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Ant Control Services for Northern New Jersey Homes
Ants are
the most common and numerous insect pests in northern New Jersey. One of Earth's
most successful species, ants play an important role in plant cultivation.
Ants pollinate plants, aerate the soil to stimulate plant growth, feed on other
insects keeping harmful populations in check, and are among nature's most avid
recyclers, processing tons of dead organic matter.
How Do You Know if You Have a "Real" Ant Problem?
In northern New Jersey, look for ant activity in the spring. Most ant species nest outdoors in soil or garden mulch. They enter your home to forage for food and water. Ants can enter your home through a crack less than 1/16-inch wide. Ants commonly gain entry through door and window sills and frames, porches, garages and cracks in foundation walls. Landscape bridges created by overhanging trees and overgrown shrubbery can also provide ants with an avenue into your home.
Ants are most often discovered in kitchens and bathrooms. Ants communicate by pheromone scent trails. As they forage, scouts lay down pheromone trails to guide other workers to new food and water sources. A trailing line of ants following one of these trails across a floor to a trash can is often a homeowner's first sign of an ant infestation. Certain types of ants may also swarm en masse over floors or counters. You may notice ants under sinks or in basements where they like to nest behind walls near leaking or sweating water pipes. Discovery of large black ants is an indication of a probable carpenter ant infestation.
Ant Control Services Are Best Trusted to the Pest Control Professional
The
best way to prevent ants from invading your house is to address the three things
that attract these pests: food, water and harborage. Pathways that allow these
pests entry into your house must also be eliminated.
It is important to understand that ants typically nest in large and sometimes very large colonies. When a home owner uses sprays they buy at the grocery store to treat an ant problem, they can sometimes make extermination an even larger problem. When non-professional grade sprays are used, sometimes an ant colony will split the nest and move to a number of locations complicating and exacerbating an ant intrusion problem.
Our professional ant control technicians may gel baits, sprays, granules, or a combination to treat your ant problem at the root. By allowing the worker ants to carry our professional-grade materials to their nest, the whole colony is killed; effectively solving your problem with nuisance ants. However, without proactive treatment new ant colonies can intrude into your living space again from the outside. This is why we highly recommend a home service plan when it comes to ants, as we not only kill the existing ant colony but make sure new colonies don't get started.
There Are Things You Can Do to Protect Your Home against Invading Ants As Well
Remove food sources by practicing good sanitation.
- Remove kitchen garbage daily, rinse cans and bottles before recycling,
and store outdoor trash receptacles away from the house.
- Wipe up crumbs, spilled foods, and liquids immediately and don't leave
dirty dishes in the sink.
- Keep sugar, candy and other sweets in tightly covered containers and don't
leave open food containers on counters.
- Store ripened fruit in the refrigerator, not on counters.
- Don't leave pet food sitting out for extended periods.
Eliminate
leaks and moisture problems.
- Repair leaky pipes and roofs.
- Eliminate standing water.
Eliminate potential harborage sites.
- Remove debris from around the house and yard.
- Locate firewood and lumber piles off the ground and away from the house.
- Remove lumber debris from crawl spaces.
Eliminate possible insect avenues into your house.
- Keep window and door screens in good repair and screen roof and crawl space
vents.
- Seal holes, cracks and crevices.
- Trim overhanging trees, foundation vegetation and landscape plants.
- Rake wood mulch away from foundations or replace with stone mulch.
When You Need Professional Ant Control Services
The only way to get rid of an ant infestation is with the help of a professional pest control service with an expertise in ant elimination. The continuous supply of ants generated by multi-generational colonies can make ants difficult to exterminate. Successful colony elimination requires extermination of the entire nest, including the queen and immatures that may be hidden deep within the nest in inaccessible areas.
Disturbing the site of an ant infestation makes it more difficult to successfully treat and eliminate the colony. A Seasonal Home Protection Plan can monitor for potential ant activity, stop infestations before they grow and prevent reinfestations. If you have an ant problem, contact the ant experts at Heritage Pest Control today. To find out more about ant species that are active in northern New Jersey please visit our ant identification page.
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Heritage Pest Control • Phone: Toll Free 1-866-666-3120
Email: beneventochuck@optonline.net
Main Office: 5 Plog Road, Fairfield, New Jersey 07004
Serving homes and businesses in Bergen County, NJ;
Essex County, NJ;
Hudson County, NJ;
Morris County, NJ; Passaic County, NJ;
and all points in between.