Most people have seen ants in your home, yard, or community as they are the most common pests in Arizona. These creatures are one of the top reasons people call for pest control services to their home.
Ants can create, build, and live in colonies in a variety of landscapes and topographies. They have a complex, and honestly quite fascinating, worker system with a queen, workers, soldiers, and those that reproduce offspring.
The queen ant will lay eggs to help grow the colony by thousands of offsprings each time. The workers care for the queen, search for food, and build onto the nest. The soldiers are focused on protecting the colony from their natural predators. The reproductive ants help to start new colonies.
You can see that this complex structure helps to ants to survive and thrive in your communities. There are several types of ants most commonly found in Arizona; fire ants, crazy ants, carpenter ants, forelius ants, leafcutter ants, argentine ants, pavement ants, house ants, pharaoh ants, and rover ants.
Fire ants – these ants are typically red of black and tend to create their colonies in homeowners yards, common areas, parks, and near roads. Their nests are commonly seen in open, warm areas. These ants tend to sting Arizona residents in an attempt to protect their colonies.
Crazy ants – have been labeled as crazy due to the confused and erratic pattern they move. They will bite when feel threatened.
Carpenter ants – are ants that primarily nest in wood. While they do not eat the wood, they dig wood out to build their nests. These ants prefer sweet food, proteins, and other insects. They primarily work during the evening hours.
Forelius ants – can handle intense heat environments are seek food sources during the summer heat when other ants are not.
Leafcutter ants – will be seen carrying around parts of plants and move them to their nests.
Argentine ants – like to live in moist areas and travel between their colonies to find their food.
Pavement ants – you will find these ants building their nests in cracks on the pavement, sidewalks, and even in your home's foundation.
House ants – these are the more common ants you will find inside your home. Their goal is to search for crumbs and food sources left around the coaches, tables, trash cans, and other creatives where people drop their food.
Pharoh ants – these ants tend to found inside your home as well as outside your home. These ants appear light in color and can have hundreds or thousands in their colonies. They also can transport their colonies as needed.
Rover ants – these ant colonies can be substantially similar to the Pharoh ants. This can lead to challenges when trying to eliminate them as they keep reappearing all over your home and yard.
Where are they found in Arizona?
Ants are found throughout Arizona, including right here in Yuma. Some ants handle the Yuma heat more efficiently than others, such as the forelius ants.
Facts about ants:
- Ants are found everywhere in the world except on continent Antarctica.
- There are more than 12,000 different species on ants.
- Ants can carry up to 20 times their body weight.
What type of damage can they cause? If any?
Carpenter ants, while not as damaging as termites, can still cause damage to homes and weaken the structure of a home over years of infestation. Carpenter ants have been known to cause long-term damage costing billions of dollars annually in the United States.
Ants can also carry numerous diseases and food borne illnesses. For this reason alone, restaurants shouldn't delay in getting pest control for their business when ants are spotted. It's important to deal with ants immediately when discovered. While you may only see a few at a time, their colony is not far away. Call Hitman Pest of Yuma right away before they can do any more damage.
How do you get ants?
Ants will start in invade your home to find the food they need or shelter and nesting conditions away from the Arizona heat. Food particles around the interior will entice them to enter your home.
They may also seek water so that you may see them near water sources as well. Check out your sinks, faucets, and toilets for ant presence. During monsoon season, ants may end up causing floods in ant nesting areas and cause them to seek shelter in your home.
How do you know you have them?
Ants are commonly seen just walking around your home or your properties exterior. While they are small, they can typically be seen marching in a line. This can make it easier to find their nests as ants will burrow into the ground and remove dirt, sand, and other elements.
You may start to see damage to your home's interior or exterior wood caused by carpenter ants. Check closely for wooded areas of your home. You may witness piles of sawdust need holes indicating ants may be present.
How can you prevent ants?
Cleanliness will help to discourage them from entering. This may include wiping down countertops, mopping floors, vacuuming carpeted floors, replacing your trash each day, and keeping your exterior free of food.
Ants will also look for food supplies in your pantry. Please ensure that all food bags are sealed tightly, pet food containers are tightly closed, and keep trash cans fully closed. I know this sounds very challenging and is easier said than implemented.
Finally, you may find that creating substantial barriers to your house is another strategy to use. This may include sealing cracks and holes and using weather stripping on openings to your home.
What should you do if you have them?
Call Hitman Pest of Yuma right away! The soon you get experts in place to deal with your ant infestation, the better.