Ant Infestations
While they’re often mistaken for termites, winged ants can easily be identified as different from termites, as they will have two sets of wings, while termites have only one pair. Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News has reported that the threat of ant infestations is growing, and they now compete with termites as one of the main household pests. Ants can like in and around your home almost anywhere, and with queen carpenter ants living as long as 25 years, (and some species of ant growing in numbers to as much as 300,000 to 500,000 strong), ants are efficient, persistent, and plentiful once established. And because an ant can live for ten days on a single crumb of food, even the cleanest homes can attract ants into the space!
Each species of ant has developed its own sets of survival techniques that will help them survive in your home. As a prime example, Hotel and Motel Management warns that you should never use sprays when dealing with Pharaoh ants. These sprays case the small brown ants to separate from their original colony, where they sometimes morph into a new queen and start an entirely new colony! Other species, such as fire ants, can rapidly increase the size of their colony, with an increase in colony size of as much as 500 new offspring in a day!
Ants are famous for being diligent, relentless, and effective at nearly everything they do. Once they’ve entered your home, they’re going to be a persistent and frustrating pest to kill. However, you can take steps to help prevent ants from living in your home. One of the best moves you can make to keep ants out of the home is to encapsulate your crawl space. By installing a crawl space vapor barrier and sealing off all the crawl space vents, you take away one of the places where ants can life, thrive, and survive. A dehumidifier in the crawl space or basement can dry out the wood and organic materials, which will make the home less hospitable for carpenter ants and other pests. Upgrade your basement or crawl space today!