Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

Transcript from Ant Control-Professional Bug Pesticides video:

Pest Control Professional and Ant Control Specialist Speaks: “What does Raid and professional sprays do? That’s what we want to talk about next. Let’s talk about this picture down here that I drew. Let’s pretend like this black mass is the colony itself, it’s where all the young are breeding. It’s where all the worker minors, the eighty percent of the colony, are thriving, right in here. Forgers will often times forge outside, but they’ll also forge inside, like on the floors or up on the counter tops. That’s what the little black dots represent.”

“Other bug companies use a pump can to pump up their spray, their standard bug spray, their insect spray, and they spray along the floorboards right here. If someone has an ant problem, they’ll spray right here. If it’s a really bad problem, they’ll tell the consumer to open up your cabinet and take all the stuff out, and spray all over in here, and they spray inside, everywhere. They even might spray up on the counter top. And they’re just using a general pesticide. Usually it’s some sort of a pyrethroid; that means it’s been dried from a chrysanthemum flower, very similar to the products that we use.”

“But, they’re spraying it all over here. And you’ve got to ask yourself, well, what does all of that spray do? And I’ll tell you what all that spray does. It will kill any ant that’s out right now at the time. But, this spray, as is Raid and most professional sprays, they’re all repellents. Ants can tell that they’re there, so ants will not cross them. In other words, the colony right here will just refuse to come out. They just won’t come out. And so what you’ll see is a consumer who’s had another pest control company, but if this house is in a neighborhood that’s infested with ants and they have ants, what’s going to happen is the guy comes in and sprays, everything’s cool for about three to six weeks. And then BAM, the ants are right back in the same place, or three feet to the right. Or the guy comes out and sprays and this colony moves, and it starts showing up in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or just some place other than where he sprayed. This is why people think that when you spray, bugs move from one location to the next.”

“Most pests can’t tell that the insecticides are down, but ants can, and they won’t cross it, so they’ll move their colony. Another thing that can happen is let’s say there’s another cabinet over here, right? This is the kitchen and there’s another cabinet over here. This is the pantry. And there’s a whole bunch of stuff in the pantry. And there were just a tremendous amount of forgers forging in here. And the guy says, well, I’m going to go to the source, and he sprays all over here. But, all of these ants can’t go back across the line, they won’t cross it again. So you actually have divided the colony. This is called budding, and what will happen is very likely one of these normal ants, one of these normal working ants will mutate slightly into a queen, and they’ll develop a new colony. It’s called budding.”

“You have to get the queen and you’ve got to get a large majority of their workers to successfully eliminate the colony.”

- Bulwark Exterminating Ant Control

Zombie Ant Control - The next weapon.

Just when you thought it was safe to sleep at night…

When little fire ants bite’s only meant a painful welt…

We bring you a pest control story worthy of Forbes, Times, and the Wall Street Journal…

Could it be evidence of  living dead are being found at less then centimeter high?

Fungus that eats on brains is stirring…

From the deep dark Brazilian Rainforest…

We bring you…

The Zombie Ant in…

THE PEST CONTROL HORROR!

So I am not sure if I should laugh, cry, or applaud. It is true that everyone these days wants to be sensational, yes even us dole boring pest control guys that run the same routine day in and day out. Sure Billy the Exterminator makes our jobs look exciting and fun, but really… spraying scorpions, baiting ant mounds, sweeping spider webs from the eaves… It’s not as glamorous as Dirty Jobs makes it seems. Granted on occasion stepping back 20 feet from a huge hornets nest and letting the Wasp Freeze fly is pretty cool. And the adrenaline certainly kicks in when those nasty flying pest going a buzzing. But can it be that we have reached a new level when we start calling ants dieing because they are infected with a fungus ZOMBIE ANTS?

Forbes Jumps on the Zombie Ant Viral Band Wagon

Okay, today’s post comes after receiving a notification of ants hitting Forbes’ News. http://blogs.forbes.com/johnfarrell/2011/05/10/now-science-falls-to-the-zombie-meme/ Granted John Farrell makes his case that this news is getting way too much attention…

But to take up Larry’s point, the ants aren’t really zombies in the classic sense of walking corpses. They linger for a while, as automatons, before slowly dying. They don’t come back to life looking to eat their healthier compadres.

Come back to life looking to eat other ants… LOL.. Good one John. I mean that would be freaking amazing and truly worth a journalist’s time, yet somehow we are both still dedicating time to this social phenomena. For those that don’t pay attention to Yahoo… Zombie Ants was trending on Yahoo. (Does anyone know what that means?..) I guess John and I are really hoping that this will trend on twitter so that we can get some real mileage out of covering an unworthy ant story.Yes, it takes an oxymoron to know one. Again, crying or applauding are both equally felt emotions.

The Rest Of the Story

From the scientists corner: “Zombie Ants Have Fungus on the Brain, New Research Reveals” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110509065536.htm

For a scientist that studies ants all day long, little carpenter ants that start acting erratic by stepping out of line is a big deal. And it is a little uncanny that these ants will react in sync with the high noon sun phase, biting their fierce jaws on the vein of an unsuspecting leaf. Oh yes, it is frightening to think that “lock jaw” position is the zombie corpses last act.  The leaf now providing the perfect nutrition to foster more fungus zombie creating spores to attack the next ant that wonders it’s way. Fantastic story!

Let’s hear it from their own words:

“The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts: first by using the ant as a walking food source, and second by damaging muscle and the ant’s central nervous system. The result for the ant is zombie walking and the death bite, which place the ant in the cool, damp understory. Together these events provide the perfect environment for fungal growth and reproduction.”

<APPLAUDING!>

Props to a very creative story and a killer headline and name. Who doesn’t want to know what a zombie ant is especially after a scientist has called it as such? And who says that a scientist can’t be sensational and that bugs can’t be fun? Everyday ant control needs a little extra fire in it. Exterminators what a splash of color in their work as well. So yes, there is that ever present exaggeration, but who believes in green Zombie’s anyways?

Related Pages: Charlotte Ant Control

I’ve been using Bulwark for many years and have referred your services many times over. Rest assured, I will continue to do so…You guys rock at customer service!

Debbie S.
Austin, Tx

Bulwark has shown that it understands the needs of its customers. I was impressed when I needed to cancel my service due to our financial restructuring, Bulwark did not try any “arm twisting” salesmanship in order to keep my service on-going. Now that our finances are “back on track”, I had no hesitations on letting them fulfill my exterminating needs.
Mauricio M
San Antonio, TX

Bulwark has been taking care of our property, inside and out, for the past 3 years or so. They’ve taken care of our routine bug maintenance as well as special problems that have cropped up. They were able to take care of a fire ant problem in one visit last year. John was here today to take care of an ant problem we were having. He came during the earlier part of the time slot assigned to us, which was wonderful. He took care of everything quickly and professionally. He even took off his shoes before coming into the house without me even having to ask.

Robin P.
Raleigh, NC

Bulwark believes that pest control is about taking care of the little things. …(pun intended)

Jon McCain step out on a limb and called attention to some of the new funds going out of the national government for the sake of economic stimulus.  A recent report from our local Phoenix Pest Controller debates the value of this stimulus money when it comes to researching ants.  The report says that 3.5 jobs will be supported at the Arizona schools with this near million of taxpayer’s dollars.  The 3.5 are only jobs in the schools, and it does not account for the workers that will be needed in the field research.  Even still, should the state of Arizona get $950,000 to research harvester ants and turtle ants?

Visit the original post at:

http://pestcontrolphoenixaz.net/Pest-Control/2009/12/arizona-gets-near-1-million-dollars-to-research-ants/

and add your thoughts on if $950,000 is too much for ant research.

Fire Lt. Fred Godawa of Daytona Beach blamed a recent fire on a carpenter ant colony.  According to this fireman, the ants had build a large home around the electrical outlets in the wall.  When the ants hit an electrical wire, the electrical shock ignited the ants, shoot out of the outlet and caught the entire house on fire.

For pest control operators, though this case is rare, it is no surprise.  Ants and other pests frequently travel on the homes electrical wiring.  These wires become an insect highway.  Homes are built with the wiring passing through the framework.  Holes are drilled in the wooden studs.  These holes make it much easier for pests to travel from one wall void to the next.  If they follow the wiring they can easily travel from one end of the house to the other.  They can move freely upstairs, down stairs, into the attic, and out of the outlets into your home. For this reason, in wall treatments are highly effective against pests especially when concentrated on these outlets.

Other smaller ants are also known to travel not on the wires, but in the wires.  Certain ants are so tiny that they can slip under the protective covering of your electrical wiring and travel through the home on these wires.  They too will short out your wiring causing damage to your home’s electrical system.  A manufacturing company in Texas was closed down for a few days due to these ants destroying their electrical system.  The company would not say how much damage was done or how much productivity was lost.

As the old saying goes,

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Ants still prove to be one of the most difficult insects to control.  They are highly organized.  Some colonies will splinter off into multiple colonies when threatened. Their sense of smell is so keen that the slightest error in a mixture could render the pesticide detectable and therefore useless.  And they reproduce so rapidly that killing off  a thousand or two today, will be replaced with a thousand or two tomorrow.

So how do you get rid of ants?

Is there an effective pest control solution?

Yes. Get Ant Control.

Call a professional exterminator and Get Ant Control today!

Guaranteed Ant Control is included free with this month’s special on Bulwark’s whole house protection plan.

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Covering all of your Raleigh pest control needs.

Have you ever asked yourself these questions:

Why do ants walk in a line?
How many types of ants are in an ant colony?
How long does a queen ant live?
How do you get rid of ants?

All of these questions are covered by Adam the Ant Guru in the video above. Its a great video especially now as ants are out and about and marching. Especially those pesky Texas crazy ants. Pest control operators need to know how to deal with these pests. Ants are tricky. Considering that only 20% of the ants will ever leave the colony, you better make sure that your not overly excited when you kill only the ants that you see. The ants that you don’t see are 4 times as numerous!

Other interesting things about ants:

The harvester ants venom is more toxic pound per pound then scorpion venom and rattle snake venom, and yes individuals have died from these ant bites.

Carpenter ants are nocturnal, and colonies can have thousands of reproductive carpenter ants that will spread out to form new colonies if the mother colony is threatened. And since they are active in the middle of the night, you may never even know they are there, or that they moved.

The Fire Ant queen can produce 3,000 new ant eggs a day!

If you’ve got ants then don’t just go with pest control, Get Ant Control!

The 2009 Ant Season has officially arrived. We are now receiving ant control requests from all over the US. Fire Ants, Harvester Ants, Carpenter Ants, and the new annoying Raspberry Ants. A few tips and things to remember when dealing with ants…

1- Most Sprays have an odor that will detour ants, but this doesn’t mean it will kill them. These sprays act as repellents, and therefore only keep the ants at bay. Further using such sprays may cause ant colonies to bud out and create more colonies.

2- Ant baits should be specific to the ants you are treating. Ants and their diets differ by the ant species and the time of year. So what an ant eats will depend on both the ant species and the season. This is referred to as bait acceptability or bait acceptance.

3- Your best bet is to keep the ants out of the house entirely with a regular pest control service.

While sitting in front of my computer screen thinking about what I was going to write about next; I watch a small little row of ants walk along the edge of my desk. Instinctively, the first thing I do is try to identify the pest. When dealing with ants it can be very hard to determine the specific type of ant based on its different physical characteristics unless you have a magnifying glass available or have the “eye of a hawk” as me and my cousins used to call it. I have read many books that would say this ant is this color, and that ant is this color, etc; but I have found that in the real world trying to distinguish based on color is quite a dreadful task as different types of ants can be within the same color ranges. Here are some characteristics about different ants that may help you identify your home’s native ant-lings. (Did I go there…yes I did; Ant-lings…LOL.)

Pharaoh Ant: Primarily indoors, known for splitting into different colonies, sometimes found in wounds of hospital patients.

Carpenter Ant: The largest, Biggest, humongous, enormous fellers. (Exaggeration)

Harvester Ant: Known for producing mounds with entry points that are at least approximately 2 inches in diameter.

Pavement Ant: Generally will reside under or around pavement.

Argentine Ant: Also a very popular ant, known for producing super colonies…these infestations can grow rapidly.

Odorous House Ants: When crushed emit a coconut like smelling odor.

Red Imported Fire Ant: These ants are very aggressive and secrete a toxin when biting. These ants are what we refer to as a “quarantined” species; so if you think you have come across them contact your local department of agriculture etc for removal. Each case is required to be documented and handled in a specific fashion.

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