No one wants unwanted pests in their space, but ants can sometimes sneak into your house uninvited. Seeing an ant on occasion is common, but you have reason to worry if there appears to be a considerable amount. An ant infestation can be challenging to detect at first. Still, it is essential to act swiftly as sometimes ants can carry disease or even cause damage to your home.
Reasons Ants May Infest Your Home
Ants may be seeking your shelter for numerous reasons, including:
- Looking for water, especially in the hot, dry summer months
- Being forced from their shelter in heavy rains
- Searching for food – even minuscule crumbs dropped by kids can be detected by ants, who will come inside to enjoy them!
6 Indicators of an Ant Infestation
- Ant Trails
When ants go out in search of food or water, they leave a trail of pheromones for the other ants to observe so that they can find their way back home to their colony. Their fellow ants can easily follow that fellow’s trail to the food or water source. So if you see a line of ants going in or out of your home, you already have an infestation problem.
- Deceased Scouts
Ants will send our scouts to take a look around the place and report back to the colony if they have discovered something worth their time. Sometimes these ants will die and leave their corpses behind. When this occurs, you have a good guess that you have an ant infestation.
- Ant Mounds Around Your House
Ants build large dirt mounds for their colonies. Some ant mounds can house thousands of ants! Of course, you do not want those ants invading your home, so be on the lookout. If there are many mounds near your home, those bugs will venture out to look for food or water inside your house.
- Ants Inside Your Trees
This may seem like an odd thing to have to do, but it’s a good idea to check the trees around your home. Ants enjoy making dead trees their domicile and will nest in the branches and trunk. If the tree is close to your house, they will likely creep inside and take up residence there too!
- The Wood in Your Home Sounds or Looks Different
One of the difficult things about an ant infestation is that sometimes you don’t actually see the ants, yet the infestation is there. How does this occur? These small insects, especially carpenter ants, enjoy burrowing inside wood and can cause significant structural damage to your home. Sometimes, if the damage is severe, the wood will crumble. But what if the wood currently looks ok? How can you tell if ants are there if you don’t see them? Knock on wood! Wood that has been com[romised by an ant infestation will have a hollow sound instead of the dense sound it should have. If this occurs, a pest control expert needs to be called immediately.
- Live Ants in Your Home
As previously mentioned, ants leave a trail of pheromones for their fellow ants to follow. So even if you see a few ants and think there is no cause to worry, think again. Ants going marching often do not go one by one; they go in groups. So you will want to investigate any sign of ants in your residence. Don’t just learn to live with a swarm of ants!
These tiny creatures are always on the move and seeking the perfect place with food and water to call home. Don’t let them call your home theirs! Target the problem with Target Pest Control.
