Get rid of Ants in Evansville, Indiana
First off if you have an ant infestation in your home it isn't necessarily a sign that you are a poor housekeeper. Ants can be drawn to even the smallest amount of food or moisture. There are several types of ants that are found in the Evansville, Indiana area. Determining what type of ant you have we go a long way in finding out how to get rid of the ants. Yikes Pest Control deals with all types of ants in Southern Indiana, at anytime feel free to give us a call or send us a text for more information.
Types of ants in Southern Indiana
As mentioned earlier there are several types of ants in the Evansville, Newburgh, and Posey County area. While we do not have fire ants, we do have Carpenter Ants, odorous house ants, pavement ants, pharaoh ants, red velvet ants, and many many more.
Odorous House Ants
Odorous house ants are the most common pest ant species that I deal with, these colonies can reach a colony size of many thousands. The ants are roughly 1/8 to 3/16" long, their coloration is dark brown with light tan. When crushed they will emit a "rotten coconut" odor. Odorous house ants form satellite colonies in the spring and summer which expands the area that you may see them. In fact many times multiple houses are affected by the same colony. You usually see these ants trailing around the foundation of your home, in your landscaping, or in your kitchen on your counter. Or you may see single scout ants searching for food.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants excavate wood out of dead, dying, or decaying trees or old tree stumps. They can be rather large with some species queens reaching up to an inch long. Carpenter ant colonies are much smaller than those of Odorous house ants, but can do actual damage to your home or structure. If windows allow moisture in you may find ant nests in your window sill.
Red Velvet Ant
You may be surprised to find out that Red Velvet ants are actually not ants at all. They are a type of wasp that actually hunts and kills ants. The wasp stings the ant and injects a venom that paralyzes the ants. Once paralyzed it takes back to its nest where it lay an egg inside of the ant's abdomen, which then eats the host and eventually hatches into a small grub like larva that will eat more of the ants until they pupate into adults. These are solitary wasps, but will emit a painful sting if stepped on.
Pavement Ants
Pavement ants nest in soil and construct trails to food sources. They can range from 1/8" to 3/8" long, their coloration is light brown with darker stripes on their abdomen. This is the ant where you may see two worker ants carrying a seed back to the colony.
Pharaoh Ants
Pharaoh ants are much smaller than Odorous house and Carpenter ants. You will likely not see this ant unless you have an infestation in your home or facility. The pharaoh ant is roughly 1/16" long, they contain several different colorations but are usually light tan to brown. You will see these ants in your kitchen or bathrooms, they are drawn to moisture.
Ant Control in Newburgh, Indiana
If you are currently seeing ants in or around your home you may ask what you can do to get rid of them or prevent ants from entering your home. This depends on the type of ant you are seeing. Some ants such as Carpenter ants you will need to find the source, search outside for a dead or dying tree or limb that overhangs your home. They can actually fall onto your roof and end up inside while looking for a way back into their nest. Once you find the source you can use a combination of dusts or baits to help eliminate the colony.
Odorous house ants will need a combination of baits to attract ants and residual pesticides to help eliminate the entire colony. ant baits should be placed along the trail or in areas where heavier activity is found. The ant bait will be brought back to the nest and shared with the rest of the colony. Placing a residual insecticide between the nest and the bait helps to ensure that you get every ant in the colony and helps to ensure that they do not come back quickly. Odorous house ants do leave a pheromone which will draw ants back in the future. Until this pheromone wears away you may see these ant trails in the spring, in the fall, or after a heavy rainfall.
Other ants will need to be eliminated using baits only. If you use a pesticide that repel ants they may seperate or "bud" into multiple colonies throughout your home or structure.
Yikes Pest Control
If you need help with ant identification or help eliminating an ant infestation do not hesitate to give us a call or text anytime! An ant problem can become very stressful very fast, one ant can turn into thousands before you know it and it always seems to happen right before you have an event scheduled. Let us get rid of the ants for you 812-604-7206.
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