March & April are the times of year when Ants invade your home and garden.
The most common species that invades our houses is the Black Garden Ant, which is actually very dark brown in colour.
All ants have the main divisions of the body (head, thorax, abdomen) distinctly separated by very narrow waists and have a sharp elbow joint in their antennae. They are very intelligent highly organised and social insects.(so you will see them congregating around some crumbs on the patio having a chat:) It is the foraging worker ants that invade buildings in search of food. These are from 3 to 6mm in length and are attracted to all sweet foodstuffs which they take back to the nest to feed to the larvae and queen.
Ant eggs sold for aquaria fish are actually the pupae. Flying ants are the reproductive males and females. These mating ants are winged and have a nuptial swarming flight during only a few days in July or August. Mating takes place in the air and the female then seeks out a nest site where she stays for the winter, laying eggs the following spring in order to start up a new colony.
How to deal with Ants in your house or garden
The first point of action is to find the nest entrances. These are indicated by small piles of earth pellets or can be located by observing the ants moving back and forth from food to nest.
If you Pour a kettle of boiling water over the nest site this is a first-aid measure.
Some products cause the workers to destroy their own nests, for example, sugar based liquid bait. The workers are attracted to the bait and carry the insecticide back to the larvae and queen. I’m some cases centrally heated blocks of flats and house may be troubled by the much smaller tropical Pharaoh’s Ant, which prefers protein to sweet foods and has multiple - and often inaccessible – nests within the building structure.
The Ghost Ants are becoming more common in heated buildings and really can become a haunting insect very quickly. These are a similar size to Pharaoh’s ants and are pale in coloured with a dark thorax and head. Swat Pest Control can help with identifying and controlling ant infestation.
Please do not hesitate to Contact Lorcan or the team for a survey & quote 087 1431 999.