Residential Services - Pest Control - Ants

Ants are among the most prevalent pests in households. They are also found in restaurants, hospitals, offices, warehouses, and other buildings where they can find food and water. On outdoor (and sometimes indoor) plants, ants protect and care for honey-dew producing insects, such as aphids, soft scales, and whiteflies, increasing damage from these pests. Ants also perform many useful functions in the environment, such as feeding on other pests (e.g., fleas, caterpillars, termites), dead insects, and decomposing tissue from dead animals.

Argentine Ants - The most common ant occurring in and around the house and garden in California is the Argentine Ant, the small black ant that brings its entire colony into your home. Carpenter Ants – Carpenter ants also invade buildings in California. Although they do not eat wood as termites do, they hollow it out to nest and may cause considerable damage.

Management

Ant management requires diligent efforts and the combined use of mechanical, cultural, sanitation, and often chemical methods of control. It is unrealistic and impractical to attempt to totally eliminate ants from an outdoor area. Contacting a professional can reduce your exhausting efforts to maintain an ant-free environment.

Monitoring and Inspection

Yosemite Pest Control will monitor for ants near attractive food sources or areas of moisture. Ants may invade kitchens, bathrooms, offices, or bedrooms. Inspect under sinks, in cupboards, along pipes, and along electrical wires. YPC will look for large trails of ants or for just a few stragglers. Straggling ants are scouts randomly searching for food or nesting sites. We will look for holes or cracks in foundations or walls that provide entry points to buildings and promptly caulk the space, making access to your home more difficult.

Exclusion and Sanitation

To keep ants out of buildings, we will caulk cracks and crevices around foundations that provide entry from outside. Our professional caulking products contain chemicals for long-term control combined.

Management on Trees and Shrubs

When numerous ants are found on plants, they are probably attracted to the sweet honeydew deposited on the plants by honeydew-producing insects such as aphids or soft scales. Ants may also be attracted up into trees or shrubs by ripening or rotten sweet fruit or floral nectar. Yosemite Pest Control’s professionals can treat your outdoor plants and protect them from ant damage.There are more than 12,000 species of ants throughout the world. In California, there are about 200 species, but fewer than a dozen are destructive pests.