Where and How?

A few crumbs lingering under a toaster on the countertop, a swipe of toothpaste left behind in the bathroom sink, buildup you can’t see and don’t think about behind appliances. Everyday, no-big-deal “messes” are a feast for ants.

Just add moisture from a minuscule leak under the sink. Count those hairline cracks in caulking and check out the worn weather stripping. “Even in the cleanest of homes, there are so many opportunities to attract ants,” says Brett Lieberman, owner and CEO of Virginia-based My Pest Pros.

Where next?

“Odorous house ants get into wall outlets, small cracks and crevices — they’re notorious,” says Omar Martinez, president of Integrity Pest and Termite in El Paso, Texas. Ants are always in season in this U.S.-Mexican border city, he says.

Targeting ant hot spots and honing in on insect behavior are integral to creating an appropriate, layered Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and control approach to mitigate and prevent ant infestations.

Case in point: ghost ants.

Are they on the rise in Del Lawson’s Houston service area? Sort of. “This is not a new ant, but we are getting more customer calls, and for years they were probably misdiagnosed as Pharaoh ants,” says Lawson, vice president of Modern Pest Control.

Tuning into how ants act is key.

Bug Master CEO Dauphin Ewart says: “With ant treatments, you have to react to the behavior of the species.” Otherwise, reservice is probable.

There are target ant harborages inside and out. As such, PMPs lean on a multi-pronged treatment strategy, given the type of ant, location, infestation intensity and outliers, including sanitation concerns and client participation. This includes what the neighbors are up to.

“I wish I could wave a magic wand and have one protocol to solve it all, but it’s a layered approach, layers of protection,” says Brett Lieberman, My Pest Pros. “You want to find the source and treat there, but that’s not always possible. Multiple barriers — whether a granular product, liquid, dust — baits is all part of the picture.”

Connecting Behaviors to Barriers

All survey respondents reported pesticide applications are included in ant control. Other ant control measures include sanitation (44%), exclusion (35%) and vacuuming (11%). But overwhelmingly, 92% say pesticide baits, sprays, aerosols and dusts dominate ant control.

But ant control isn’t so A, B, C, D, all-of-the-above. There are options, and treatment protocols are tailored to ant species. Every situation is different. Speaking to baits, Lieberman compares ant control to controlling cockroaches. “Imagine you ate pizza all the time,” he says. “You might love it. But you might get sick of it and there is an aversion.”

With ants, he notices that bait selection should be tied to species and behavior.

“Inspect for the conditions, the situation, the specific pest and tailor your treatment,” says Lieberman, noting that he surveys the environment. Are there kids and pets? This could factor into his decisions and strategies like bait placement. “Are kids going to touch bait on the corner of the counter?”

As for treatments inside and out, protocols vary.

Lawson says his team often discovers aphid-infested crepe myrtle trees/shrubs and scales living on landscaping that is close to a structure. These are trigger points for species such as rover ants and little black ants.

“When there are small ants inside, we can almost guarantee there are aphids on a tree somewhere nearby that produce honeydew — a food source,” he says. It’s when foraging ants enter the building that homeowners notice the problem.

He recommends tree and ornamental treatments from a landscaping partner and treats with perimeter products on the outside. Meanwhile, ghost ants hide out in front of decorative rocks in landscaping. Lawson says they tend to take well to gel baits.

When operating in the Goshen, Ind., area, the target ants are carpenter, pavement, odorous house and citronella. Chase Freel, operations manager of RS Pest Control, offers mostly perimeter treatments with an option for five to seven exterior services and one interior treatment, usually in spring (though that’s up to the client).

Freel has noticed more clients are interested in targeted exterior applications vs. a blanket approach. “They want us to be precise,” he says, echoing the view of other pest management professionals interviewed.

Terms of Service

Are these ants included in general pest control services?

It depends on the ant and the market. For instance, in Texas where fire ants are an everyday concern, clients expect control to be built into a service agreement. But initial treatments may be categorized as special visits.

In Cleveland, Tenn., where Michael Burks operates his business, carpenter ants are drawn to “food, water, home,” plus leaf debris from heavily forested properties. These ants are not part of the quarterly program. Treatment involves interior and exterior protocols, baits and follow-ups.

Carpenter ants also are not part of the general pest program at Goshen, Ind.-based RS Pest Control. “It’s more in-depth,” RS’s Freel says, calling these ants “a pretty big issue.” Targets are usually utility rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, basements and crawlspaces.

Other PMPs may include these ants in a program after a separate initial service.

“We generally include carpenter ants in with most of our plans,” says Lieberman, noting that initial services for this species require more labor and time, and may be charged separately.

Obviously, there are regional differences and market conditions matter.

“Our residential customers, generally speaking, are covered for fire ants,” Lawson says of exterior control. Exceptions might include a larger property, two acres or more. “The market here dictates that we need to cover fire ants because they are continually a problem. We treat preventively and curatively.”

And because fire ants in this region are a public health threat, Lawson is passionate about integrating this service into what’s expected. After a personal experience with his son, he wants his clients to feel protected.

Talking Crazy

In Houston, the number of crazy ants is, well, crazy. “They can come on very, very quick,” says Lawson. “It speaks to the number of ants in a colony and the size of the colonies.” When they show up, they show up in force, trailing along expansion joints, hiding beneath decorative rocks and sometimes spreading across large commercial sites. In some cases, they’re even shorting out pumps and electrical components.

The challenge isn’t just knockdown. It’s control. Lawson recalls early treatments using standard repellents that seemed effective at first. “You’ll kill a ton of ants,” he says. “But there will be so many dead ants they bridge up over treated zones, and they’re walking on top of dead bodies and not being impacted by the treatment at all.”

Today, his team leans on nonrepellent materials and follow-ups. “You can’t just do one treatment. You need a treatment program in mind,” Lawson says. A typical approach includes a nonrepellent perimeter application, a return visit about a week later and physically blowing dead ants away from the foundation so surviving ants re-contact treated surfaces. In heavy infestations, they expand the treatment zone rather than relying on a thin perimeter band.

And because colonies can extend beyond property lines, setting expectations is critical. “It’s about educating the customer vs. going in there with a silver bullet,” he says.

They follow hard lines like the edges and expansion joints of sidewalks and driveways, decorative rocks and commercial parking lots. “You can trail them from 50 yards away on a big property and follow them to a building,” Lawson says.