Ants| You Are What You Eat| Fun Fact Friday

Ants are an interesting pest. Are they unpleasant in a home?  Of course they are!  They're creepy-crawly-tickly-itchy-stinky creatures, and depending on species, they can cause structural damage.  I still think it's a good idea to take care of an ant infestation, even though I find them interesting.

Something I recently read at http://www.biokids.umich.edu was about how ants position in the colony is determined by how much and what they are fed in their infant stages.  Food source and amount determines not only the size of an ant but the caste within the society.  So a queen ant, or the workers (depending on the age of the colony) will feed the various larva different foods and in different amounts to raise more workers, soldiers, males, queens, etc depending on the needs of the colony.

Within an ant colony, there are many different types of ants.  All of the ants are (generally speaking)the same species, but they look different, their purpose to the colony can be determined based on what they look like. An ant with a larger head and jaw is likely a protector/soldier of the nest and may also be a forager.  Smaller ants are likely to be in-nest workers, digging and caring for the young.  Ants with wings are reproductive, the smaller winged ants are general male and the larger are female. Before reading about it, I didn't realize that this position is determined as they develop, and is based on quantity and type of food.

Here is a fire ant video by national geographic.  Not exactly on theme, but about ants and pretty interesting.



If you're having a problem with ants, whether they are moisture ants, odorous house ants, carpenter ants, big ants, small ants, or any other pest give us, at Peak Pest Management a call, send us an email or check out our website for more information!

Micah Wood
www.peak-pest-management.com
micah@peak-pest-management.com
Portland 503-998-4322
Vancouver 360-607-1933
Seattle 206-790-8285

Biokids: University of Michigan (2002-2013). Ants, Formicidae. http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Formicidae/

What is Carpenter Ant Flushing? And Other Common Questions.

So, my wife brought to my attention that when I say "There may be some flushing," regarding ant treatments people who do not work in the pest control industry might not understand what I'm talking about.  Flushing refers to a part of the process with some ant products where ants come out of their nest and die.  It isn't a reference to ants using your bathroom or taking up playing poker with cards in your house.  Depending on the product used, flushing can occur with a variety of ants, moisture ants, odorous house ants, sugar ants, carpenter ants, etc.  Flushing sometimes gives the appearance that the problem is temporarily worse.  Flushing is a normal part of the process and a good sign that the treatment is working.

The next obvious question is-- If the ants are dying because of the pest control products and they are outside of the nest where my pet parrot, puppy, kitten etc can get to them and eat them, will my pet get sick?  With the products we use the answer is no.  This is because we use pet safe products.  The products we, at Peak Pest Management, use for Ant treatments are specifically targeted for ants.

What does specifically targeted mean?  Specifically targeted means that the products either are a natural poison to ants because of their biological make up, or the products are developed using the biology of the ant specifically to avoid poisoning animals and people.  Pest control has come a long way over the years- environmentally friendly pest control companies, like Peak Pest Management, are always learning and developing.  Continued learning is a crucial part of maintaining the highest quality pest control service.

At Peak Pest Management there is a desire to know the most current pest control issues.  We also make the effort to educate ourselves in the most current and most effective and safest products available.  On top of that we read research done by experts within the industry.