When you get hungry, where do you go? Most likely to your kitchen. If you can’t find anything in your pantries or refrigerator, you might consider driving to the store. If you don’t feel like driving anywhere, getting food can be as easy as calling your favorite restaurant and ordering delivery.
It’s great to enjoy the modern convenience of convenient food, but the only problem is that ants also love convenient food. If you are finding these small food-stealing pests crawling inside your Norfolk home and are wondering why they are invading, we have your answer.
Common Ants Here In Norfolk
Norfolk is home to a variety of ant species, and not all are known for causing trouble indoors. To help you better understand the pest ants in our area, here is a basic description of each.
- Odorous House Ants: An odorous house ant has an uneven abdomen, is 2.4 to 3.3mm long, and dark in color. As its name suggests, this small insect releases a pungent odor when squished or threatened. Beyond this, odorous house ants pose no real risk to humans beyond the annoyance they cause when invading and stealing food.
- Pavement Ants: A pavement ant is light brown to black, 2.5 to 3mm long, and has legs that are a lighter color than its body. Known for building their nests along sidewalks, around driveways, and near other paved areas, these pests are often a problem for homeowners. Especially during the colder months, pavement ants will look for ways indoors to supply their colony’s need for food, water, and shelter.
- Carpenter Ants: A carpenter ant has a larger head and mandibles than other ants in our area, is reddish black, and 7 to 20mm long. These invasive pests use large structures of wood to build their nests. Homes that have wood that is negatively affected by water damage, rot, or decay are more susceptible to invasion and serious structural damage.
- Red Imported Fire Ants: A red imported fire ant is distinctly red, 1.6 to 5mm long, and has a black hind section and visible stinger. Unlike many other ants in our area, fire ants rarely come indoors and are mostly outdoor pests that cause trouble with their painful bites and stings.
How Ants Get Into Homes
Ants are not large pests and do not require an open door to get into a home. All this pest needs is one gap, crack, opening, or structural flaw to crawl their way inside. As homes age and deteriorate, more and more of these entry points present themselves allowing ants more options to invade.
The less attractive and accessible your home is to ants, the less likely they will be to try to come inside. To help you deter these annoying and problematic pests from invading your Norfolk home, here are a few prevention tips to try:
- Seal gaps and cracks in the exterior of your home using a caulk gun.
- Clear debris and clutter from your yard.
- Repair damage to door and window screens.
- Make sure your gutters are in good working order.
- Address leaky piping, fixtures, and access humidity inside your home.
- Keep doors and windows closed as much as possible.
- Keep your home clean.
- Store food away properly after every meal in containers and places ants cannot reach.
Take your ant control to the next level by getting the experts at PESTOUT involved. Our team has the experiences and advanced solutions needed to eliminate and treat ants at all stages of their development.
Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive services and schedule your property for a visit.