Despite the forecasters predicting a cold and snowy winter for Ontario this year, aside from a few cold snaps it seems like spring came as early as February this year.
While that was great news for those who couldn’t wait to retire their winter coats, it means that pests like carpenter ants are also getting an early start this year.
For anyone who’s gotten used to the regular reappearance of ants in the spring, a mild winter is a recipe for disaster.
The beginning of carpenter ant season is roughly around the beginning of April, when pest control companies across Canada, including Power Pest Control, see calls related to carpenter ants go on the rise, sometimes even doubling.
Take note; if ants are a regular reappearance in the spring for you, it’s probably because you have a nest in your home.
Carpenter ants typically go dormant during the winter, giving the impression that they’ve left.
Here are a few sure signs that your home has become infested by carpenter ants, or maybe even has been for some time:
- You spot flying ants in your home; these swarmers are active during the spring mating season and they are likely the result of a colony that has been present for some time already. These are reproductive members that emerge in the spring and if you find them in your home, it’s a sure sign of an infestation.
- You notice little piles of sawdust, called frass, around your baseboards; this is the result of carpenter ants expanding the galleries where they lay eggs. Unlike termites, which actually eat the organic matter of wood, carpenter ants simply shift it out of the way to create room to live.
- You notice five or more of them in your home during a day, a number that likely suggests that the nest is actually inside your home, not in pavement or soil outside.
Why are carpenter ants bad? When they’re carving out galleries to lay eggs behind your walls, they’re damaging the structure of your home.
Given several years, carpenter ants can damage a wood structure sufficiently that they need to be replaced entirely, and that can be quite costly.
Not only that, most contractors want the infestation to be solved before rebuilding, otherwise, you’re only going to face fresh damage on the new structure immediately.
Avoid further carpenter ant damage to your home by getting Power Pest Control ant control; we provide 6- and 12-month coverage, priced according to the size of your property, to save you from struggling with recurring ant infestations.
Carpenter ants aren’t the only species plaguing homeowners in Toronto, though; both pharaoh and fire ants can be stubborn and difficult to rid of.
Fire ants sting to defend their territory and can be a nuisance for children and pets in your backyard, and they’re notoriously difficult to get rid of.
Power Pest Control uses long residual contact insecticide treatments, injected into the soil where their nests are found, and the procedure often has to be repeated annually as new colonies move back in from adjacent soil.
It’s difficult to completely eradicate fire ants, but with aggressive treatment, you can control the population of this invasive species in your backyard.
Call us if you notice any pest issues
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