When Ants Take Over the Kitchen(ARA) - Ants are among the most intelligent and prevalent insects on earth. Hardly a household kitchen hasn't had an invasion of them. Ants will arrive unannounced quickly and silently, day or night seeking out sweet foods like bears after a honeybee hive. My neighbor's ants came into her house through a small crack in the jam of her front door. They wound around her home from room to room close to the walls until they reached the food in the kitchen pantry. They just instinctively knew where to go.
Spraying visible ants doesn't eliminate the problem because they represent only a fraction of the colony. Thousands more ants including one or more queen ants are hiding somewhere in a nest. The trick is to locate the colony and get rid of all of them. Ants nest inside your home behind walls, window casements, door frames, beneath floors and in your basement. Outside, they nest in the ground, under mulch, gravel, wood timbers, house exterior siding and concrete slabs.
There are many kinds of ants in the United States. The Southern United States are plagued with biting fire ants which are slowly creeping North. Carpenter ants are everywhere and can cause almost as much damage to wood as termites. There are lawn ants, acrobat ants, pharaoh ants, black ants, crazy ants, meat eating ants and more. Japan has the most ants in the world, some 400 different species. Some ants are so small, its tough to determine their species with the naked eye.
Ants contaminate food and can carry pathogens that may affect man. For their size, ants are stronger and have larger brains per body weight than any other insect or animal, including man. It is said if man had the proportionate strength of an ant, he could lift an automobile over his head. Ants are organized and fraternal, living in colonies like little cities.
They can sense food from a great distance sending out workers to gather, retrieve and stockpile the nest. Parent colonies of ants fool man by having several satellite nests with no queen, eggs or young larvae.
So, how do you out-smart invasive ants? Fortunately, new ant controls, safe for use around food are on the market for 2007, and are available in grocery and hardware stores. These kill the ants on location, such as in your pantry where ants encounter the powder and track it back home.
One new product called AntEater is effective against all species of ants and comes in a handy squeeze bottle with a curved spout that lets you put a puff of powder material into corners and hard to reach places. AntEater powder never wears out and is composed of crushed petrified fresh water diatoms called DE flour. AntEater powder is infused with natural clove oil and approved by the ProPet Alliance of Veterinarians as safe around dogs and cats. (For a free Veterinarian's Pet Safety booklet, call (800) 801 0061.)
AntEater is also safe for use inside kitchen cabinets alongside flour, grains and cereals and other foodstuffs. After the ants track through it and bring it back to the nest, the powder keeps working to destroy the entire colony. Ants are intelligent enough to associate danger to a particular food supply and generally won't return to the same location any time soon.
You can also take the following steps to prevent a reoccurrence of ants:
1. Don't let moisture build up under sinks from leaking pipes and other
sources. Ants are attracted to water.
2. Outside, move excessive mulch or soil away from the wood siding of
your home.
3. Seal cracks and holes in the basement of your home where cables,
wires and pipes enter the home.
4. Cut away branches of trees and shrubs where they touch the side of
your house. This will stop "ant bridges" from connecting nests to window
frames and other potential openings.
5. Don't stack firewood against your house or in the garage.
At certain times of the year, both ants and termites develop wings and swarm to new locations. It's important to know the difference between them as termites require a professional exterminating company to protect your home. Winged termites have a long oval smooth body shaped like a tiny cigar. Winged ants have a segmented body composed of three distinct sections. If you are not sure of what you have, save a few winged specimens in a small bottle of alcohol and take it to your local county agricultural extension agent.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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