Don’t Let Ants Take Over Your Massachusetts Or New Hampshire Home
Ants are pests that are often overlooked because most of the species that are common in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are harmless. If we see them on our property, we don’t think much of it, and if we find them in our houses, we often deal with the ones we see without taking further action. Unfortunately, this can be a mistake.
Although many ants are simply a nuisance, their presence can be a sign of moisture or other problems in your house. Furthermore, not every ant is harmless. Some will actively damage your house and others can spread disease. If you find ants in your house, it’s wise to have a professional pest control technician take a look at the situation to see if further action is necessary.
Freedom Pest Control has experienced pest control technicians who are experts in ant biology and behaviors. We can determine what’s going on with the ants in your house and recommend the best next steps to protect your home and keep it ant-free.
Our Ant control process
Inspection
Our ant inspection is the most important step in the ant control process. We need to determine what species of ants are in your house, how they’re getting inside, where they’re nesting, and what factors are attracting them to your house. All of this information is necessary in order to determine what treatment, if any, is necessary and will be most effective.
Once we determine what species of ant is in your home, we’ll focus our inspection on what we know about that species. For example, if carpenter ants are present, we’ll look for moisture issues in your house since they typically infest wet or rotted wood. If citronella ants are present, we’ll look for cracks that they’re using to enter your house, as well as areas outside where they might take refuge, such as wood piles.
Treatment
After we’ve completed our thorough inspection, we’ll develop a treatment plan that is tailored to your specific ant problem. All ant control treatments have one treatment in common. Because all crawling insects walk across your foundation at one time or another, treating this area is important to control ants. Any foraging ants will walk across our barrier treatment and bring the treatment back to the main colony.
Carpenter Ants
If carpenter ants are found in or around your house, we’ll provide you with an inspection report that contains recommendations for home improvements that will reduce the conditions that are conducive to carpenter ants. We’ll also treat the location of your infestation directly to eliminate any carpenter ants that are active in your house.
Pavement Ants
Pavement ants have a specific diet, preferring either sweets or proteins depending on the time of year. Our service technicians will choose an appropriate ant bait and place it near the feeding trail the ants use. The ants will consume the bait, return to their nest, and regurgitate it to feed the larvae. In this way, the bait is spread to the colony, eventually eliminating the infestation at the source.
Citronella Ants
Citronella ants often swarm into homes, so we’ll identify and caulk the openings they use to prohibit them from getting inside. If you have large paved walkways, we can also seal cracks in those. Citronella ants often take refuge in wood piles and other similar areas, so we’ll look for these locations and make recommendations about how to reduce them.
Little Black Ants
Black ants usually have very large colonies and it takes professional control to get rid of them. We do this in several ways. First, we’ll identify cracks and other openings that they are using to get into your house and will seal these areas to prevent them from getting inside. Next, we’ll identify the conditions that are attracting them to your home and will make recommendations about how to make your house less attractive to little black ants. Finally, we’ll use bait to eliminate the active infestation. Little black ants have a specific diet, so we’ll use a bait that contains sweets or proteins depending on the time of year.
