch and are of blackish brown color.
Pavement ants become most active in Spring and early summer. They can travel more than 30 feet from their nest in search of food.
They set up nests outdoors next to structures, under cracks of pavement, under floors and insulation, etc. They enter through cracks or other openings in search of food. Their preferred foods are greasy and sweet food.
The best way to eradicate pavement ants is to place baits along their trails. The worker ants are likely to carry the bait to their nests, helping eradicate entire colonies.
Little Black Ants:
Little black ants are about 1/15 inch long and their nests are usually outdoors, in soil, or under objects.
These ants have large colonies with many queens. They are known for their ability to infiltrate even the cleanest of homes due to their persistence.
They can potentially contaminate food sources and potentially spread disease (IDPH).
Like pavement ants, placing baits along their trails or places where they are primarily found is the best way to eradicate them.
What Kinds of Damage can Ants Cause?
There are many types of damages that ants can cause.
Ants of all types can bite other people if they believe they are being threatened. This bite, although not considered to be very dangerous, if left alone, can cause the skin to become infected.
Fire ants, which are ants found in the southern states, can sting people, injecting venom in the process. The effects of the venom can vary from swelling and redness to chest pain and dizziness.
Ants can also cause significant damage to your home. Ants, such as carpenter ants, usually build nests in hollow surfaces and wood that is weak. They can cause damage to it by digging tunnels throughout the structure, causing large amounts of damage.
Ants can also cause outdoor problems. Most ants set up colonies underground in dirt. Since ants are omnivores, they consume various food sources such as plants and animals. This can cause considerable damage to people’s gardens and is something they should be on the lookout for.
Ants can also cause unseen problems. Ants, such as farming ants, secret pheromones that attract their prey, one of these prey being aphids, which can also cause large amounts of damage to your property.
How to identify an ant infestation:
For ants, there are multiple signs that your house may be infested by ants.
If you are outside the house and see large build ups of soil, that may be a sign since ants build their colonies’ nests by building large amounts of soil.
Another sign may be tapping on certain wood surfaces, such as soft spots and crumbling edges; this may indicate damage done to these surfaces by ants.
How to prevent ant infestation:
Keep Your Home Sanitized!
The most important way you can prevent an infestation is by keeping your home clean. Tasks such as taking out the trash daily, cleaning any food or spills on your floor, and sweeping your house floor regularly. Ants are attracted to leftover foods and water spills.
Keep Your Outdoors Clean
Keeping your house clean on the inside alone is not the only solution. Making sure the outside of your house is clean is also important by lawn mowing regularly, trimming foundational shrubs, keeping firewood away from the house, and inspecting the foundations for rotting wood and other nesting sites.
Seal Entry Points
It is also important to seal any potential entry points on the outside of your house. Holes, cracked in window sills, etc, are potential entry points for ants to enter your house.
How to Control Ants: Call a Professional Pest Control Service
Spring can be a beautiful time of year, but it can also be unpleasant if you do not take the proper measures to ensure an ant infestation does not occur.
While it is important to take the necessary steps to prevent one, if infestation does occur, it is best to call a professional pest control service to handle the issue.
If you are looking for services that offer Ants Extermination Control in Aurora, Naperville & surrounding areas in Northern Illinois, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest and Rodent Solutions, Inc at (630) 779-7674.
