If you see particularly large ants around your doorways or on your back porch, they may be carpenter ants. These aren't the tiny ants that you encounter under mounds of sand when you're gardening. Carpenter ants can be destructive to your home's structure, and you can't afford to ignore them.
When you're spending more time outdoors fixing up your yard, take time to inspect the wooden features of your home. While carpenter ants don't eat wood, they like to burrow into it wherever they can find a rotted area like moisture-damaged wood under eaves, around chimneys, in doors and door frames, beneath wooden siding and shingles, and inside wood porch supports and columns.
By spraying a bug barrier around your doors, foundation and along the supports of your porch, you may be able to block a few stray carpenter ants from entering your home. But if you encounter an infestation, their presence can be widespread and may be housed in several locations. They may actually have created nests inside your home. In those cases, it's best to consult with the professionals. Companies like Abell Pest Control Services can do a pest inspection and determine the best course of action.
Carpenter ants often aren't hard to miss because of their size, which can be as big as 1/2 inch in length. But not all carpenter ants look alike, either. Some are small, they can vary in color, and some are winged while others can't fly. Typically, the ones that homeowners encounter are black, wingless and large.
They're a varied lot, attracted to wood outdoors and sometimes inside, but also to certain foods you may leave out on your kitchen counters. Carpenter ants are partial to sweet foods and meat, which is why homeowners should store foods in sealed containers just as they do as part of good pest management against any insects.
However, in warm weather most carpenter ants can be found outdoors. There, homeowners should be diligent about limiting the ants' access by moving woodpiles and other large pieces of wood away from their houses, cutting back tree limbs that overhang houses and sealing any foundation cracks, gaps around doors and windows and entry points of utility wires into their homes. Don't overlook skylights or chimneys, because if carpenter ants want to find a way into your home, they'll enter any opening they can.
You probably already know that most people are repulsed by the simple sight of cockroaches. If you are personally dealing with a cockroach infestation, the feelings of disgust are probably even more intense. Unfortunately, the cold winter weather tends to be one of the reasons this pest ends up in your home in the first place, according to Any Pest. While you may know that you don't want to share your home with cockroaches this winter, there are a number of interesting facts about this pest that you've probably never heard.
Because of the high amount of traffic and the versatility of the facilities, pests are naturally attracted to long-term care institutions. Many nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other care facilities include on-site kitchens and cafeterias as well as private rooms and common spaces. All of these places are susceptible to attracting pests because of the presence of food, water and viable habitats.
During the summer months, some people love to go camping with family and friends. Yet this fun trip can be ruined with a few unwanted visitors, most notably different types of bugs. Crawling spiders, hungry mosquitoes and buzzing flies can become annoying quickly. How can you avoid these pests when you're outdoors? Consider these tips to keep bugs out of your campsite.
Carpenter ants can chew through the strongest studs and stringers in a house as they hollow the wooden beams out for nesting. The resulting damage can weaken the home's structural support and require expensive repairs. Professional pest control workers can remove a colony of ants, but the best practice for homeowners is to learn the best ways to keep out an ant colony and prevent the problem before it begins.
As the weather cools, you'll probably see fewer pests than you did during the warmer months, but that doesn't mean they're all gone just yet. Some insects can actually come out in full force during the autumn, while others might seek refuge in your warm home. Here are some key tips to keep in mind as fall gets underway:
As the middle of summer approaches, you need to be vigilant about keeping your garden free of pests. Many insects breed during the summertime, which means they're on the lookout for great places to lay their eggs. For many bugs, that means near a source of food. In fact, some species of insects will lay their eggs inside budding vegetables and fruit so their larvae have something to eat as soon as they hatch. That's why you have to keep harmful bugs out without damaging the bugs that could help you, such as bumble bees.
You might have noticed that, with the exception of the kitchen, you find more pests in your bathroom than in the rest of your home. This is because insects and rodents see the bathroom as a convenient watering hole. Pests love leaky pipes and standing water because these offer them a hydrating oasis in the otherwise dry biome that is your house or apartment. And if your bathroom develops mold, all the better for pests, who may eat fungus or use it to lay their eggs.
The kitchen is largest gathering place for pests in a residential home. The reason is simple: pests can grab a bite to eat and take a sip of water while they're here. And when they find such a bountiful place, they will return home to their nests and report the finding - before you know it, your whole pantry is a buffet for ants! The problem could get even worse if a piece of food falls somewhere and begins to rot. Similarly, fruit and vegetables you bring into your home may be harboring unseen pests waiting to hatch.
