ANTS

Known as very social insects, ants live in colonies.

They cooperate and maintain order with assigned performance of tasks.

The typical colony consists of worker and reproductive ants. All workers are female.

Moreover, they construct nest, gather food, tend to their young.

Additionally, she moves the colony and defends it, when necessary.

Moreover, like the female-rule kingdom of bees and wasps.

Males perform seasonally and are in small numbers.

However, once done mating, males serve no further purpose.

Males may be ignored or removed by the female workers.

The very first line of defense to seeing ants in or around the home, is grabbing your favorite can and spray, spray, spray.

Unfortunately, here you are treating the symptoms not the problem, furthermore, ignoring the root cause.

For this reason, the routine spraying seldom provides an end to the problem.

Remember this, ants usually enter structures in search of food.

First and foremost, in pest control, exclusion is the first line of defense.

This requires using steps to prevent pests from entering the structure.

Most often, ants are nesting outside a structure. They make routine raids; indoors in search of food.

As a matter of fact, sometimes they enter the structure and establish nests.

For this reason, inspect entry points for ants around the foundation, crawlspaces and basements.

Similarly, another tool in the pest control arsenal is sanitation.

For example, include keeping plants, mulch, landscaping, and debris away from the foundation.

Incidentally, moisture attracts insects; consider repairing leaky faucets, pipes, or clogged gutters.

Making food unavailable not only discourages them from establishing trails into a structure.

It makes them more likely to accept baits.

Purchase baits and products from Rid Alert and with proper use insects problems become a thing of the past.

Illinois Department of Public Health is another excellent resource to learn about pest control. Go to http://dph.illinois.gov/search/site/ants.