Ant activity is high during the spring and summer months, so it is important to know what ants you could be seeing, and how to identify them. Different species of your ants can be damaging to your home. The sooner they can be identified, the sooner they can be removed before any further problems occur.Ants often travel in colonies, so when you see a couple ants around the house there’s bound to be more. Many species of ants tend to venture into homes in search of food, and will eat just about anything. Their favorite foods tend to be snacks that are on the sweeter side. Ants are normally located in nest communities that can be formed underground, on the ground or up in trees.
The following bullets give a description of various species of ants so that they can be identified by homeowners. Many ants vary in appearance and characteristics. Having a wide knowledge of the different species on Long Island can help you understand what species you could be dealing with. To learn more about our pest control services for your home, click here.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants are the most dangerous for a homeowner. Carpenter ants have been known to cause extensive damage to the infrastructure of one’s home that can be quite costly to fix. Carpenter ants are normally 1/4th to ½ inches in length. These ants are normally most active at night time, during the summer months. They burrow through wood and nest in it, causing destruction to buildings.
One of the best ways to identify if you have carpenter ants in your home is by checking for little piles of sawdust that they leave behind after excavating nests in the walls. This sawdust is left behind because the carpenter ants aren’t actually eating the wood. Observing the sawdust left behind is an effective way you can differentiate carpenter ants and termites because carpenter ants are hollowing out the wood. Carpenter ants tend to look for wood that is dampened, so keeping the outdoor wooden structures of your home dry can help prevent an infestation.
Some noises to look out for are a light scratching or clicking sound coming from inside the wood, or a rustling sound. Hearing these noises coming from your house structure could mean there is a possible infestation. If there is any sign of carpenter ants in your home, try to identify them as soon as possible. These ants are often hard to investigate because their nests are located inside walls or ceilings, so the sooner they can be identified the better. If an infestation occurs in your home, contact a professional before extensive damage is done.
Other ants that you may encounter that we will discuss are odorous house ants and little black ants. Some of these ant species tend to make nests in well soiled places such as lawns, or on the sides of homes and in the cracks in sidewalks. However, many of these ants will go long distances for food, so they tend to venture into people’s homes in search of food sources.
Odorous House Ants
Odorous House Ants are another common ant species on Long Island that can enter your home. They can make their nests in many different areas outdoors such as under stones and logs. When they venture into a home, Odorous House Ants tend to make their nest near a radiator or other source of heat, or inside wall voids. Colonies can be numerous different sizes, ranging from a few hundred to around 10,000, with a multitude of queens in the colony.
Odorous House Ants get their name from their strong smell, which has been interpreted as smelling like old butter or old coconuts. Odorous house ants have become extremely populated on Long Island over the past several years give or take, so many home owners have to deal with these ants today. These ants won’t destroy wood like a carpenter ant, however if misidentified they are difficult to get rid of. This is why identifying what type of ant you are dealing with is crucial to getting rid of the ants. Once you know which species you’re dealing with, then getting rid of the ants will be quicker and more efficient for everyone.
Little Black Ants
Little Black Ants are another very common species of ant not only on Long Island but throughout the U.S. They’ve also been known by their nickname “Kitchen Ants”. As it states in their name, Little Black Ants are small and jet black in appearance. They only tend to grow about 1 to 1.15 mm in length. Colonies of these ants are decently large, containing up to 2000 worker ants and a multitude of queens.
Little Black Ants have a variety of nesting habits. Their nests can be located in the soil of different areas such as under stones, bricks, wood, and logs. When these ants venture inside buildings, their nests will be located inside woodwork, cracks in the wall, and underneath carpeting. These ants tend to be quite visible, crawling around in large groups throughout your kitchen or other areas of the house. They’re most visible when invading your kitchen cabinets and pantries for food. To help prevent these little guys from entering your home, closing all cracks in the outside of the home would be a good precautionary step to take.
In conclusion, ants are an extremely common pest that many homeowners on Long Island experience. Ants are most prevalent in the spring and summer months, so having knowledge of them around this time of year is important to keeping your place of living clean and safe from damage. In this blog post, we helped describe some of the different ants and their appearances and characteristics to help you identify the ants that may be entering your home.
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