Ants can be found almost everywhere in Illinois. These little bugs are so tiny that they can infiltrate your home by the thousands without you being aware of their presence. Ants are more than just annoying creatures. Ants can be dangerous when they are roaming around your home, and some species can even cause damage to your home as well.
At Quick-Kill Pest Eliminators, we are a family-owned company that has been providing pest control in Rock Island for close to a century. Keep reading to learn the best tips and techniques that you can try if you want to quickly get rid of the ants in your home.
The Social Hierarchy Of Ants: How Colonies Are Structured
Most ants are social creatures. Some species of ants in Rock Island can live in colonies that have more than a million ants living together in one nest. To maintain such a large colony, it is vital that every ant has a job to do.
Once an ant reaches adulthood, they will go into one of the three groups. The different caste symptoms that you can find in an ant colony include:
- Queen: The queen is the only female reproductive ant in the colony. Usually, there is only one queen per colony. However, some ant species, such as Argentine ants, will have more than one queen in their colony. The queen's only job is to lay eggs and populate the colony.
- Reproductives: All reproductive ants are males. Just like the queen, the reproductive males only have one job. Once the reproductive ant mates, he will die.
- Workers: Unlike the other two groups of ants, the worker ants have many jobs. They are tasked with building and maintaining the nest, taking care of the queen, feeding the larvae and baby ants, and foraging for food. There are more worker ants than any other group in a colony. Typically, the worker ants will make up between 85% and 95% of the colony.
Even though the workers do all of the work, they are not considered to be the most important member of the colony. Instead, the queen ant is the most important and the one that needs to be protected. If the queen dies, reproduction in that colony will come to a halt, which means that the colony will eventually die with her.
Ant Problems: Ants In The Home Can Be More Than A Nuisance
Ants may seem like nothing more than a nuisance, but they can actually be exceptionally problematic. While the workers are scavenging for food, they will walk across some of the filthiest surfaces, such as rotting food, dead carcasses, and garbage. This allows them to pick up a wide range of harmful pathogens they can easily pass onto you if they walk near or over your food. Some of the most common ant-borne illnesses include salmonellosis, staph infections, E. coli infections, and streptococcus.
Carpenter ants are also common in this area. While they aren't known to contaminate food like other ants, they can cause some damage to your home. These destructive ants have strong saw-like jaws they use to dig holes in various wooden surfaces. They will then continue to excavate the wood to create a big enough space to fit their entire colony inside the wood.
Ant Prevention Is Key: Effective Tips And Tricks
Because ants can invade your home in such large numbers, it is much easier to prevent ants from coming into your home than it is to try to get rid of an ant infestation. Some of the various things that you can do to prevent ants from invading your home include:
- Sweep and mop your floors often
- Wipe off countertops and stoves after each meal
- Don't leave your pet's dishes out all night
- Keep the grass in your yard cut short
Some ants prefer warm and damp areas. If you have any leaky pipes in or around your home, you should have them fixed as soon as possible.
Professional Ant Control: A Great Way To Keep Ants Out For Good
Ant control can be extremely difficult to accomplish on your own. If you are wanting to get rid of the ants on your property quickly, Quick-Kill Pest Control can help you out. Our experienced home pest control technicians can find, identify, and remove all ants from your Rock Island property for good.