Odorous house ants are one of the most common pests here in Northern California. They are small, black to brown ants measuring about 2mm-3mm in size. Also, known as sugar ants or stink ants because of their pungent odor, odorous house ants can be quite the pest.
The sheer number of odorous house ants makes them difficult to get rid of once they are in your house. A single colony can consist of thousands of ants. The queen is able to quickly replenish lost worker ants. Making it difficult to eliminate a colony even if you continuously kill lots of ants.
Odorous house ants will enter your home for many reasons. Just as your house is a safe, climate-controlled home full of water and food, so it is for the ants. A queen or colony may move into your home during the winter months to escape the cold, or during the summer months to escape the heat and find water. The heat and the search for water is one of the main factors driving odorous house ants in hotter, dryer areas such as Roseville, Rocklin, and Lincoln. In the spring, queens are hatching and searching for a place to setup a nest. This is a key time to make sure your house is protected.
Odorous house ants can feed on just about anything including insects, dead animals, nectar, fruits, sugar, dairy, meats, grease, and even products we wouldn’t consider edible. Once they find food, they establish trails using a pheromone. This pheromone is extremely strong and the ants can find it even after long periods of time.
Odorous house ants can also damage your home. They will chew into wood, insulation, drywall, and other materials to make their nests or find entry to other areas. While each ant is small, over time thousands of ants can do a lot of damage.
Treatment
Due simply to pure numbers, odorous house ants can be difficult to deal with, so the earlier the better. We cover the base of the house in a spray that will stop any ants from entering your home and eliminate those that touch it. We also treat the inside of your home to eliminate ants that have already gotten into the house. The spray contains a residual that worker ants carry back to the queen , eliminating the the colony. Depending on the severity we have a range of products to use for ants.
It is also important to keep branches away from your home and monitor lines and cables that can provide pathways. You can find more information about this in the video below.
As mentioned above, a small colony is easier to eliminate than a large established colony. Because of this, it is important to take action as soon as you start seeing ants. What may start as just one or two ants can turn into hundreds or thousands in a very short time.
The best method is to make sure your home is protected, eliminating ants before they can setup a nest. Our most popular service is our no-contract, bi-monthly, fully-guaranteed, service that puts a barrier of spray eliminating pest problems before they even start.
If you are having ants or other pest problems, please contact us at 530-878-8786 or via our contact form here.
