Ant Removal & Management

Dependable Service for All Types of Ants

If your home is experiencing an ant invasion, it's time to call Mares Exterminating. You can rely on us for prompt, professional ant control services. We have proven solutions for all types of ants, so call today for your free consultation.

Preventing an Ant Invasion

Ants are considered social insects because they inhabit large nests. Despite being considered social, few humans want to socialize with them!

Ants rank as one of the most difficult insect species to control. There are many varieties of ants, and they can reside just about anywhere.

They prefer nesting sites that are inaccessible to predators, and that's one of the reasons they're so difficult to control. The queens lay up to 800 eggs at a time, and only the foraging ants leave the nest to gather food. The only effective solutions include destroying the queen and the colony.

The best way to avoid an ant infestation is to prevent it from beginning by making your home uninteresting to ants and difficult to enter. In general, ants love warm, moist environments with easy access to food. If you can deprive them of those elements, you're already ahead of the game.

1. Clean up food spills and crumbs right away. Restrict your meals to one location, and keep your counters, floors, and other surfaces clean. Be sure to get the areas behind and beneath your appliances, and don't forget to clean the refrigerator drip pan. If ants find food in multiple locations, the colony may "bud" and relocate some of its ants closer to the food source.
2. Use sealed containers for your food whenever possible. Ants can and will eat anything humans eat.
3. Look for cracks or other gaps where ants can enter your home. Some ant infestations include an outdoor nest and regular traffic into your house. Use sealant around areas where plumbing and electrical conduits come into your house.
4. Plants that touch your home can serve as bridges for ants, so trim back any trees, bushes, or other landscaping that touches your house.
5. Call Mares Exterminating for professional solutions and preventative treatments. For most infestations, we use a two-pronged approach:

• Insecticide bait — We set out bait traps that use a slow-acting insecticide. The foraging ants carry the bait back to the colony and eliminate the problem at the source. You can help us find the best location for placing the bait by noting where trails of ants come and go. Once we've set the bait, it takes a few days for it to work. During that time, avoid killing or using chemicals on the marching ants — let them carry the bait back to their nest.
• Granular perimeter insecticide — Combined with trimming your landscaping, our granular insecticide creates an effective barrier.

Acrobat Ants — Nature's Gymnasts

In our area, acrobat ants are fairly common. These small, shiny, black or brown insects occasionally walk on their forelegs and raise their distinctive, heart-shaped abdomens over their heads. They look like they're doing handstands, so we call them acrobat ants.

If you've previously had a carpenter ant infestation, acrobat ants may move into the empty wood gallery or nest site. They may also nest in rotting or water-damaged wood. If you spot them, you could have a leak.

Acrobat ants never attack sound wood, and they do very little structural damage. You may notice grayish bits of fine sawdust-like material being pushed out from under a floor joint or from behind a wall void. It may resemble mouse damage and nesting, but it's actually the ants' excrement.

Whenever you suspect something is living in the walls of your home, call the professionals at Mares Exterminating. We'll diagnose the problem and recommend an effective solution.