The Most Effective Ant Control Solution For Marietta Homes

When ants create problems, the problems they create can seem overwhelming. These insects can enter Marietta homes by the thousands and even hundreds of thousands! There is nothing quite like seeing your couch covered in ants, except maybe, realizing this as you get up off the couch! Ants are the worst, and, not surprisingly, they are the pests that often send residents and business owners to us. Today, we will look at some of the many ant pests in Marietta, how these ants create problems, and what you can do about them. If you landed on this page because you're looking for immediate help with an alarming ant infestation, jump to our contact page and reach out to us for ant pest control in Marietta. If not, then sit back and enjoy this quick primer on ant control. Here, you'll find everything you need to know about ants in our area.

The Many Types Of Ants Known To Invade Marietta Homes

We have a surprising number of common ant pests. It is essential to correctly identify the species of ant that has become a problem for you. Doing so will help you with ant control and prevention. Different kinds of ants have different behavior patterns and food and habitat preferences. Let's highlight some helpful facts for our most common ants.

Odorous House Ants: These ants are common home-invading pests. They are brown or black and roughly 1/8 to 1/16 inches long. The workers are the same size and are attracted to sweet food sources. When crushed, they smell like rotting coconut. Removing hummingbird feeders and other sweet food sources can help prevent an odorous house ant infestation.

Pavement Ants: These ants can invade your home and bring dirt in with them. They use the soil to create a suitable habitat for developing a nest inside your wall or floor voids. Most of the time, you'll find pavement ants creating mounds in the cracks of pavement, driveways, and walkways. Workers are brown or black and 1/8 of an inch long. These ants will eat almost anything. The best way to keep them out is to seal cracks and gaps in your exterior walls and remove leaf litter and organic debris near your exterior.

Fire Ants: These are stinging ants that cause itchy wounds. They typically establish mounds out in open areas in the hot sun. A fire ant worker is 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long. It may be entirely red or red and black. The scent of food can draw fire ants to your yard, and these ants prefer protein sources. Proper trash management is essential if you hope to keep fire ants out of your home.

Argentine Ants: These ants are known for building supercolonies and are hard to control as each colony has multiple queens. DIY ant control for Argentine ants can feel like using gasoline to put out a fire. Worker ants of this species are golden-brown. A typical food attractant is honeydew left on vegetation by aphids, whiteflies, and scale insects. Get control of plant-damaging pests to help prevent Argentine ants from targeting your property.

The Many Problems An Ant Infestation Can Create In A Home

You have lots of ants in your yard. Ants are plentiful. You aren't likely to pay much attention to them until they start doing things that cause you to notice them, such as building hundreds of mounds through your lawn, crawling around on your driveway, or scaling an exterior entryway.

Fire ants are next-level yard pests. While their unsightly mounds are enough to make you want to get rid of these ants, the way they swarm and bite is the most significant issue. Technically, they sting. But you know what we're saying. It is not fun to have fire ants invade outdoor parties or bite you while working on your landscaping.

Ants that make mounds in your yard, like fire ants, can damage your lawn. The dirt from mounds can spread as you mow over them, choking your turfgrass. Ant mounds can do a number on your lawn when combined with weed problems. Lawn ant control in Marrietta is necessary for maintaining a healthy lawn.

When ants get into your home, they can be annoying pests. Their overwhelming numbers and the fact that they can scale walls and climb across ceilings is disturbing. Some ants also group into clumps of bio-mass, which is more than a bit unsettling.

Ants get into garbage cans, drains, mop buckets, and other dirty places. They pick up microorganisms in these places and accidentally spread them to stored foods, food-prep surfaces, dishes, silverware, and more. In most cases, this contamination will only result in minor stomach illness.

Some ants get into electrical outlets and power boxes. In these places, they can cause circuits to trip. If your electrical system is acting strange or an outlet continually trips, ants are likely to be the culprits.

Is it any wonder that ants are the most common pests that drive residents to contact pest control in Marietta? If you're dealing with an ant problem, remember that the service team at ProCare Pest Services is always standing reading to help you get control of ants. We can also guide you in ways you can manage ants yourself. Let's look at some of the best ways to prevent ant problems naturally.

Naturally Effective Ways To Prevent Ants In The Home

We've touched on some methods that work to prevent common pest ants in Marrietta from infesting your home. Now, let's look at specific examples.

Remove leaves: The habitats underneath leaf litter and leaf piles are perfect for bugs. Ants eat bugs, both alive and dead. When you remove leaves, you are removing a hunting ground for ants. Outdoor ant control begins with yard work.
Trash management: The scent of rotting organic matter is appealing to ants. If you don't get your receptacles to the curb and your trash sits for a week or more, the smell can become an attractant. Deodorize your containers and do your best to remove trash weekly.
Pick up nuts and store nuts away from your exterior: You might not think of nuts as food for ants, but it is. Pick nuts up throughout the warm months and store them away from your exterior.
Move bird feeders away from your exterior: Ants drink the sugary liquid inside hummingbird feeders and collect bird seed. If you don't want to move bird feeders, you can deter ants by washing down surfaces along routes ants take to get to the feeders. Worker ants leave a trail of pheromone odor. Soapy water removes the scent.
Address weed problems: When weeds take over your lawn, ants aren't far behind. All of the little flowers produced by weeds offer nectar for ants. That nectar also provides a food source for bees, wasps, mosquitoes, and many other pests. It is well worth the effort to get on top of weed problems.
Address plant-damaging insects: Many pests eat the honeydew created by aphids, whiteflies, and scale insects. Wash these insects off your plants, and consider putting colored sticky traps on your plants. The insects fly toward the colors of their choice and get stuck. It's as easy as that.
Keep lights off: Many insects, including ants, are attracted to light. Keep lights turned off at night in areas where it is not a security concern. Close your curtains and blinds as well.
Replace lights: Insects can't detect yellow light. Replace white lights with yellow lights to reduce insect activity. You'll get double the protection. You remove an ant attractant and an attractant that lures other insects to your property. Since ants eat those other insects, you get twice the impact with this tip.
Address moisture problems: Many pests are attracted to moisture, including ants. Clean your gutters to remove obstructions and repair any breaks in your gutter system. Remove unnecessary vegetation from your landscaping and consider watering your plants in the early morning.
Seal entry points: Ants get into your home because they can. Inspect your home and look for potential entry points, such as gaps around pipes, wire conduits, doors, and windows.

These natural ant-prevention tips can keep ants out of your home and reduce ant activity around your home. If you have the energy to roll your sleeves up and do the hard work, you can maintain an ant-free home without any ant pest control products.

The Best Way To Get Rid Of An Ant Infestation For Good

There is no silver bullet for ant control in Marrietta. Preventing ant infestations for good is a process. At ProCare Pest Services, we use pest control sciences to give your home layers of protection. Repellents inside your home drive ants out. A liquid application applied to your exterior makes it hard for ants to live near your home, and it also makes it less likely that ants will get inside your home. Baits reduce ant populations in your yard, and mound treatments address particularly pesky ants, like fire ants. Have you had enough? Are you ready to be done with ant infestations? We get it. Reach out to ProCare Pest Services today for targeted ant control solutions or ongoing pest control service that provides effective ant control for your Marrietta home.