Forget groundhogs… Ants are a more reliable indicator of the impending spring season. Every year, prior to the weather beginning to warm up, ants begin gracing the world with their presence. Because of the complex nature of ant behavior as well as their potential damage-causing capabilities, it’s important to have regular treatments to help manage their activity. If you have experience with interior ants in your home, read on for a few of the most important reasons to have a maintenance pest control program.
Ants Overwinter in Structures
Ants primarily start colonizing in the ground or among other natural structures such as piles of leaves, under rocks, and inside acorns. They also enjoy moist, hollow spaces as well, making wall voids a perfect place for satellite colonies to establish. Once they have breached the structure of a home, they are able to continue building their colonies throughout the winter.
Ants Love Slab Foundations
Slab foundations serve as an umbrella for large, underground ant colonies. Directly accessing a colony under a concrete slab is almost impossible which underscores why year-round treatment is important to control current ant activity, especially in the Chicagoland area where the temperatures fluctuate from humid to freezing with lots of rain in between.
Not Seeing the Whole Picture
Ants have distinct roles in a colony. Activity seen outside of the nest is mostly made up of workers and foragers who supply nesting materials and food to the queen, offspring, and drones. Workers and foragers are made up of female ants, while drones are male ants who remain stationary inside the nest until it’s time to mate. It’s important to handle interior activity with a non-repellent product. If you attempt to spray a repellent product indoors, you will only kill the ones you encounter and create a barrier to keep the rest within your wall voids until the product dissipates, giving them time to reproduce more workers and foragers.
If you’re noticing ants in March, it’s a great time to get on the schedule for a year-round maintenance program! Give us a call at (630) 451-8101 today to set up an appointment!