The Secret To Keeping Ants Away From Your Aiken Home

April 15, 2020

Are ants in your home right now as you are reading this? Is that why you are here or are you preemptively looking for ways to keep ants out of your home in the future? Either way, we have good news for you. We have a secret not many homeowners know, a secret to keeping ants out of a home. Curious to know what it is? We are excited to share it with you.

Different Ants In Your Area

There are not too many species of pest ants here in Aiken, mainly just three, fire ants, carpenter ants, and pavement ants. Here are a few things you should know about these pests.

Fire ants: Reddish-brown in color, fire ants are most likely to be found outside of your home and don’t often find their way indoors. But they do from time to time. Known mainly for their painful stings and bites, fire ants can also be destructive to lawns with the way they build their nests.

Carpenter ants: A mix of red and black, carpenter ants are another common ant to find around your home. Not as much of a threat to you as they are to you home, carpenter ants have a special talent to tunnel through wood. They use this talent to construct their nests within the wooden structure of homes. Carpenter ants have also been known to enter into the living spaces of the homes they have infested to gather food wherever they can.

Pavement ants: As their name would suggest, pavement ants and their nests can commonly be found around driveways and even beneath the pavement. These smaller black ants often find their way into homes where they scavenge for food to bring back to their outside colonies. During the winter months, pavement ants have been known to move their homes indoors within walls and other hard-to-reach places throughout buildings.

One thing most ants share in common is their ability to carry dangerous bacteria on their bodies. If you see ants trailing through your home, don’t take any risks. Clean off surfaces you have seen them on and throw away any food they may have contaminated.

How You Can Keep Ants Out Of Your Home

Because of the variety of ants here in South Carolina and their different reasons for invading, prevention can be a bit difficult. There are, however, many things you can do to deter ants from getting into your home. Here is what we suggest.

• Use a caulking gun to seal gaps along the edges of window and door frames, holes in your exterior foundation, and spacing around utility pipes entering your home.

• Make sure your window and door screens are all rip and tear-free.

• Keep your yard well maintained and make sure to trim bushes and tree branches away from your home’s exterior.

• Check your gutters to make sure they are working properly.

• Eliminate sources of standing water in and around your home, especially sources that might be negatively affecting your home’s wood.

• Fix leaks in and around your home.

• Repair or replace structural wood around your home that has been negatively affected by water damage or rot.

• Store leftover foods inside airtight containers after you are done with them.

• Clean frequently and thoroughly, not neglecting to get beneath furniture and appliances.

• Keep your cabinets clean and do your best to store easily accessible food in sealable containers.

• Pick up pet food and water bowls before going to bed at night.

The Best Way To Get And Keep Ants Off Your Property

Want to know the secret to an ant-free home? Quality pest control. There is no easier or better way to get or keep ants out of your home or off your property. At Jury Pest Services we offer a wide range of services to deal with ants. If fire ants are biting you in your yard we can help. If pavement ants have been stealing your food, we can get them out of your home. If carpenter ants are threatening your home’s wood, we have methods to give them the boot.

Tags: ants | ant prevention | ant control |