With tiny pests like ants, it can seem impossible to truly keep them off your property. From the ones crawling around in your yard to those that forage inside your home for food, ants are persistent and common invaders of human spaces. That’s why it pays to know how to prevent their populations and act fast to eliminate them.
Some of the most common ants around are pavement ants, the little black bugs that like to crawl around where soil meets rock. In suburban America, that often means sidewalks and pavement, hence their name. They will also invade homes and businesses. Pavement ants, like many invasive insects, are scavengers. They get inside of homes and businesses in order to access the food and shelter that are abundant within. Because they’re so tiny, ants can access the areas we can’t always see or reach during routine cleaning and maintenance. That’s what makes them such common pests, whether they’re outdoors or inside. It’s also why only persistent control measures will keep them out, and why no ant population should be treated as harmless.
Most ants you see around your property aren’t dangerous but instead are what are known as nuisance pests. Pavement ants fall into this category since they don’t spread diseases or cause extensive property damage. However, even nuisance varieties can contaminate food sources and the areas where we eat or prepare our meals. Ants also reproduce in truly massive numbers, meaning controlling their populations can be difficult. That’s why early prevention and frequent inspections are needed to make sure that ant populations never have a chance to grow in the first place. Even if the ants themselves aren’t directly harmful, they can attract spiders and other pests that may be more dangerous.
There is no end to the list of DIY solutions and cheap workarounds you can find accounts of online, but many of them aren’t written by pest experts who understand how to address specific infestations. While all ants are tough to eliminate, pavement ants are especially difficult to control. Aside from the fact that the reproductive members of an ant colony are typically hidden out of view and in inaccessible areas, pavement ants like to build their colonies specifically beneath rocks and cement that you can’t always tear up easily. Baits and traps may work to get rid of a few dozen of them, but they won’t’ do anything to address the real root of the ant population: the reproductive queens that will simply create more. This is why only frequent prevention and professional solutions are guaranteed to control ant colonies, preventing them from growing out of control.
With pests that are common and difficult to get rid of, the best course of action is to ask experts for help. Wasting money and time on unproven methods or ineffective products will only end up costing you more in the long run. Not only can pest professionals give you tips and tricks for how to prevent pests like pavement ants from invading, but we can also provide effective treatments that have records of success. At Red Rock Pest Control, we help residents and business owners with pest control at all stages, from routine inspections to quick and effective elimination. We won’t just visit your home once and leave you to it, we’ll follow up and make sure that infestations stay gone.
Let us get started on an inspection of your property today, contact Red Rock Pest Control for more information.
