Ants can be a major pest when they find their way into your home. When outside, they might be considered friends because they serve a purpose. When ants interfere with daily life or make you pull your hair out because they’re overtaking your kitchen, it’s probably time to call an exterminator.
Making the Call
You’re at that point where you’re wondering, is Terminix a scam and how much does an ant exterminator cost? The truth is the cost varies depending on the company and the treatment method. It also depends on the extent of the infestation. If you see a few scouter ants, there’s a good chance of a colony somewhere you can’t see.
When you start seeing ants, you likely only see a few at first or even a trail. You clear out the group, and you think life is great again because you got rid of the ants. Unfortunately, that’s not how ants work. Instead, they are social creatures that live in large groups. Typically, they build a nest in a place that isn’t easy for most homeowners to reach. That’s why you need to call a professional to take care of the situation.
Getting Rid of Ants Yourself
You might decide it is worthwhile to get rid of the ants yourself, but you need to act quickly once you see those scouter ants. The first thing you need to do is find where they’re coming from by following them. There are often small crevices that they can get through, so you need to seal the spots once you find their entry point.
From this point, you’ll need both bait and pesticide spray. For an effective sugar ant bait, mix borax with table sugar, and ants will come running because they think they’re getting the good stuff. As a word of warning, keep this away from pets and children because it can be harmful if accidentally ingested. Ants will take the borax sugar mixture back to the nest to share it with the other ants, and they’ll all eventually die out. Use pesticides to keep them out after they’ve gone.
Other ants, like carpenter ants, tunnel through the wood structures of your home and can cause structural damage if not taken care of quickly. If you see carpenter ants, you need to call a professional immediately to get rid of them. If you wait too long, the damage can be significant, and you may end up requiring major repairs. Also Read – How To Install UNDER CABINET LIGHTING?
When Bad Is Too Bad
Ants can cause extensive damage if you’re not careful to get rid of them as soon as you see them. Sugar ants are common culprits in homes because they detect sugary foods with a sense of smell like a bloodhound. They will eat through your food if it’s not stored correctly, forcing you to throw away affected food items.
If you don’t get rid of ants quickly, you can end up with a thick trail of the nuisances crawling across your walls, counters, ceilings, and any other surface they can find. You won’t be able to keep food out because they’ll find it. You and your family can also suffer from ant bites if the trails are disturbed. When the possibility of bodily harm presents itself, you’ve let the ants go for far too long and need a professional’s help to get the ant infestation under control.
Information an Ant Exterminator Needs to Know
Once you call a professional, there are a few details you need to have so they know what to expect. Start by searching for the entry points and see if you can find the nest. Look in familiar places like walls, under stacks of firewood, garden areas, potted plants, and inside rotten wood. If you can spot them, you can tell the exterminator to know where to look and treat the infestation.
You also want to keep track of when the infestation appears to have started. Timing is crucial because a longer infestation time requires more robust treatment. Noticing ants a few days before the exterminator arrives is vastly different from waiting a month before making a call. They lay millions of eggs, and the more ants there are, the harder it will be to get rid of them.
Exterminators can also use information about the trails ants leave behind. For example, carpenter ants will leave wood shavings behind while odorous house ants give off a unique smell. If you find piles of wings, that’s another sign that you have the beginning of an ant problem. Noting where these things are can let the exterminator know where the treatment needs to occur. Also Read – How to Repair Home Windows?
Getting Rid of Them Once and For All
Do yourself a favor and call an exterminator so you don’t miss the colony and have to deal with the ants all over again later. You can try to get rid of them yourself, but you’re better off calling a pro before it gets too bad. Take notice of what you see around the ants and let the exterminator know, so they can apply the proper treatment and course of action to get rid of the ants in your home.
