What are Ants Exactly?
Ants are a highly social and complex insect that evolved from a wasp ancestor during the Cretaceous Period.
They are now found all over the world, except for places like Antarctica, Hawaii, and Greenland. Ants may even exceed the total biomass of mammals and wild birds combined.
Their complex social structure, not as a colony, but as an organism that affects the landscape around them has put them in frequent contact with humans throughout history both as pest and heroic metaphor.
Common Ant Types
While there are more 15,000 identified types of ants, we will focus on a few of the most commonly found ant species within Pennsylvania.
Black Garden Ant
One of most commonly found ant species throughout North America is that of the humble black garden ant. Its namesake is derived from its color as well as the location of where they typically build their colonies.
Beyond making their nests in the garden, these black ants tend to also make their colonies underneath paving stones. These ants have wings and fly to mate, starting new colonies in the summer.
Pavement Ant
The pavement ant gets its name due to the fact that they tend to build their colonies and nests under pavement and concrete, burrowing between the cracks. These ants are a darkish brown, black color and are found throughout the US.
Luckily, because these ants usually build nests under pavement, they don’t typically invade homes and are not seen as pests.
Carpenter Ant
The reddish-black carpenter ant is another commonly seen ant in Pennsylvania. While they are found throughout the country, their species primarily prefers the cool and damp conditions of the northern United States.
This ant species will build their colonies outside, the namesake hints that they can be found making their nests within the timber frames of houses and inside the hollows of trees in equal measure.
Because of their tendency to be found inside houses, the carpenter ant is generally considered a pest insect because they can damage the structural integrity of buildings due to the colony building.
Odorous House Ant
Out of all the ant species mentioned above, the odorous house ant, sometimes called the sugar ant, is another commonly found ant. As their other name implies, these ants are primarily drawn to sugary foods, which is found in abundance in people’s homes!
These ants are the most common species that we see during a home inspection because they are drawn to make their colonies in the damp areas of one’s home and often forage food from your pantry.
Signs of Ant Infestation
Ants tend to find themselves within people’s homes and apartments during the late winter and early spring as they begin to forage for food.
Once they find a relatively easy, and reliable source of food, ants will tend to move their colony or signal the colony to begin to build a new colony closer to the food source.
Typical signs of an infestation are physically seeing them, often in a straight line (they are laying pheromones for other ants to follow), within your house.
Other signs are seeing them crawling out of cracks in the grout or other small cracks, and signs of ant mounds outside your house are another indication that you may have an ant infestation.
How to Prevent of Ants in Your House
The easiest way to prevent ants from building a colony either within or next to your house is to make your home not suitable for ants.
Moving any standing water or food sources like firewood or other plant materials away from your house is the easiest way to accomplish this. Ants see these as easy food and will return time and again to forge from those areas.
Once they figure out these areas are ripe with abundant food and water, the ants will send pheromones to the rest of the colony to move closer to the food and water sources, in this case, your house!
How Akita Pest Control Takes Care of Ants
Pest control for ants is included in our general pest extermination service, which features a comprehensive treatment for both the interior and exterior of your home, all backed by our pest-free guarantee. When applied by a certified pest control technician, our treatments are safe for kids, adults, and pets.