Hood River Ant Control

Pointe Understands Local Ant Control

Ants may seem like one of the least upsetting species of insect you can find in your home, but they can do a great deal of damage in large numbers. While it’s very difficult to keep stray ants from entering your house, those that enter will leave a pheromone trail for other ants to follow. The trail acts as the most perfect type of breadcrumb. Of course, the ants will only have cause to stay if you are providing them with food. So one of the first orders of business for you will be to determine why the ants want to get in.

Even very clean houses can residue on countertops that ants can eat. In cases where there’s food left over in garbage bags or in dirty dishes in the sink, you can find yourself with a full-on infestation. If that’s the case, the first thing that you’ll likely do is buy ant traps from the store. For reasons we’ll get into below, ant traps don’t always work. At that point, you either live with the problem or call in the professionals. Pointe Pest Control understands how ant infestations happen and what you can do to not only get rid of a current problem but prevent a future one. Give us a call or contact us online and we will conduct a full inspection.

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“If I let water run down into the ant hole, it’ll drown them.”

not true. get the facts.

Why Do Store-Bought Ant Traps Fail?

There are two kinds of store-bought ant traps. At least some of them will purport to be “quick killing”. Quick killing ant traps do exactly what they say: They poison the ant and it dies immediately. Yet this is not the preferred outcome. The hope is that the ant will take the poison back to their colony where they will share it with the other ants and they will all die together. The only thing that quick killing ant traps do is lure ants to their death. Hence, you accumulate a pile of dead ants under your sink or couch.

In addition, homeowners may not be sure which baits to buy from the store. Indeed, this is more complicated than passing a cashier $10. Different types of ants have different dietary needs and the dietary needs of those ants shift throughout the year. Ants like their proteins in the spring and then in late summer, they prefer a carb-rich diet. If your baits aren’t working, they’re probably the wrong ones.

One other thing that homeowners don’t do very well is place their baits. Remember, that the purpose of a bait is to lure ants to take the poison, bring it back to their colony, and kill the entire colony. However, you are luring these ants into your home which makes it a bit of a risk. You may end up luring ants that you don’t have into your home and doubling the problem. Knowing your ant is the first key to success.

“JUST WANTED TO SAY WHAT A SUPER NICE GUY BRENT IS. YOU COULDN’T HAVE ANYONE BETTER TO REPRESENT YOUR COMPANY.”
-MB

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What Kind of Damage Can Ants Cause to My Home?

Ants can cause more damage to your home than you probably suspect, but different ants cause different kinds of damage.

Acrobat ants will start colonies in abandoned ant galleries inside your home. They enjoy meats, proteins, and sweets. They also bite and their bites are generally painful, although otherwise, they’re harmless. They will enlarge galleries left behind by other ants and this can worsen the structural damage to your home. They will come from overhanging branches and can tightrope electrical lines. They will damage your insulation on their way into your home. In some cases, they will short electrical circuits.

Carpenter ants are named for what they destroy: Wood. They will dig into moist wood to create passageways for other ants. They will feed on meats, proteins, other insects, and sweets.

Pavement ants are so named because they like nesting underneath pavement. They are the small black ants that you are familiar with but look nearly indistinguishable from the odorous house ant. They can create problems in your home by chewing through your insulation, worsening cracks in your flooring, and more.

Odorous house ants are so named for the smell they emit when they’re crushed. It is very difficult to tell them apart from pavement ants. They are more of a nuisance than anything, but you will find them en masse inside your home. They draw in other insects, like spiders, that use them for food. To avoid them, you will need to keep all of your food in tightly contained bins. This includes pet food.

Seek High-Quality Local Ant Control in Hood River

Ants are a bigger problem than you probably think, but Pointe Pest Control has the solution. Not only will we exterminate a current infestation, we can prevent them from coming back. Contact us here to set up an appointment.