Lewisville's Complete Guide To Ant Control And Prevention

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? The end of a semester is when many students feel swamped as they work tirelessly to complete assignments and projects and prepare for exams. Perhaps you've felt helpless and overcome with emotion at your workplace when the boss hovered over you and pushed you to complete an intricate task at work. We feel overwhelmed when faced with something that appears to be more than we can handle without help.

When you walk in your yard, you will notice ants are everywhere. They crawl along your driveway, sidewalks, and across the patio. If you sit in the grass, you see them meandering through the blades gathering materials for a nearby nest. You may notice sandy mounds scattered throughout your property.

You may have taken comfort in knowing that ants never invaded your house, but that has changed. Now, you see them marching along baseboards, crawling over foods in the pantry, and traveling along the kitchen counter. Seeing ants in your house is overwhelming because you know they are just a fraction of the ants in the yard surrounding your home. Ridding your house of ants seems impossible, but an ant control service near your home can solve your problem.

When you felt overwhelmed at school or work, you probably reached out for help. When you feel swamped, you need reinforcements. If ants are in your house, you need our Lewisville pest control experts from Adams Exterminating Company. We have removed ants and other pests from homes for over 70 years. Our fourth-generation-owned local company continues to carry the tradition of honesty, integrity, and quality customer service. When you call us for reinforcements, you get a team of entomologists, trained service technicians, and a friendly customer service team.

You probably found this article because you feel overwhelmed by ants and need answers. You don't get exasperated and overcome because you know how to fix the problem when you understand what is happening. So, in this article, we give you the information you need to address the ant situation in your Lewisville house.

The Many Different Types Of Ants Found In Lewisville

So that you can make an identification of the pests invading your house, we will give a brief description of these creatures. Ants are insects with six legs, two antennae, two compound eyes, an external skeleton, and a body with three segments (head, thorax, and abdomen). Ants are social insects that live in colonies; these nests are often in the soil but may be in wood, tree stumps, wall voids, or other locations inside a home.

Inside each nest is one or more queens, sterile female worker ants, male ants (drones), and winged reproductive ants. The size and locations of these nests depend upon the ant species. Ants create new nests either by sending out flying reproductive ants or through a process known as budding.

There are thousands of ants worldwide, but the following types of ants are problematic for the Lewisville community:

To help you identify which ants are infesting your property, we will briefly describe each one.

Carpenter ant workers, which you will most likely see foraging in the house, have a red or black or a red and black 1/4 to 1/2 inch long body. When viewed from the side, the middle part of their body (thorax) is smooth and round; unlike some ants with two nodes, they have a single tiny triangle node that connects the thorax to the abdomen. Carpenter ants create nests by boring holes deep inside damp, softened woods. However, they do not eat wood but forage throughout the house shortly after sundown for food.

Fire ants are the only ant in the group with a stinger. Although they occasionally enter homes through HVAC ductwork, they usually create large two to four feet irregular flat-topped nests near trees, landscape timbers, and foundations. Native to Brazil, fire ants have a reddish brown body, but because they are polymorphic, they range in size from 1/16 to 3/16 inches.

Over 200 ant species live in Texas, and with its 1/12 to 1/16 inch golden yellow or reddish brown body, the pharaoh ant is one of the smallest in the state. Also called a piss ant or sugar ant, these ants live in the cracks, crevices, between stored sheets, or sheets of paper inside Lewisville homes.

As the name suggests, odorous house ants can stink up the place. When this dark brown to black 1/8-inch insect gets crushed, it emits a rotten coconut odor. Unlike carpenter ants that forage after dark, odorous house ants scout for food day and night. When they retire to rest, they move to wall voids, attics, and moist areas near plumbing or fixtures.

If you see crazy ants in your house, you will understand why they have that name. These South American ants walk like they are inebriated and kick out native ants from their nests; they will even attack and displace imported red fire ants. Crazy ants, also called tawny or raspberry ants, have a 1/8-inch reddish-brown body. A variation, known as the longhorn crazy ant, has longer legs and a black body. Crazy ants are fond of living inside electrical equipment and appliances.

You see pavement ants when you notice ants on sidewalks or defying gravity as they walk vertically on masonry walls. These 1/8-inch ants have a dark brown or black body. If they enter a house, they create nests in the walls, underneath insulation, and under floors.

Adams Exterminating Company provides ant control in your house to remove ants. Our trained technicians will determine the species infesting your home so we can create a targeted treatment plan to eradicate them.