Odorous house ants will nest nearly anywhere. Within walls, under floors, beneath cement slabs all make great homes for the ants that call Oregon home. Both outdoors and indoors can serve their needs. Outdoors ants will typically migrate to under mulch, stones, pavement, woodpiles, flower pots, or even your siding. Foraging indoors for food and moisture suits them just fine. Nests tend to be mobile which make them tricky to locate and exterminate without experience. Colonies have the ability to relocate fast and often in response to changes in weather and disturbance. Odorous house ant colonies tend to have numerous, egg-laying queens and the primary colonies may split into smaller ones for no apparent reason. Ants foraging indoors feed on any food. They can target the garbage can, pantry, or even dishes left in the sink.
One of the most common infesters in Gladstone homes are ants. The internet is packed with ways to manage these pests, but effective application of these strategies often requires the know-how of an Gladstone ant control services professional.
As ant exterminators, we use a combination of preventative measures, sprays, and bait to manage your ant problem. Give us a call to set up a consultation.
Colony Size: Usually about 3,000 adults
Characteristic | Description |
---|---|
Color | Black |
Length | Range in size from 1/5 to 3/4 inch |
Appearance | Sometimes winged, sometimes not. Large abdomen and head, with a small thorax. |
Breeding | Carpenter ants produce large numbers of queens and males during late summer. They emerge from nests the following spring for their nuptial flights. When carpenter ant nests are indoors, mating swarms become trapped inside. |
Where they live | Common places to sight carpenter ants are cabinets, sinks, dishwashers, rolled-up towels, bathroom tubs, sink and toilet areas, or other places where moisture is abundant. On a bright, sunny day, ants may be seen walking randomly through different areas of the house. |
Food Source | Contrary to what you’d expect, carpenter ants don’t eat wood. They prefer sweet things like honey, sugar, jelly, and so on. |
Behavior Notes | May bite if provoked, which can puncture the skin. |
Signs of presence |
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Risks | Carpenter ants damage wood by excavating and creating tunnels. The longer a colony is present in a structure, the greater the damage that can be done. If structural wood is weakened, carpenter ant damage can be dangerous and expensive to repair. |
Colony SizeOn average 10,000 workers and several queens.
Characteristic | Description |
---|---|
Color | Brown and black |
Length | 1/16 to 1/8 inches long |
Appearance | Small black dots, unless you look closely. The thorax has no spines, and the petiole has one segment which, when viewed from above, is hidden by the rest of the abdomen. When alarmed, the workers scurry around with their abdomens raised in the air. |
Breeding | Sugar ants swarm to mate from early May through mid-July, and also mate in the nest, forming new colonies by “budding” off the original colony. Each queen lays an egg a day. There are seven generations per year; workers and queens can live for several years. |
Where they live | Sugar ants often nest outdoors under stones, logs, and in the nests of larger ants. They can also nest indoors in wall or floor voids, and around heat sources. They usually invade structures during rainy periods after honeydew on plants has washed off. |
Food Source | They prefer sweets, although they will eat almost any household food. |
Behavior Notes | They usually travel along established trails to gather food and bring it back to the colony. |
Signs of presence | They will swarm on food (even crumbs, spills, and stains) that has been left out. |
Risks | CSugar ants can carry bacteria which contaminate food. Sugar ants do not damage structures when they build their colonies. |
Oregon Insect and Rodent Control consistently gets 5-star reviews from our customers – the highest praise we can get as a local Gladstone pest control business. Here’s what some of our clients have said about us: