Ant Control

Ants are among the most common household insect pest. They are easy to indentify because they have three distinct body segments and a relatively large head. Their antennae are slender but bent like an elbow. The first or basal antennal segment is about as long as the remaining antennal segments combined. Worker are the adult form usually seen. Workers ant do not have wings.

Ants are sometimes confused with termites. However, you can tell an ant from a termite by looking at the body form. Ants have three distinct body regions. The divisions are not so distinct in termites. There is no narrow "waist" between the thorax and abdomen of a termite. Also, termite antennae are not elbowed like those of ants. In addition, the front wings of ant swarmers are distinctly larger and longer than the hind wings. Termite swarmers, on the other hand, have wings of nearly equal size and length.

Ants are social insects. They live in large colonies. The most numerous kind of ant in a colony is the worker. In most species, the workers are responsible for collecting food, defending the colony, and caring for the young and the queen. The large, egg-laying queen remains in the nest. Males are winged and are produced only before swarming. Worker forage for food by sending out scouts ants to find food sources. The scouts then lay a chemical trail for the forager ants to follow to any newly discovered food. Hence, you may often observe ants running in lines or trails. The ants' developmental stages are egg, larva, pupa, and adult,

Ant colonies may exist for many years. As a colony grows and ages, it will produce males and new queens. Unlike the workers, males and new queens have wings. They leave the nest (swarm) and scatter to form new colonies. In some cases, new nests are formed by budding. Budding occurs when the parent colony becomes very large. The colony then splits to form satellite colonies. The satellite colonies remain connected to the parent colony by foraging trails.These trails provide for the exchange of workers, food, and larvae.

Most ants live outside of buildings. However, workers may come inside in search of food. Other species sometimes nest indoors and may contaminate storeo products or cause structural problems.