Fascinating World in Different Group of Ants
July 14, 2023
Powerful Tactics for Defending Your Space Against Ants Infestation
July 14, 2023
Ants Pest Blog
Pharaoh ants, crazy ants and ghost ants, learn effective methods for defence against ants. Including tips for prevention, natural remedies and professional pest management solutions to keep your home ant-free. Knowing the type of species is crucial for finding the right solution to any infestation problem.
Defence Against Ants Pest Blog - Part 1
Defence Against Ants in Singapore
Numerous species of ants are common in Singapore such as pharaoh ants, carpenter ants, crazy ants and more. They have a few unique capabilities. How they communicate helps colonies work together as super organisms. 20 quadrillion ants inhabit the earth, which equates to approximately 2.5 million ants on earth for every human.
Identify and document ants species from the family formicidae are numbers over 12,000. Patrick Schultheiss and experts in insects, wild birds and mammals believe there are more than 20,000 ant species. You can find them almost everywhere in the world except Antarctica and some islands. Many people want to know, how to get rid of ants permanently?
Pharaoh Ants (Monomorium pharaonis)
Pharaoh ant is a major indoor pest in Singapore, these ant problems are capable of surviving in homes. These social insects dominate and start an ant nests colonies within buildings. They not only consume food, this ant population is capable of "getting into things." Pharaoh ant infestation is a major pest problem to residences, bakeries, factories, officesย and areas where food is process.
ย
Size :
- ย 1/16" to 3/32"
- Shape :ย Eyes tiny, sub-angular shoulders, head and thorax
- Colour : Golden yellow to reddish
- Legs :ย 6
- Wings :ย Female no, male loses it after mating, but do not fly
- Antenna :ย Yes, 12 segment antennae
Diet :
Ants are attract to eating a lot of things syrups, natural fruits, meats, pet food and different kind of dead insects. They can cause major problem for businesses that handles store food, groceries goods, stores, hospitals, and buildings.
Habitat :
Pharaoh ants love the tropical countries and near warm, moisture areas. Ants in your home might make their nest site in hard to reach places, like behind baseboards, furniture, under the floors and between linens.
Impact :
Ants worker infests everywhere in building areas where food is accessible and infests locations that is out of reach. Pharaoh ants have a wide range of food preference, during an infestation it lead to food source that are sweet, or oily. Resulting in so much food discard because of the contamination. In ant infested hospitals, patients of burn and newborn babies are at risk because pharaoh ants can transmit salmonella.
Prevention :
The easiest way to prevent antsย infestationย is toย avoid them from entering your propertyย in the first place.
- Keep the kitchen clean after cooking every meal and store leftoversย in sealed containers.ย
- Seal cracks and crevices to avoid all possible entry points.
- Pharaoh ants need water, be sure to regularly maintain or fix any leaky pipes.
- Keep your premises clean and your floors mopped often. And do not leave food outside unattended for longer than 2 hours.
Solution :
Effective way to eliminate large numbers of pharaoh ants is by the use of baits, the ant baits are attractive to these species. Modern baits uses insect growth regulators an active substance that attracts to the food content and brings it to the nest. Baits cannot be place in just about any location and expect to work. Pharaoh and various other ants species can be exterminate with baits of 1% boric acid and part water.
Advisable to call Innovative pest ants control services to inspection and identify the type of ants infestation. A suitable plan will be discuss to rid of the pest problems permanently.
Crazy Ants (Paratrechina longicornis)
Crazy ant worker do not sting, they tend to spray formic acid as a defence mechanism to overcome their prey. They have gotten their name for their unusual erratic and frantic movement. The most craziest part about the crazy ants is their attention to electrical equipment. These invasive species of insect goes through warm climates, kills wildlife and invades buildings.
These are the type of ant abundance that swarm in huge numbers and pesticides hardly slows them down. Yet manages to sometimes disappears mysteriously.ย They harm the total biomass island's ecosystem.
Size :
- ย 1/8"
- Shape :ย Eyes tiny, sub-angular shoulders, head, thorax, body has long coarse hairs and legs
- Colour : Dark brown to blackish
- Legs :ย 6
- Wings :ย Female no, male loses it after mating, but do not fly
- Antenna :ย Yes, 12 segment antennae
Diet :
Crazy ants are omnivorous and feed on live species of dead insects, seeds, natural fruits, potted plants and household foods.
Habitat :
According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and University of Hong Kong. They are highly adaptable to live in both moist and dry areas. They prefer nesting in places like trash, leaf litter, rotten wood, and soil, and nest in a variety of locations. The crazy ant nest site can be locate by following the workers ant trail carrying food back to their colony.
Impact :
In United States, these pest are invasive species and will take over your home and your property quickly. Their numbers of ants populations comes huge and they can rid of ants that are of other types. They are capable of biting and considered less painful than of a fire ants. There will inflict a major issue when they find an entry points into your home.
They infest in a large colony and typically these ants permanently build their nests inside your home. Commonly close to electrical equipment and sockets that can then leads to malfunction.
Prevention :
- Part of defence against ants requires sealing window, doors, cracks and crevices to avoid all possible entry points.
- Caulk around the cracks within wall voids, doors and windows to defence against ants.
- Check in or around the premises for any pipe openings like wire casings and pvc pipes and seal them.
- Clean thoroughly spills after meals to avoid attracting the crazy worker ants.
Solution :
Crazy ant infest in a significant quantity in residential homes, commercial businesses, or outdoors. They often travel great distances away from their own crazy ant colonies, so nests are often difficult to locate. Using a conservative estimate, the cost for crazy ant control in the affected area is not as costly. Contact Innovative pest control services for an inspection, permanent defence against ants, prevent, eliminate ants and deter ants problems.
Ghost Ant (Tapinoma melanocephalum)
Ghost ants are label as such for obvious reasons, in fact extremely hard to see because of their pale colour and tiny body size. Commonly in the tropical, but these species are originally from African or Asian. In Singapore, you can find ant activity in homes and this type of ants are not able to survive in the northern part. Unless in greenhouses and warmer climate, which some people may decide to coexist.
And deter ants with essential oils as an ant repellent home remedies solution.
Size :
- ย 1/16"
- Shape :ย Eyes tiny, sub-angular shoulders, darker head, thorax
- Colour : Pale yellowish
- Legs :ย 6
- Wings :ย Female no, male loses it after mating, but do not fly
- Antenna :ย Yes, 12 segment antennae
Diet :
Ants that lives in structural building prefer feeding onย sweets, treats, crumbs, pet food and grease. In the wild, they will feed on various living and dead insects.
Habitat :
They usually nest in wall voids, in between cabinets and inside the dirt of potted plants. Workers often make trails under the carpet edges and along the wires casings well hidden from view. They need high moisture environment and commonly found near water sources such as sinks, showers, bathtubs, potted plants and so forth.
Impact :
Ghost ants cannot bite or sting human, as they do not have harmful stingers. However, they can become a great nuisance during infestation as they are great at hiding and building nest inside homes. Similar toย odorous house ants, ghost ants give out a coconut like smell odour when crush. Causing scent to eventually attract other ants to come.
Prevention :
- Make a habit to regularly check under the dish washing sinks as part of defence against ants. Maintain and repair leaks or drips pipes around the premises and the toilets.
- Check the edges of the carpet, in the shoe cabinets, around windows and doors for trails.ย
- Turn over any rocks at the outdoor space, bricks or debris on the ground.
- To pay attention to the area around walls and walking paths by pulling back the grass outdoors.
Solution :
Non-chemical control is base entirely on exclusion through eliminating their main food sources. Crazy ants nest are usually outdoors so caulking around the area may prevent their entrance and future infestation. Indoor chemical controls are baits, dusts, and spot treatments with chemical or non-chemical residual sprays. Outdoor treatments may include chemical formulations as ant traps, baits, granules, dusts, and sprays.
Contact Innovative pest control services for an ants inspection. Various ways to effectively rectify ants infestation. Our team of specialists will plan a suitable program to solve the problems permanently.
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