Ant Control

Ants pose several risks to human health, depending on the species, especially Fire Ants and Pharaoh ants. Besides that, there are other risks which can indirectly affect human health and safety. Additionally, ants can cause significant financial burden and loss (which can contribute to negative effects on human health and safety.)

Ants can track germs, diseases, pathogens, bacteria, and more in foods meant for human consumption.

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The Health Risks of Ant Infestations

Ants can track bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens onto foods meant for human consumption, or surfaces intended for food preparation. Such contamination can be especially harmful in the commercial food prep and service industry. This problem is further multiplied by the fact that there are approximately 2.5 million ants for every human on the planet. Ants also travel in large numbers and are specifically searching out food for consumption now and for their winter cache. If there are ants near a structure, detectable food inside the structure, and a way for them to get from outside to inside, you are certain to find ants!

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ANT CENTRAL

What Problems Can Ants Cause?

While Carpenter ants infest buildings, damage wood and cause costly repairs, Pharaoh ants infest electronics and medical equipment and are known to cause fires and medical complications. Acrobat ants often infest old termite damage galleries and push frass, dead insect parts, and food particulate from the refuse opening into the living quarters of homes (and businesses). Odorous house ants can infest kitchens and food prep areas, potentially contaminating food with bacteria and other pathogens. Fire ants can overtake even a healthy adult who inadvertently stumble upon a nest, sending hundreds and thousands of workers out of the colony to quickly mount their target and sting them over and over again, causing serious injury and even death. Perhaps it’s worth noting that although most ant species may be small, there’s no small amount of problems and threats to human health and economic losses.

To prevent ants from entering structures and potentially contaminating food (or causing many other potential problems) it’s paramount to reduce open food and food particulate inside a structure, as well as implementing proper sanitation and solid pest management program. Success requires that all parties involved (owners, cleaners, and pest management) to fulfil their duties completely. In fact, it’s so important for proper sanitation to be performed that without it, many ant control strategies will fail. That’s why it’s good to have Four Seasons Pest Solutions on your side. Not only do we know how to provide pest management that works, we know how to teach proper sanitation too!

What We Can Do

Four Seasons Pest Solutions has provided ant control solutions throughout KY, TN, and VA in both residential and commercial settings since 1978. Whether you are experiencing fire ants, acrobat ants, pharaoh ants, or any other species of ant, our staff have the knowledge to assess the infestation and both propose and implement a successful ant management plan that you can depend on.

Identification is the first step in a successful ant management program.

There are 74 known ant species in KY. Each species can require a different approach to achieve control. Without proper identification, treatment could potentially have an opposite effect on an ant infestation than the desired outcome. Four Seasons Pest Solutions identifies the species and provides a plan of action that’s known to work on the specific ant problem you have.

Inspecting the property and locating the ant colony improves the success of any ant management program.

Once the ant species is identified, it’s time to discover why the ants are present and where they are coming from. Finding the entryway allows treatment to be made directly at the main point of entry. Locating the colony allows us to make treatment directly at the source. When these two steps can be achieved, control efforts are much more successful and long lasting.

Ant control requires liquid or baiting treatments for best success.

Depending on the ant species, The type of structure, and where the ants are infesting, either the use of insecticide baits, sprays, or a combination may be necessary. This is a crucial part of the ant management plan, as using the wrong product could have the opposite effect, potentially causing budding in some colonies. Fo0ur Seasons Pest Solutions will assess the situation, identify the species, and make the proper application(s) to control the infestation.

Exclusion

Pest exclusion (pest-proofing) is a great way to reduce and even eliminate unwanted pests. Of course, the smaller the pest, the harder it is to exclude them from entering. With ants, small gaps, cracks and crevices in the foundation, walls, around windows, and around doors, are all key target zones. Although it may not completely eliminate them, reducing the available number of entry points will certainly reduce their numbers indoors.

Without proper sanitation, ant management attempts may be short-lived or entirely unsuccessful.

When dealing with any pest, good sanitation is paramount. With ants, this is even more important. Removing indoor attractants like soft drink containers, dirty dishes, food scraps, and moisture can help reduce the chances that ants will be drawn indoors. Maximizing clean storage practices and reducing clutter helps avoid the likelihood that ants will find a place to colonize. Reducing nesting sites outdoors is also important, and is a fundamental part of sanitation. Four Seasons Pest Solutions can provide key information and a sanitation plan for any type of facility, to help you reduce ants both indoors and out.

hand-drawn image that says "recurring Maintenance" in yellow letters on a black background for Ant control.

Recurring Treatments

Perhaps a single treatment will achieve short-term control and give the appearance of a problem solved. However, often a single treatment only provide short-lived suppression and as the number of ants in the colony replenishes, the ants come back. Recurring treatments assures that the entire colony is eliminated, including the queen. Once the queen is dead, the colony cannot survive. Four Seasons Pest Solutions seeks to achieve complete colony elimination so you don’t deal with the same colony twice!

Kentucky’s Best Ant Control Team! 1-877-999-BUGX

Ant Managment

Controlling ants begins with good sanitation; indoors and out. With the right pest control company on your side, you’ll have all the resources at your fingertips to accomplish that goal. Plus, with recurring pest prevention, or our Four Seasons 4×4 Plan, you won’t have to worry about pests anymore!

To reduce the possibilities of ant infestation, follow these simple tips:

Eliminate open food sources indoors and out
Keep garbage receptacles clean and free of food particulate
Maintain a well manicured lawn, complete with fertilizers
Manage trees well and keep them trimmed away from any structures
Keep landscape plants well manicured and allow both sunshine and airflow beneath them
Eliminate plants that are conducive to aphids
Keep your home clean, vacuumed, swept, mopped, and the garbage regularly removed
Avoid leaving open soda cans out
Eliminate any moisture issues both inside and out
Maintain cleanliness around the perimeter of the home
Eliminate free-choice pet and animal foods (remove all food sources)
Do not store items against or around the structure
Avoid using large rocks in landscaping

Pest prevention and sanitation often takes a backseat to everyday life until a pest problem arises. However, life is much more enjoyable with no pests to “bug” us. Practice these steps to help reduce ant infestations. When they do infest, simply call Four Seasons Pest Solutions and let us do the heavy lifting!

Ants often require special treatments depending on the species, to avoid colony budding.

Our Four Seasons 4×4 Program works every time!

Getting Prepared For an Ant Treatment

Ant treatment preparation is as simple as cleaning up you home or business and reducing clutter so our team can access all the necessary areas for treatment. Clean up any soft drinks, sugary substances, food, food particulate, and garbage prior to treatment. Sweep, mop, and vacuum and you’re all set!

How Our Ant Treatments Work

Ant treatments focus in on colony elimination. This may be achieved either by utilizing ant bait products, liquid, aerosols, or dust insecticides, depending on the species and the location. Once treatment is applied, return visits to reapply, assure that the entire colony is eliminated so you won’t have to worry about that colony again.

Does DIY Ant Control Work?

Through the years, there have been a few products that you could purchase over-the-counter that certainly were capable of doing the job. In modern times, however, that seems to be less and less true. For the last few decades, homeowners have complained that the OTC products seem to have stopped working. This could be for a variety of reasons, not the least of which includes diluted or inferior active ingredients.

Of course, there are also “natural remedies” floating around, even making the way onto social media platforms. Some tout outstanding results, but often fail when put to the test. Additionally, most mail-order pest control kits fail to provide great results either because the products are no correct for the targeted pest or the end-user does not know how to properly apply them. In either case, the results will be less that astounding.

What’s your best option? Professional ant control with optional warranty. This way, if the treatment plan fails, there’s a back-up warranty you can activate to save you from spending fort another pest control plan.

DIY Rodent control may have short-term results but can cause major resistance and trap shyness in the long run.

DIY rodent control products are marketed to homeowners without experience in control measures. When the product fails, and it likely will, it is easily blamed on misuse, failure to follow label instructions, or incorrect application methods.

Choosing the Right Treatment

There are thousands of treatment plans and ideas, various pest control companies all around you, and a whole lot of promises that just might fall short. But, with Four Seasons Pest Solutions on your side, you have the option to purchase not only ant control, but WARRANTIES to back our work up! Our goal is to provide customers with several reasons to choose us above all the competition, and then be happy to tell others what a great job we did for you!

1-877-999-BUGX. No More Ants!

Remember, it’s okay to live among pests… but you don’t have to live with them!

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