Ant Extermination Services in Colorado
Ants are some of the most common and most annoying insects. The various species range in size from less than 2mm to ¾ of an inch long and each colony can consist of hundreds to millions of ants. If your home is infested, you will need to call your extermination professional at Colorado Pest Pros.
How to Control Ants
Ants live in large colonies, so controlling them is not often easy. Keeping your home clean is important, but quite often it is not enough. Ants will eat anything, and even the smallest crumb is enough to bring them into your home.
The problem is that they might already be there. Ants have been known to have thriving colonies living in your walls and under your floors.
The Ant Extermination 3-Step Process
- Identification of species. Once the pest professional has identified the species of ant, they will know the best way to treat your infestation.
- Evaluation of the infestation. The pest professional will find the nests and evaluate home factors such as pets and children to determine the safest manner of extermination.
- Treatment. Once all the factors are evaluated, appropriate treatment will be applied.
Carpenter Ants: Did You Know?
- Carpenter ants get their name from their ability to excavate wood and form smooth tunnels inside.
- They are identifiable by the spike located on the abdomen.
- They prefer to make their nests in damp wood.
- They can be mostly found in forest areas.
- While they chew through wood, they don’t actually eat it.
- Male carpenter ants and reproductive females (queens) have wings and are often mistaken for termites. The difference between the two is that winged ants have two sets of wings with the front wings noticeably longer. Termites, while also having two sets of wings, have wings that are the same size. Shortly after mating, the female carpenter ant will shed her wings by biting them off while the winged male ants will die.
There are over 700 different types of ants. In Colorado, there are three main species found in the home: Pavement ants, Sugar ants, and Carpenter ants. Pavement ants are no more than a nuisance. Sugar ants will keep coming back to where they have found food before. Sugar ants also bite. Carpenter ants are capable of causing the most trouble.
The lifecycle goes through four stages during which they experience complete metamorphosis from egg to pupa, to larva, to the insect stage. Queen ants have been known to live up to 30 years.
Ants, in general, are easily identifiable by the three sections of their bodies: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen in addition to their antennae. They can be small or large and most are either brown or black in color. They will eat almost anything, but they are primarily drawn to sweets.
Ants are very social. They live in colonies where they work together to gather food and care for their young in an organized manner. There is actually a caste system of Queens, reproductive males, and nonreproductive females who serve as the workers and soldiers.