The Black Ant prefers to nest outside although may also create nests within walls and beneath the floors of your building. They become a nuisance when worker ants enter buildings in search of food and follow specific paths made by proceeding ants, gathering around food sources.
Lifecycle:
New Queens and fertile males are able to fly from late Spring / early Summer and mating takes place on the wing. These nuptial flights are often a spectacular sight involving hundreds or even thousands of ants, but lasting just a few hours on certain days of the year between June and September.
Following this mating ceremony, the males die and the females shed their wings, move on to start new colonies and build new nests which can survive for several years. The Queen will start to lay eggs as soon as the new nest and egg chamber is constructed and eggs will start to hatch after 8 - 10 weeks.
Treatments:
Following our initial comprehensive, free survey and discussion with you, the client, there are several options available for efficient ant nest removal, including:
- Residual 'Crawling Sprays' that are directed around access points (e.g. doors, windows, pipes, etc.) as well as along known runs such as wall and floor junctions.
- Poisoned Baits which are gathered by foraging Worker ants and taken back to the nest for the rest of the colony to eat.
- Insecticidal Dusts may also be used, but usage is restricted by location (i.e. we will not use these near food sources and these dusts are not ideal for outdoor use as wind & rain can effect them.)
- Knockdown Sprays are particularly effective against flying ants.
- Obvious Points of Access are easily proofed by the use of silicons and mastics.
Our initial free survey will identify any problematic areas - i.e. food sources, spillages or any other source of attraction.
Dorset Pest Control has learnt from experience that effective control can only be gained by efficient surveying combined with baiting, the use of contact sprays / dusts and specialist proofing measures.
Call Dorset Pest Control on
or 07878 950 428
or click here to fill out our contact form.
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