Solutions Pest Control is familiar with all the types of ants that live in your neighbourhood, and the problems ants can bring to your home or business.
There are over 20,000 species of ants on the planet. Wow – good thing there is only some 100 or so species in British Columbia. Better yet, there are only a few types of ants that cause problems in homes, restaurants and offices in Metro Vancouver.
Ants primarily reside outdoors and serve as valuable scavengers that aid in maintaining the tidiness of gardens and landscaping. However, some ants can create problems when the otherwise harmless insects invade homes to forage for food.
The likelihood of a home invasion is high in the well-developed Metro Vancouver region, as these ants often prefer to live in a moist, protected spaces with abundant food sources.
Ants live in colonies. Their social structure is highly organized and efficient, with the sole objective of growing their colony. Given a suitable habitat near a food source, say your home or kitchen area, a colony will continue to grow. There is no reason for them to leave unless you make a change.
Most ants commonly found in BC are not aggressive, although some can bite. Ants should be tolerated as much as possible since they cause little damage to the garden. They can even be considered beneficial because they eat other insects like young silverfish and moths.
Certain kinds of ants commonly build nests in or near homes. They become pests when you see unsightly trails of workers throughout your home taking advantage of the various food and moisture sources available. Homeowners with infestations can even report flying ants during mating season.
More on the problems caused by ants in the home.
Species known to invade homes in BC include the:
Pavement ants can become a nuisance in lawns, gardens, and pathways, as well as indoors.
Our local household ants create problems by nesting in residential areas, invading homes in search of food, and even causing structural damage to buildings. Learn more about us!
Household ants often travel in large groups to collect food from previously identified sources
Gathering food en masse can contaminate indoor areas where people eat or prepare meals.
Carpenter Ants do not eat wood; rather, they chew up wood to make nests for their colony.
When collecting food from an indoor source like a kitchen or pantry, the foraging insects may transfer dirt and other unsanitary materials to countertops, shelves, and edible items.
Pharaoh ants can spread several harmful pathogens, including Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus spp., and Streptococcus spp, producing severe health concerns to you and your family
Although the different types of ants in Metro Vancouver share many of the same general traits regarding overall appearance and behaviour, each species retains unique characteristics that affect accurate identification and effective ant control.
Knowing which species has laid claim to your home is crucial to removing them. Don’t wait; the issue will not go away unless you take action.
Typical household ants often send individual workers (scouts) from the colony to inspect surrounding areas and locate food sources.
While the presence of a lone ant indoors does not necessarily indicate a nest inside as well, it does signal the existence of a colony in the nearby vicinity.
It also indicates a high probability of hundreds or thousands of ants returning once the scout ant notifies the colony of the food source.
The sight of swarmers, either dead or alive, serves as another sign of a nearby ant infestation. A well-established colony will produce a mating swarm once a year to establish a new nest and grow a new colony.
The local household ants are strongly attracted to these types of foods:
Ants live in colonies. Their social structure is highly organized and efficient, with the sole objective of growing their colony. You can better understand your ant pest issue by understanding ant behaviour.
Many local ant colonies grow by producing winged males and females called alates/swarmers. At specific times throughout the year, the swarmers leave the colony and mate.
The males die after mating, while the newly established female queens locate a suitable nesting site, shed their wings, and begin to lay eggs.
Ant larva looks like legless, whitish cylinders hatch from the eggs. They develop into pupae under the care of the queen/other worker ants.
The pupae become adult worker ants (all females) after a few weeks and take responsibility for the safety and development of future eggs, which the queen continues to lay.
While most types of household ants use mating swarms to reproduce, certain species rely on a process called budding.
Ants that reproduce by budding, which means the ants simply divide the colony when it becomes too crowded, with one or more queens leading a group of workers (which carry eggs and immobile larvae) to a new nesting site.
Prevention strategies can be applied in every household.
Repair and seal as many visible cracks in the foundation and exterior walls of your house as possible.
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Certification
If you are a homeowner and are planning to use pesticides on your property in British Columbia, you may require a Residential Applicator Certificate under the Environmental Protection & Sustainability Ministry.
Dealing with ant infestations can be a trying experience. That’s why when you have problems, you need Solutions. Protect your home and your loved ones with professional ant control solutions so that you can enjoy an ant-free home.
For more information about the region and its services, visit the City of Vancouver’s Official Website or explore the Wikipedia page for Vancouver.
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FAQ
The time it takes for treatments to work depends on the method used and the size of the infestation. In most cases, bait systems take a few days to eliminate the colony as they take the food back to the nest. Other methods, such as physical barriers or non-chemical treatments, may show results within a few days to a week. Our team will provide you with an estimated timeline and ensure follow-up as needed.
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Read
We gathered the following, most recent Ant Control posts from Solutions Pest Control’s – Bug Blog. These are topical posts we’ve written over the years about ant issues in Metro Vancouver and Whistler Sea-to-Sky corridor area. If your neighbours had these issues in the past, our bug blog posts might be relevant to your concerns today.
There is a great deal of information in our Bug Blog posts, perhaps one will address the pest issues you are experiencing today. Please have a look at our Bug Blog page and give us a call if we can answer any questions.
