A Practical Guide To Effective Ant Control For Your Kittitas County Home

Have you been looking for a simple and practical guide to all-natural and effective ant control? You've found it! Prosite is committed to green ant control and pest management that uses the least amount of materials. We also provide tips and tricks that help Kittitas County residents handle their own ant pest problems with natural solutions. In this guide, we'll tell you about both. We'll share five easy-to-understand, eco-friendly ant prevention tips you can use around your home. We'll also tell you how a licensed professional adds extra protection to make ant problems a thing of the past. Whether you're looking for "just enough" ant control, or "total" ant control, you'll find the answers here. If ants are currently driving you nuts and you're looking for ant pest control near you, you can't go wrong with Prosite for ant pest control in Kittitas County. Hop over to our contact page and take a quick moment to tell us about your issue. We'll reach out to you quickly and help you address your problem. 

The Life Cycle Of Common Ants

When considering how to keep ants out of your home, it helps to have some basic knowledge of the life cycle of common ants. Let's take a short moment to do that. It will provide insights into why outdoor ant control strongly deters indoor ant problems.

• Ant colonies begin with winged reproductives. A nest releases winged ants into the air, they swarm, they mate, and they get busy creating new colonies. These winged ants are impossible to keep out of your yard, but not all winged ants are viable. They die off if they can't find suitable resources such as food, water, and humid harborage.
• Winged ants can get into your home and create an indoor nest. They don't create entry points to do this. Even winged carpenter ants require gaps, cracks, and holes to enter your home.
• Ants colonies create worker ants. The more resources worker ants can find, the faster the colony can grow and the more worker ants the colony can produce.
• Worker ants work together to find food. When a food source is found, one worker will recruit other workers. A plentiful food source in your home may draw reproductives indoors. These ants can work to establish a satellite colony, which is nearly as bad as having a primary colony in your home.

The secret to all-natural ant control is to deter winged ants, wingless reproductives, and worker ants from finding the conditions they need. Sometimes it is a challenge to do this and control products are needed for colony elimination and ant exclusion.  

The Problems An Ant Infestation Can Create In Your Home

Ant control is hard work. You may need some motivation to do that hard work—if ants haven't already done things that have pushed you to take all the steps necessary. Ants have a way of doing that. When you sit on your couch and realize (to your horror) that it is covered by thousands of tiny ants, you won't need any encouragement to do the hard work of ant control. But, if ants haven't freaked you out yet, here are some facts you should know.

• All ants can pick up microorganisms from trash and transport them to surfaces, dishes, and stored foods, which can lead to stomach illness.
• Certain ants are destructive. They chew galleries inside wood and can damage your home, over time.
• Some ants get into electric boxes and outlets. They chew on wires and cause electronic circuits to short.
• Some ants are stinky pests. When crushed, they emit an unpleasant odor.

In most cases, ants are just a nuisance. They can enter your home in large numbers and drive you batty. You can reduce the number of ants and bring ant problems below your threshold of comfort by applying general pest and home maintenance.  

Five Eco-Friendly Ant Prevention Tips For Around The House

Ants are simple organisms motivated by simple stimuli. You can remove the things that attract them and block access to prevent them from getting inside. These are the foundation of eco-friendly ant prevention.

1. Address Food Sources

Ants find food on the exterior of your home and grow their populations. More ants outdoors will likely result in more ants indoors. The food sources inside your home can prompt worker ants to recruit other workers and bring an army indoors. Whether indoors or outdoors, eliminating food sources will deter ant activity and prevent ant problems.

• Get on top of lawn weed problems. Ants will enter your yard to take advantage of a plentiful source of nectar and plant sap.
• Keep your plants healthy and dry above ground. Doing so will deter aphids, whiteflies, and other plant-damaging pests that produce honeydew. The honeydew produced by these pests is a desirable food source for many pest ant species, particularly carpenter ants.
• Clean your trash receptacles and keep all receptacles covered. Ants find many food options in garbage, and the strong scent of decaying food lures ants from a distance.
• Clean up seeds, nuts, and fruit in your yard. If you have trees or plants that produce these, you'll have more trouble with ants and other pests.
• Clean dishes in your home as you go.
• Put dog and cat food down during meals and pick them up afterward.
• Always keep food covered on your counters.
• Store your pantry foods in sealed containers.
• Clean your home to remove food debris and decaying juices. These are strong attractants for many ant species.
   

2. Address Moisture

Ants need moisture. A damp perimeter and moist vegetation will attract them to your exterior. A humid interior or plumbing issues can provide a reason for ants to establish an indoor nest. In both cases, addressing moisture helps to prevent ant problems.

• Clear out gutter clogs, repair downspouts, and fix any portion of your gutter system that is missing.
• Ensure that water can flow out and away from your downspouts.
• Apply gradation around your home if needed.
• Repair exterior spigots.
• Repair indoor faucets and showerheads.
• Install a dehumidifier in areas of your home that tend to stay humid.
• Put water down for your pets only at meal times.

3. Address Entry Points

Ants are small, but they aren't so small that exclusion work won't help to keep them out of your home. Some entry points are fixed with general repairs. Others are sealed with materials. Here are some examples.

• Replace rotted wood or fill in rotted wood holes with expanding foam.
• Replace damaged or worn-out weatherstripping.
• Replace damaged door sweeps or install sweeps where there are none currently.
• Fill in gaps around pipes and PVC conduits with expanding foam or caulking material.
• Seal gaps around your exterior door and window frames with caulking material.
• Patch cracks in your foundation walls with a foundation repair kit.
• Apply plastic to protect a crawlspace under your home or get a professional to encapsulate that space.

4. Address Harborage

Ants hide under and inside objects in your yard. If you have a hiding place near the exterior of your home, such as a wood pile, construction debris, or junk, you'll increase the chances of ant problems in your home. Removing harborage helps to limit ant activity near your exterior. 

• Move objects away from the exterior of your home.
• Stay on top of leaf and stick cleanup.
• Store man-made objects indoors if possible, or on a pallet away from your exterior if needed.

5. Address Routes

Ants can scale your walls, but they don't prefer to do this. When you see an army of ants on your first or second floor, it may have something to do with vegetation touching your exterior. 

• Cut tree branches that touch your roofline or exterior walls.
• Trim bushes, shrubs, and other plants that touch your exterior walls.
• Remove grass, weeds, and other vegetation that grows up near your foundation.

All-natural ant pest control is effective, but not complete. You can still see ants in your home every once in a while, particularly if we get heavy rain. The only way to get total ant control is to use control products. Unfortunately, these products can make your problem worse if they are misapplied. Many pest ant colonies have multiple queens and are prone to budding. A budding colony splits into two or more colonies. You can avoid this by having control products applied by a licensed professional.   

Contact The Professionals About Total Ant Control For Your Home

What does total ant control look like in Kittitas County? It is the ongoing and systematic control of pest ant species found around your home. The control methods used by a professional include appropriately selected baits, mound treatments, liquid applications, exclusion work, and granular treatments. When properly applied, treatments eliminate ant colonies, reduce ant activity in key locations, block access to the interior of your home, and arrest the activity of simple organisms on your foundation. If you'd like to learn some of the specific ways Prosite guards residential structures and prevents ant problems, we'd love to hear from you. Our team is committed to helping you find effective, eco-friendly, and scientific solutions to address your pest concerns. Pests in Kittitas County never stop trying to get in. We provide the ongoing deterrants that continually keep them out. Contact us today for assistance.