Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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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