Distinguishing Features of Odorous House Ants

Odorous house ants have features that make them distinguishable from other ants. Their most prominent feature, their smell, has become the namesake of these ants. Odorous house ants have a foul smell that comes from their body when they are crushed. As for their look, these insects have dark brown or black bodies. They are also tiny and tend to measure between 2.4-3.25mm long.

Some additional features can be noticed if you look closely at one of these ants. Odorous house ants have an unevenly shaped thorax, as well as a single node on their petiole (a slender connective stalk), hidden by their abdomens. Knowing the type of ants that are infesting a building makes it easier to choose the right strategy for removing these pests. Premier Pest Management can help you identify and eliminate any bug or pest problem on your property.

Odorous House Ant Colony Size

By the time you’ve seen an odorous house ant in your building, the infestation has already begun. Ants are not solitary creatures, and for every one you see, there are hundreds more in a nearby colony. Odorous house ant colonies can have a single queen with hundreds or workers or megacolonies with thousands of workers and hundreds of queens. The queens of these colonies produce thousands of additional ants, so a small problem can turn into a huge one if you don’t handle it quickly. Premier Pest Management has resources that can stop the problem at its source. We kill the ants you see, the ones you don’t, and prevent them from returning.

Where Do Odorous House Ants Live

Odorous house ants can live in many environments which is one of the reasons they can be hard to remove from your home or office. These ants can thrive indoors and outdoors, as well as in various conditions. On the outside of a property, odorous house ants create colonies in the shallow soil beneath stones, boards, logs, mulch, debris, etc. During the times of year where there is a lot of precipitation (i.e., rain or snow) odorous ants will head indoors. Once inside, they look for places that have similar qualities to the locations they would outdoors. For example,  odorous house ants can create nests in the wall voids around hot water pipes and heaters, under sinks, behind cabinets and beneath the floor. You will often see odorous house ants traveling in trails throughout the day, as they forage day and night. Premier Pest Management has the tools and experience to find locations where ants are hiding and eliminate the problem at the source.

What Odorous House Ants Eat

Odorous house ants show as much variety in their eating habits as they do in their living conditions. When setting up shop inside your building, these ants will feed on most items found in homes and buildings, but research suggests they prefer things that are high in sugars.  When they are nesting in your yard, odorous house ants will feed on honeydew excreted by aphids and on nectar from flowers and buds. Identifying and removing sources of foods for odorous ants is part of the process Premier Pest Management uses to keep your building free from odorous house ants.

Whether it’s odorous house ants or another species (e.g., carpenter ants or pavement ants), Premier Pest Management can help. Our team of professionals can rid your home of all forms of ants and other pests commonly found in and around Salisbury MD. Give us a call at 443-235-2782 or send us a message online to schedule an appointment for an estimate.

The post 4 Things You Should Know About Detecting and Removing Odorous House Ants appeared first on premierpestmd.

Most Termites Are Blind

If you’ve ever wondered if termites can see the damage they’re doing to a structure; the answer is probably not. In fact, most termites are blind. Termites have societies that can be similar to ants. Within a termite colony, king and queen termites usually do have eyes, but they don’t have keen vision. Most worker and soldier termites are blind, and some don’t have any eyes at all! Termites predominately navigate the world around them using chemical signals. In the cases where termites do have eyes and vision, it’s limited to helping them with the orientation toward light sources.

Speed Eating and Breeding

The reason that tiny termites can be such a huge problem boils down to their speed. Termites can reproduce quickly and eat things very quickly. When combined, that spells trouble for any structure near a colony of termites. It’s estimated that a medium-sized colony of Formosan termites (around 3 million termites) could eat one foot of a 2’ x 4’ wood in only two days! Under the ideal conditions, a colony of Formosan termites can cause extensive damage to a structure within six months.

A tiny termite problem can turn into a big problem very quickly. Termite queens can lay between 20,000 and 40,000 eggs a day, so it doesn’t take long to get from a few termites to a colony of 3 million. It’s even been estimated that there are 1,000 pounds of termites for every person on earth! At Premier Pest Management, we will do free termite inspection of your home or business to check for any signs of termite activity.

Termites are Good for the Environment

We started the article by talking about the damage termites do to human structures, but they also play a vital role in helping the environment. Their ability to eat through tough plant matter that makes them the bane of buildings, also allows termites to help recycle decaying trees into the new soil. By making their colonies in the ground, they aerate the land by building tunnels, which improves the health of the soil for the plants growing there. In wooded areas, termites are an essential part of promoting the growth of new trees. The things termites do that damage a structure are also the things that keep forests healthy.

Termites Never Sleep

Another reason termites can be so damaging to a structure is that termites are extremely hard workers. It’s believed that termites never sleep! So they have all the time in the world to munch on your home. Termites are affected by temperature. Termites might slow down, or even stop if the temperature gets low enough, but they aren’t sleeping. When insects enter this cold-induced state, it’s called diapause. However, most human-made structures are warm sufficient that termites don’t enter diapause. Without any reason to stop, termites will keep eating away at a structure until they, or the structure, are gone.

If you think your home may have a termite problem contact Premier Pest Management for a free termite inspection of your home or business. We will photograph any evidence of termite activity and then make a graph of your property showing exactly where the termite activity is occurring. We will also have a plan of action for how to go about treating it.

The post 4 Things You Didn’t Know About Termites appeared first on premierpestmd.

Top 3 Tips To Prevent Mice

With Fall and Winter fast approaching we have put together some tips to help you prevent mice from invading your home this year.

1. Don’t leave trash and food sitting out over night

We know it’s hard after a long day of work then cooking dinner who wants to do the dishes or take out the trash when its easier to say i’ll just take care of it tomorrow. Well leaving the overflowing trash can or the dirty dishes in the sink is inviting mice and other rodents to an all you can dinner. Premier Pest Management recommends taking a few extra minutes to clean the dishes or take out the trash they won’t want to come in if there is not any food

2. Make sure your crawlspace door is on good

We see it a lot, folks aren’t sure how the mice are getting into there home call us we do an inspection and find that the crawlspace door is no longer on properly. We recommend to inspect your crawlspace door often especially after the plumber or cabal guys leaves to make the door was properly put back on. Also weather can blow open your crawlspace door, after a bad storm take a look to see if your crawlspace door is still properly on.

3. Sealing up any cracks or holes in your foundation

We see it all the time contractors will make a five inch whole in the foundation to run a two inch pipe. Sealing up holes like this and other areas around the exterior of your home prevents mice from getting in. One common area to look is by the H.V.A.C unit. Contractors will run pipes and such threw your foundation and often times not seal up around these areas.

We aren’t saying that these tips will one hundred percent eliminate any chances of mice and rodents getting into your home this year. But they can put the odds in your favor of not having any rodents this year come visit you. Should you get rodents though and need a hand please feel free to give Premier Pest Management a call pest control in Salisbury, Maryland.

The post Top 3 Tips To Prevent Mice appeared first on premierpestmd.