So you have uninvited house guest? Aunt Kathy, Aunt Grace or Aunt Maggie? No its ants of the worst kind. You know the ones that get into everything and are not willing to leave unless forced to do so. Maybe you don’t have ants yet, maybe you know someone who does or maybe they will be visiting you soon.

Ants are among the top of the Most Wanted “Dead” list, and are the most difficult to get rid of. They invade thousands of Missouri homes every year. On occasion they will make themselves known even in the winter months.

Where ever and when ever ants show up they can reek havoc in your home. They can ruin food and cause loss of sleep. But wait a minute, they don’t only go after food. Ants can get into anything, like medications and toothpaste.

I once had a lady call in frantic because she had a trail of ants leading to her child’s liquid Phenobarbital (medication used for treating seizure disorders.) Now I know ants are smart, but self-medication, really?

So how do you get ants out of your home. You’ve tried everything from Boric acid, walnut leaves, spearmint gum, red pepper, granule’s, baits, insecticide sprays and many more methods. So why do you still have ants? And why do they seem to get worse day after day and year after year. And why do they disappear for a while then return? Never fear the Antman is here to educate and help you get rid of your guests.

First you must understand the basic structure of an ant colony. Ant colonies consist of 3 major divisions:

1. The Queen (or queens in some species). Imagine more than one female bossing everyone around. Scary thought. Her job duty is to lay eggs and a lot of them.

2. The Worker (also female). Just thought I would throw that in. Their job duties include; feeding and caring for the eggs and larvae, defending, building and scouting and foraging for food.

3. The Males. His job duty is reproduction only. I know some of you men out there are thinking “that’s the life of Riley”. Don’t get too excited. Males die shortly after mating.

The worker ants that are not in charge of caring for the eggs and larvae wonder out from the nest searching for food. In  the early stages of an infestation you may only see one or two here or there. Once a scout finds food she heads back to the nest leaving behind a scented trail. Basically GPS direction leading straight to your kitchen. The next thing you know she brings back at least a hundred sisters to carry off your entire pantry.

Adult ants are not able to eat or digest whole food particles, so the food is first fed to the larvae. The larvae then throws up usable nutrition for the adult ants. I believe I will continue to chew my own food thanks.

This process can quickly become an invasion of even your privacy. Soon the ants are showing up in your bath tub, crawling along the toilet rim ( Toilet training? Who knows?), in your bedroom and yes even your bed.

You should also become familiar with the most common hiding spots for ants. Ants hid and nest in soil, under rocks, under mulch, under piles of leaves, under old yard debris, under mulch, behind siding, and behind brick. Basically if you can think it they can hide there too!

A good method , although not the easiest method, to get rid of ants is to find their nest or nests and destroy them. Queen, eggs, and workers must be destroyed. To find a nest you have follow a trail. This can be tricky and time consuming unless you have the nose of a bloodhound. If that is the case your hired. Ants prefer hidden trails. The trails can go up, down, over, under, in and out of objects. If you have the time and nothing better to do following an ant trail can be quite intriguing.

Prevention is key when dealing with ants. Sealing up cracks around doors and windows is a good start. Little or now landscaping up next to the house will provide fewer hiding and nesting spots. Mulch is one of ants favorite hiding spots. Mulch provides protection from the elements especially if you have a weed barrier to go with it. Ants can live under mulch undetected for years, steadily growing their colony. Avoid foliage that require ants for pollination. Don’t entice ants with your leftover dinner plate. Keep dishes clean and food put away. Keep pet food dishes put up. Let’s face it ants love Bow Wow Chow. Food and water in one place. There is no easier target than pet food.

There are numeorus products that claim to rid you once and for all of your house guests. I am sure many of you have tried them all. Some products seem to work for a while. When you think all your troubles are gone and you can rest easy. They’re back. Full force and worse than before. Bait products are notorious for this effect.

Bait products are never recommended inside. Think about it. If you don’t want ants in your house then why are you inviting them to an all you can eat buffet? Baits can be useful when place outside away from children, pets, and wildlife. Good luck finding that spot.

Bait systems fail for one main reason. Ants more often than not, die before they ever make it back to the nest with the deadly concoction. As we learned earlier the Queen is constantly laying eggs. Therefore is full prepared to replace her dead scouts with newly hatched scouts.

Liquid insecticides can work effectively when the nest is located. Again not an easy chore. Insecticide sprays fail miserably when only the trail is eliminated and not the nest. A good rule is if the insecticide smell bad to you it smells bad to the ants too. Ants can detect poison. Which simply means that the survivors are not going to fall victim to your strategically place insecticide. Instead ants will find an alternate route over, under, and around the insecticide. In some cases ants can become separated from the colony because they will not cross over the insecticide. The separated ants will create a budding or satellite colony, and can become trapped in crawl spaces and wall voids.

Granular and other insecticide barriers, fail in relatively the same way as liquid insecticide sprays.

By far the best Method of ridding your home of ants and getting your life back is by calling a professional like us. We use insecticides that are undetecable to ants. The insecticides are clear and ordorless. Our technicians are trained to seek and destroy these ant beasts. We gurantee our services and offer programs that protect your home year round.

When you are tired of fighting, let us fight for you.

Call the Antman 417-880-Ants (2687)

]]> http://pestcontrolspringfieldmo.com/2012/05/ants-invade-springfield-mo-written-by-antman-pest-control-2/feed 0 http://pestcontrolspringfieldmo.com/2012/05/monthly-raffel-for-may-bead-sets-made-by-our-88-year-old-grandma-10-winners http://pestcontrolspringfieldmo.com/2012/05/monthly-raffel-for-may-bead-sets-made-by-our-88-year-old-grandma-10-winners#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 11:47:20 +0000 880kendall http://pestcontrolspringfieldmo.com/?p=6115 The Bead Sets include Necklace, Earrings, and Braclets handmade by our Grandma!
Winning Customer #s for Mays drawing
2432     2649     2421     84     2752     10     320     89      2320     1999
 
 
 
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The Bead Sets include Necklace, Earrings, and Braclets handmade by our Grandma!

Winning Customer #s for Mays drawing

2432     2649     2421     84     2752     10     320     89      2320     1999

If you are a winner please Contact us.    Thank you!   Ken and Clarissa

Customer Winning Numbers

• 127
• 1245
• 86
• 509

Some people say it’s because they’re less filling. Others say it’s because they taste great. But yeah, people eat ‘em, and not necessarily disguised with chocolate, either.

Anteaters eat ants, termites and soft-bodied grubs. Using the long, sharp claws on their forelimbs, they open insect colonies and tree trunks. They then use the tongue to collect the eggs, larvae, and adult insects. The salivary glands secrete sticky saliva during feeding that coats the tongue. They only stay at one ant colony for a short period of time to avoid soldier ants, but giant anteaters can consume a few thousand insects in minutes. The tongue is attached to the sternum and moves very quickly, flicking 150 times per minute. They will eat fruit and birds’ eggs on occasion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteater