Got Ants? Keep Those Ants Out!

Do you have ants? Did you know that ants are among the smartest and most prevalent insects on Earth? Most every household kitchen has had an invasion of them. Ants arrive unannounced, quickly and silently, day or night, seeking out food and crumbs.

Ants come in through small cracks around door jambs then wind around the home from room to room close to the walls until they reach the food supply in the kitchen or pantry. Spraying visible ants does not eliminate the underlying problem because the ones you see only represent a fraction of the colony. Thousands, sometimes millions more ants including one or more queen ants are hiding somewhere in a nest. The trick is to locate the colony and destroy all the ants.

Ants nest inside homes behind the walls, inside door frames, window casements, under flooring and in basements. Outside, they nest in the ground, under mulch, gravel, timbers, wood, home exterior siding and under concrete slabs.

There are many varieties of ants found in the United States. The southern U.S. has biting red ants which are slowly making their way north. Carpenter ants are everywhere and can cause almost as much damage to wood as termites. There are lawn ants, leaf cutter ants, acrobat ants, pharaoh ants, black ants, crazy ants, meat-eating ants, and Argentine ants just to name a few. Japan is known for having the most ants in the world--some 400 different species. Some ants are so tiny, it's impossible to tell their species with the naked eye.

Ants contaminate food and carry germs that may harm us. For their size, ants are stronger and have larger brains than any other insect or animal, including man. If man had the proportionate strength of an ant, he could lift a car over his head!

Ants can sense food from a great distance and send out workers to retrieve and stockpile food for the nest. A new ant control product called AntEater claims to be safe for use around food and pets, and is now available to out-smart invasive ants. AntEater kills the ants on location, such as in the pantry or kitchen where the ants encounter the AntEater powder, and track it back to their colony.

AntEater and is effective against all species of ants and comes in a handy squeeze bottle with a curved spout that lets you put a puff of the powder material into corners and hard to reach places. AntEater powder never wears out and is composed of crushed petrified fresh water diatoms called DE flour. The powder is infused with natural clove oil and is approved by the ProPet Alliance of Veterinarians as safe around dogs and cats.

AntEater is also safe for use inside kitchen cupboards alongside foodstuffs. After the ants track through the powder and take it back to the nest, the powder keeps working to destroy the entire colony. Ants are intelligent enough to associate danger to a particular food supply and generally won't return to the same location again.

Here are some measures to prevent a reoccurrence of ants:

1. Don't let moisture build up under sinks from leaking pipes and other sources. Ants are attracted to
water.

2. Outdoors, move excessive mulch or soil away from the wood siding of your home.

3. Seal cracks and holes in the basement of your home where cables, wires and pipes enter the house.

4. Cut away branches of trees and shrubs where they touch the side of your home. This will stop "ant
bridges" where trails of ants can enter your home.

5. Don't stack firewood against your home or in the garage.

At certain times of the year, both ants and termites develop wings and swarm. It is important to know the difference between the two as termites require a professional exterminating company to get rid of them and protect your home.

Winged termites have a long, oval, smooth body shaped like a tiny cigar. They have equally sized wings and straight, beaded antennae.

Winged ants have a segmented body composed of three distinct sections. They have a narrow waist, front wings that are larger than the rear ones and elbowed antennae.

If you are not sure what you have, save a few winged specimens in a small bottle of alcohol and take it to your local county agricultural extension agent.