Are Store-Bought Treatments Potent Enough To Treat Ants In Atlanta?

Atlanta pest control efforts have to encompass dozens of different ant species. We've got many varieties of nuisance ants here in Central Georgia, as well as a few ant species that are more than a nuisance, like carpenter ants and fire ants. Regardless of the species, getting rid of ants can be a hassle. That's why the easiest thing is to let the pros handle your ant problems. 

How Can I Tell What Type Of Ants Are Invading My Atlanta Home?

One of the main reasons professional pest control is a good idea for ant infestations is that it can be difficult to tell what kind of ants are infesting your property if you don't have a trained eye. You might mistake dangerous pharaoh ants for a similar-looking nuisance species like Argentine ants. If you get the I.D. wrong, you might be letting a dangerous infestation go. 

Our area's most common dangerous ants are carpenter ants, fire ants, and pharaoh ants. You can identify carpenter ants by their size. Typically, they are around half an inch long, much larger than the average ant. They also tend to be dark brown or black. Fire ants are tiny and rusty red, except for their black or dark brown abdomens. Meanwhile, pharaoh ants are tiny, yellowish in color, and translucent. 

Will An Ant Infestation Go Away On Its Own?

If an ant infestation results from a few scouts coming inside after a spill or crumbs left on the floor, then cleaning up might encourage them to move on to a place with easier access to food. However, if ants are living in your home, it's a different story. Ants that have taken up residence in your home will never go away on their own. 

Carpenter ants in Atlanta are typically the worst offenders. They take up residence inside the wood of your home, whether it be stairs or walls, floor joists, or some other wooden component, and there, they chew through the wood they infest until they severely damage it. Carpenter ants alone can impact the structural integrity of the wood they live inside. And since they live in your home, they're not going anywhere unless you make them. 

Are Ant Baits Effective To Use In My Home?

Ant baits and other ant control solutions you can buy at the grocery store typically do not eliminate ant infestations. Most of the time, all they do is make them move. For instance, putting ant granules around a fire ant hill might kill enough of the population to make the nest spread out. But you will start to notice other ant hills popping up soon after you use the granules because they made the ants pick up and relocate a few feet.

Another issue plaguing ant-infested homes is that many ant species are perfectly capable of standing up to new queens in the absence of their old ones. So you might successfully kill the queen of one ant colony, but that doesn't mean much if the workers can create a new one from the existing pool of individuals. 

I Have Ants Terrorizing My Home And Getting Into All My Food! Help!

Effective ant control is complicated for homeowners to accomplish on their own. If ants take over your property, it's best to get professional pest control. Here at Squash A Bug Pest Control, our ant experts can help get and keep your home ant-free, no matter the species you're dealing with!