Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Types or species of ants will determine your approach to inspection and maintenance. You must identify ants because the type or species of ants will determine your approach to inspections and treatments.
Is the ant a nested ant from the ground or wood or is it opportunistic in the selection of hive location? Is it a polydomous type (many nests) or polygynous (many queens)? Is it the species that will respond to the bait well enough to affect the control? Ants nested ground will be found near the ground surface while wood ants are usually found in wood. Polydomous and polygynous opportunistic species are the hardest-controlled ants.
The quickest way to control the ants is to find and eradicate the ant colonies directly. In most cases, most of the attacks come from the outside with the possibility of a small colony indoors. Even with Pharaoh's ants that were mainly nested indoors, many sought-after meals were done outside the building.
You have identified the ants that are invades your home. If you are dealing with the pharaoh ants and maybe the Explorer ants, you have to go straight to ant bait. For other ant types, you should strive first to find and care for the colony involved and use Ant bait as a supplement for treatment. If a colony is difficult to find or with difficult-to-solve cases, the ant bait becomes the main tool to choose.
The first thing — bait ants will only work if the target ant likes and eats the bait for a long time.
Many times, ants can start eating the bait later, after a short time, start ignoring the bait. Ant colonies also have different nutritional needs at different times of the year or based on preference. For this reason, it is a good practice to offer ants two or more different baits, including the type of formulation to know which target ants are liked. For example, you might offer a drop of 2 different gel baits and 1 or 2 different granular feeds. Whatever the ant liked, give them more bait.
It is also important to set the "delivery point" as much as possible. During the inspection, especially outside, place the drip bait gel/jelly or a small pile of bait grain along the edges of the concrete, in the corners, in the hose, window sills, etc. Such pre-bait helps
(1) Identify the area where the target ant is active
(2) Determine if any other potentially offensive species
(3) Help build the trail of ants that can be followed back to the colony to allow direct treatment.
Ant Bait Choices
Here are some other ant bait tips that might help:
Is the ant a nested ant from the ground or wood or is it opportunistic in the selection of hive location? Is it a polydomous type (many nests) or polygynous (many queens)? Is it the species that will respond to the bait well enough to affect the control? Ants nested ground will be found near the ground surface while wood ants are usually found in wood. Polydomous and polygynous opportunistic species are the hardest-controlled ants.
The quickest way to control the ants is to find and eradicate the ant colonies directly. In most cases, most of the attacks come from the outside with the possibility of a small colony indoors. Even with Pharaoh's ants that were mainly nested indoors, many sought-after meals were done outside the building.
You have identified the ants that are invades your home. If you are dealing with the pharaoh ants and maybe the Explorer ants, you have to go straight to ant bait. For other ant types, you should strive first to find and care for the colony involved and use Ant bait as a supplement for treatment. If a colony is difficult to find or with difficult-to-solve cases, the ant bait becomes the main tool to choose.
The first thing — bait ants will only work if the target ant likes and eats the bait for a long time.
Many times, ants can start eating the bait later, after a short time, start ignoring the bait. Ant colonies also have different nutritional needs at different times of the year or based on preference. For this reason, it is a good practice to offer ants two or more different baits, including the type of formulation to know which target ants are liked. For example, you might offer a drop of 2 different gel baits and 1 or 2 different granular feeds. Whatever the ant liked, give them more bait.
It is also important to set the "delivery point" as much as possible. During the inspection, especially outside, place the drip bait gel/jelly or a small pile of bait grain along the edges of the concrete, in the corners, in the hose, window sills, etc. Such pre-bait helps
(1) Identify the area where the target ant is active
(2) Determine if any other potentially offensive species
(3) Help build the trail of ants that can be followed back to the colony to allow direct treatment.
Ant Bait Choices
Which Ant Baits Do I Choose?
Here are some other ant bait tips that might help:
- Finding bait placements closer to the colony can improve feed acceptance.
- Place multiple placements along the path of the skipped ants.
- Once the liked Ant bait is known, do not skimp in quantities, especially when the number of ants is significant.
- Indoors, use a damp paper towel or sponge to sweep the trail of ants back to the wall or floor exit and then put the bait there. This helps minimize the number of ants coming.
- For carpenter ants, place the bait on or at the known entry point at the base of the uninfested tree.
- For the Pharaoh's ants, the placement of the bait inside the wall outlet and replacing the box in the insect-filled room increases the reception of the bait and helps keep the ants looking for food inside the walls.
- Bait outdoors and indoors for Pharaoh's ants to get faster results.
- Follow up within a few days to a week to change or update the bait.
- If Ant bait is not accepted, try a different feed.
- Use an ant feeding container that can be refilled if possible. Some of them can be attached to the tree limbs, tree trunks, and fences to increase the longevity of the bait outdoors. If more security is needed, place the ant bait in the rounder, on the roof, etc.
- Always follow the label instructions.