Household Ants

Ants are no longer some small tiny creatures that are tolerated by many in homes. Due to their close association with mankind, as well as their foraging in large numbers, these ants have often been regarded by urbanites as nuisance. The sight of ants in food and drink is enough to upset many people.

Ants are social insects and live in colonies. Colonies activities such as food gathering, colony moving, breeding and defense against predators are highly organised and carried out as a unit made of hundreds or thousands of individuals.

Ants undergo complete metamorphosis including egg, larva, pupa and adult. Life cycle from egg to adulthood normally take about 2-3 months for most the pest species but may be longer depending on species, food availability, environmental temperature, etc.

An ant colony may consist of 4 castes: queen, worker, female and male. The worker is normally sighted by man. Queen is the largest individual in a colony and involved in egg-laying.

Ants communicate chemically through pheromones hence you often see them marching behind one another.

Sanitation, an important factor in pest ant management is often neglected. Availability of food and water sources to pest ants should be minimised whenever possible. Food debris and leaky pipes often attract foraging ants. Outdoor cleanliness can also minimise nesting of a number of pest ant species. Branches of trees touching the wall or roof of buildings should be trimmed to reduce entry of pest ants.

Typically, one will apply pesticides at places where ants are seen. This instinctive behavior will only cause the ants to disperse and making the management of the problem more complex.

An effective control of pest ants requires knowledge of ants including the their species, foraging and nesting habits. Apart from the ant identification, it is crucial to make a thorough inspection of the ant infestation before a treatment is executed. If ant nest can be located, carry out treatment on the nest, or removal of the nest is the best control method. However, when a nest is difficult to locate or is inaccessible for direct treatment, two other methods can be carried out: residual treatment and baiting.

Below are images shows the heavy feeding of ants on the dry granular bait at a training facility