Ants in the Home

PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA

By Rick Orr
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Ants feeding on Bait
Ants feeding on ant bait. The worker will carry the bait back to the nest and kill the queen, destroying the colony. 

Ants

Finding a few ants in the house is no reason for concern, but when you see 1000’s form a conga line, time to call a professional. The ants have set up a complex system to move food from your kitchen to their nest.

Why a Conga Line of Ants

When ants form a continuous line, two wide, coming and going from your countertop and disappearing into a wall under a baseboard that is referred to as trailing. It is the method in which ants organize and send workers (called foragers) to gather food and bring back to the nest. Once this supply pipeline is established, the ants will be determined to keep it active. Killing off workers in a war of attrition does not work – they simply replace the workers and reestablish the conga line.

Kill the Source – The Nest

The only solution is to destroy the nest - the source of the workers and the demand for kitchen sweets. Once the nest is destroyed, the supply of workers is gone and demand for crumbs from your countertop dries up. Ant problem solved.

Ant Control is a Complex Problem with a Simple Solution

Destroying the nest requires a Sherlock Holmes intellect – keen observation, exact identification, paying attention to minute details, following the clues, and applying a targeted solution. The solution is often a dab of bait cleverly placed in an optimum location. The bait contains a delayed action active ingredient that doesn’t kill the worker. The worker lives to transport the bait back to the nest to kill the queen.

That is step one to controlling ants in the home.

Preventing Future Ant Infestations with a Perimeter Treatment

The second step of controlling the ants is preventing them from entering the house. Ants do not spawn in the house – they are outdoor pests that have found the into your home to be indoor pests. The solution for preventing ants from entering the home is applying an invisible barrier around your home. This is referred to as a perimeter spray. The perimeter spray contains an insecticide applied to the exterior of your home to deter ants and other pests from entering the home.

Rick Orr Owner-Staff Agronomist Barefoot Grassl/Creator of ILOVETURF.COM
Rick
Orr
Staff Agronomist at Barefoot Grass

Since 1995, Rick Orr has worked in Pinellas County providing turf management and pest control. Rick Orr is a graduate of VA Tech in Agronomy (Turf Ecology) and the creator of Iloveturf.com. 

Since graduating from VA Tech in 1979, Rick worked in the green industry, mostly with golf courses, resorts, and large communities. Rick has obtained certifications in arboriculture, landscape, irrigation, and taught Environmental Horticulture at St Petersburg College. 

Currently, Rick is the Staff Agronomist at Barefoot Grass in Largo, FL. To learn more about Barefoot Grass https://www.barefootgrass.com/ Free Price Quote from Barefoot Grass for Home Pest Control and/or Lawn Care https://www.barefootgrass.com/contact-weed-control/ 

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