How To Treat Ant Infestation

Dec 1, 2021

How to Treat Ant Infestation?

Ants are persistent pests. In order to treat ant infestation, it is firstly important to understand the ant biology and behaviour. Ants are social insects that can form small to large colonies. A colony contains three types of ants, the queen, the workers and the males. In the case of the worker ant, these types of ants are polymorphic (they have several sizes). Some species are monomorphic (one size only). Older workers gather food, younger workers store food, build tunnels and defend the colony, as well as feed, groom, transport and protect larvae.

The queen ant is the largest ant in the colony. She is the only female that reproduces. Some ant species only have one queen, such as pavement ants. While other have several, such as Argentine ants, Pharoah Ants and Carpenter ants. The male ants do not participate in colony activities. Their primary role is to mate with the queens, after two weeks of mating they die.

  • Follow the ant trail. Look at number of visible trails and the number of bait points with ants.
  • Take photos of the infested site to measure the ant trails.
  • Analyse results, clearly determining fewer trails and fewer ants.
  • Take note if visible ants are indoor or outdoor.
  • Carefully check the kitchen, bathroom and laundry areas. Ants seek moist areas.
  • Try to trace the ants back to the point where they are entering. Look at windowsills, beneath any entrance door, exterior cladding meets foundation wall, wall angle, cracks and underneath stones.

Ant Nests Will Be Located in the Ground, and Only Occasionally Marked by a Mound or Anthill. Pay Attention To:

  • Foundations:
  • Loose piles of soil that indicate typical ant mounds.
  • Cracks between ground and the foundation.
  • Items on the ground:
  • Rocks, pieces of wood, landscape timber, decorative stones.
  • Piles of wood and other items that have cracks suitable as nesting sites.
  • Potted plants, windows and brick walls.
  • Leaf litter and mulch.
  • Vegetation against foundation.
  • Meter boxes and sprinkler heads.
  • Structural guidelines.

Lure Ants to Reveal Their Nest Indoors or Outdoors by Doing the Following:

  • Place small dabs of honey or preferred food on an index card next to where ants were last seen.
  • After the ants have fed, they will head back to the nest.
  • Follow them to the nest.
A typical monogynous ant colony has 1000 members. The queen lays 10 eggs per day, it then takes 40 days for the eggs to mature into adults. So, spray treating the foraging individuals (workers) will control that generation of workers but will not always control the queens, drones (males) and brood.

If you do not control the queens, the colony can return to its original size in under two months.

Some food preferences for ants are carbohydrates, proteins and liquids.

Maxforce Quantum Ant Gel is a viscous liquid ant bait that is highly attractive to ants.

Maxforce Quantum Ant Gel is a ready-to-use, odourless, inconspicuous and non-repellent insecticidal bait for the control of ants in and around domestic premises, public buildings, food storage and handling premises and industrial premises.

For indoor treatment:

  • Apply 1 spot of 200 mg bait/m of ant trail.

For outdoor treatment:

  • Apply 2 g bait per nest entrance.
  • Receive 2 x Dual Purpose Ant Bait Stations Free of charge
  • ith every order of Maxforce Quantum Ant Gel.

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