Ants seem to come out from wherever they were spending the winter the same time every year (now). Naturally, they’re in search of food, shelter, and water, and your house has it all. They may seem like just a nuisance – a pest in the true sense of the word. Here are 3 facts that could change your mind and make you take them more seriously.
MYTH: My house isn’t clean, and that’s why I have ants.
FACT: Don’t be so hard on yourself. While it’s true that sweet spills and crumbs will attract ants and other pests, they are looking for more than a quick fix. Pest of all kinds need the basics to live: shelter, food, and, most of all, water. Your home is a source for all three. Even if you cleaned every day, they would like your house anyway.
MYTH: I don’t need to treat for ants – they just aren’t a big deal.
FACT: The fact is ants CAN do damage and letting them go could mean costly damage that could have been prevented upfront. Even though termites are more of a threat, carpenter ants can wreak havoc on wood frames. As the colony gets larger, they push through wood, weakening it and causing damage. In addition, termites and carpenter ants can be easily mistaken for each other. If you think the pest you have is a carpenter ant and it’s really a termite? Those pests cause millions of dollars of damage to homes in the U.S. every year, so not dealing with those can be extremely costly. Nuisance ants are more than their name suggest. They will ruin food and contaminate surfaces. So, get someone out to your house to at least identify the kind of pest you have and treat if necessary.
MYTH: Spraying for ants myself will work just as well.
FACT: What kind of ants do you have? If you can’t answer that, how will you know how to treat? You can put out the traps you can get at your local big box store and you can make sure to clean up sticky spills (anything with lots of sugar like syrup and soda especially). But those traps only work with certain kinds of ants, and if you have odorous house ants, nuisance ants, carpenter ants, or pavement ants, it’s more difficult than that. An untrained person spraying products they aren’t familiar with can do more damage than good. More than not, it costs you more money to have a professional come in to fix whatever happened from a do-it-yourself method than it would have been to just call them first. Not to mention you’ll be dealing with the ants for far longer than you would have and could have a full infestation by then. So, our final fact for you – call a pro.
You may consider ants just a nuisance. But if you let them go, it could eventually turn into an infestation, they can ruin food and contaminate surfaces, and it can actually cause costly damage. That doesn’t sound like just a nuisance to us. The best thing you can do is give Waltham Pest Services a call and let a professional come out and deal with them. Not only will they deal with the ants, if you decide to go with a Home Care Plan or GreenSuite™ for Home, they will take care of several other pests in addition! It’s well worth it.