Some ants seem to have superpowers. Despite your best efforts to seal up your kitchen, remove food scraps and prevent insects from entering your home, ants find a way. Learn more about the remarkable features of these common pests. After taking a moment to appreciate them, call your local Guelph ant control team at Truly Nolen Canada for a full-service prevention and removal visit.
Superior Sense of Smell
There are many different species of ants, but most of them have about four or five times the amount of odor receptors as other insects. These receptors are located on their antennas and hone in on their favourite source of food. For carpenter ants, this could be meats, fats and sugars. Other ants prefer liquid sugars or will gladly pick up anything edible.
Ants prefer sweet items, but aren’t picky eaters. Almost any food left out or stored in an area with ant access can be the target of ants on the move. Access to food may also be a sign that your home is a good spot for a new colony.
Strong, resourceful and determined, ants work as a team to take full advantage of their sense of smell. A single ant may be a nuisance, but it can quickly lead to a full infestation. Find out how ants work together to efficiently, and frustratingly, search for food around your home.
Ants detect sugar in a slightly different way. While they still use their odour receptors, ants can tune into a special chemical substance found in sugar. This sense, called chemosense, helps ants navigate great distances to satisfy a sweet tooth.
Pheromone Trails and Teamwork
Ants, like many other insects and animals, use chemical scents to communicate with each other. These chemicals, or pheromones, can create a trail directly from their colony to a tasty snack. Once another ant picks up that trail, it adds its own pheromones as it follows the trail.
The result is a very strong trail that the entire nest of ants can follow. This trail becomes stronger as more ants enjoy access to small crumbs or open containers of food on your floor, countertop or in your cabinets.
A pheromone trail is very difficult to remove, so ants will continue to find their way into your home until you can eliminate the threat. If you notice ants in your home, it may be time to call a professional. Removing individual ants won’t remove the trail, and even removing the food source won’t immediately halt the march of ants into your home. Their entry point can be extremely small and difficult to spot, so work with a professional team to find out how to protect your home.
Effective Ant Prevention and Removal
At Truly Nolen, our team works to keep your home safe and free from an ant infestation. All types of ants can be a nuisance, but carpenter ants are a particularly dangerous species of pests. Most ants will continue to seek out food sources in your home, but a species like carpenter ants will dig into your home’s wood furniture, window sills, framing and other areas to make their nests. Over time, this can lead to compromised structures and an unsafe home.
Our time-tested strategies start with a full inspection of your home. Once we determine the extent of your ant problem, we’ll recommend a removal and prevention strategy. This can include sealing up common entry points and using a safe pesticide or other product to remove any ants that may already have a colony in your home.
Schedule an inspection with Guelph ant control services to say goodbye to ants in your building. After appreciating their fascinating food-finding techniques, remove these unwanted pests from your home and enjoy a pest-free residence with the help of Truly Nolen.