Why Do I Have Ants In My House?
Ants are one of the most common pests you might find inside a house. Ants are small insects closely related to wasps and bees, although most house ants can’t sting. You might notice more ants during the spring and summer, as this is when they become more active. One of the questions you might be asking yourself is how and why do ants decide to invade your home? It all goes back to the basic needs of food, water and shelter that all living creatures need. All species of ants, including the dreaded carpenter ant, will send out their scouts to look for food, water and shelter, and these ants will find the entry points on your house to get in. When looking for entry points, look for cracked foundations or improperly sealed doors and windows.
What Do Ants Eat?
Ants are omnivores, eating essentially anything that humans eat. Ants in the wild will feed on plants, fruits, vegetables, seeds, dead insects, and honeydew, a substance produced by aphids. Occasionally, ants will also eat their own eggs and each other. When ants have invaded your house, they will look for any kind of human or pet food they can find, with a special preference for both sugar and salt. While ants liking sugar is the stereotype, ants are just as attracted to salt as they are to sugar.
Ants are able to get into any source of food that’s not tightly sealed, which makes the average kitchen a gold mine for them. Ants can find food in your pantry as well as crumbs and small spills on the ground that you might not even notice. Ants can also find water sources in your kitchen sink, which makes your home even more tantalizing to them. Pet food can also provide another food source for ants, and you might notice ants crawling in and out of your pet’s food bowl. Because this food is often kept uncovered, in a bowl on the ground, it makes for a prime nutrient source for your yard’s ant colony.
How Do Ants Find Food?
One of the most important parts of an ant colony is the process of scouting. Unless the ants have already nested somewhere secluded in your house like behind an appliance or inside a wall, scouting is the main way ants decide to nest within your home. Scouting is the process of a lone ant being sent out to look for food or a new home. The single ant will explore the areas surrounding the colony until they find a suitable source of food and water. When they do find these sources, they will take a little piece of the food and begin traveling back to the main colony. As the scout ant travels back, it will leave a trail of pheromones for reinforcements to follow. After sharing the smaller piece of food with the colony, the scout ant and reinforcements will follow the scout ant’s pheromone trail back to the food source, and then they will begin feeding, as well as taking more of the food back to their colony. As the reinforcements take food back to the colony, they will strengthen the pheromone trail and bring even more ants back with them, which can lead to a full on ant infestation.
How Do Ants Get In Your House?
Most ants that invade your house are extremely small, and can fit into very tight spaces or tiny cracks. If your home’s foundation is cracked, then ants can make their way in through those cracks. If your front doors aren’t totally sealed, ants can crawl underneath the door and begin looking for food that way. If you have a screened window and open it up for some fresh air on a nice day, some of the smaller species of ants can even fit through the holes of the screen. Sometimes ants can even get in through small spaces in your flooring, and establish routes underneath or inside your carpet and tile.
Why Do I Have Ants in My Bathroom?
When trying to figure out why you are seeing ants in your bathroom, it all goes back to scouting ants and what all living creatures need to survive: food, water and shelter. Ants can actually subsist off of dead skin cells and rotting human hair inside shower drains, as well as toothpaste residue. However, the number one main attraction inside a bathroom is water. Ants need a water source, like all living organisms, and a bathroom is an abundant source of water. From showers, tubs, sinks, toilets and drains, ants can find more than enough water to sustain themselves in your bathroom
Why Do I Have Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants are a species of ant that is also a wood destroying insect. Some other wood destroying insects include termites and carpenter bees. It is a common misconception that carpenter ants actually eat wood, but in reality, carpenter ants only tunnel into and hollow out wood to build their nests, similar to the carpenter bee.
Carpenter ants have two types of nest, a parent nest and a satellite nest. The parent nest requires moisture, so you will most often find a parent nest outside in moisture-damaged wood, like a decaying log, or in tree stumps or wooden boards underground, where it can get plenty of moisture from the soil. Indoors, a parent nest will need to be near a source of moisture. Look around possible water sources like sinks, dishwashers, etc. or underneath roofing. Inside wall voids, foam insulation and even inside doors are also a common site for parent nests. Satellite nests can be found in dryer locations and are typically composed of workers, pupae and larvae, as they cannot have eggs in these nests because they would dry out. Satellite nests may be located inside porch pillars, insulation, wall voids and studs, hollow doors, sound wood, and inside window and door casings. If you are seeing small piles of sawdust on the ground near a hole in the wall, this is also an indicator of a carpenter ant nest.
If you see carpenter ants inside your home during the winter, then you most likely have an indoor nest that will need to be dealt with. You might have carpenter ants because your home creates favorable conditions for them to build their nests. Carpenter ants also have scouts that are sent out to look for food, water and nesting sites. Similar to other species of ants, carpenter ants can also eat most things that humans eat. Household food and pet food that’s been left out can provide them with a great food source, but the number one thing that attracts carpenter ants is a suitable nesting site. If you have moisture problems or poor ventilation in your home, then that can lead to moist and rotting wood, which is where they prefer to make their homes. Another reason you may have carpenter ants is because you have tree branches touching your house, providing an easy path for the ants. Leaving rotting stumps, piles of firewood, dead trees and wooden garden structures also provide a safe haven for carpenter ants.
How To Get Rid of Ants In The House | Ant Control Northern Virginia
Ants can spread diseases and contaminate food, and carpenter ants can cause significant damage to wooden structures in your home. Ants are always sending out their scouts to look for the entry points on your house, so they can find sources of food, water and shelter in your home. If you have begun seeing the signs of ants in your home, don’t wait on treating them. Treating ants and carpenter ants can be difficult and complex, so always leave ant control services to pest control professionals. Contact Summit Pest Control today for ant control services in the Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg areas today at https://www.sespestcontrol.com/virginia-beach/ant-control/