Ants are an issue that you and your Tulsa pest control company can solve together. We find ants all over the place. We can find them in our yard. In many cases, we can often find them in our homes. We can find them attacking us when we’re trying to eat at a picnic. These little colonizing insects find their way in every part of our life. When they become a nuisance to us it’s time to take care of them as any other pest. So in this article, let us take a good hard look at ants, their life cycle and what are you and your Tulsa pest control company can do to protect yourself from ants in your home.
ANT LIFE CYCLE AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
Ants use a complete metamorphosis to develop into an adult. This means that they have four stages of their life cycle. The first stage of development is the egg. The queen of the ant colony will lay eggs all day long in order to maintain the population needed to support the colony. This egg will eventually hatch. Once it hatches, a larva will emerge. This is the worm like stage of development for the ants.
The larva stage is a very important stage because it’s the part of the colony that actually produces the food for the adults. If you have ever looked at an ant, you’ll notice that their bodies are separated into three distinct sections. They have a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. The abdomen contains all of their vital organs, including their digestive system. But the food has to go in through the mouth, in the head.
In order for the food to pass through the small wastes between these body sections, it must be in a liquid form. So, in order for an adult ant to consume solid foods, it must first bring the solid foods to the larva. The larva will eat and consume whatever is put before it. It will use what it can use, and then the rest of the food that it has eaten will be thrown back up in a liquid form. The adult ant will consume this liquid form of the solid food. Contact your Tulsa pest-control company for help with ants.
PUPATING ANTS AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
Once the larva has grown up to a certain point, it will pupate. This is the stage in which it will create a cocoon to live in in order to develop into the full grown adult. After the cocoon has broken open, an adult ant will emerge. These ants will take their place in the colony, depending upon the pheromone that has been applied to it throughout its entire development. Pheromones are a smellable hormone that communicates directives to the ant. This could put the ant into any one of three different castes. They could be in the reproductive caste, the soldier caste or the worker caste.
The queen is the head of the reproductive caste, but in addition there are also secondary reproductive‘s that are used to create new colonies, and to support the queen in her egg laying abilities. The role of a secondary reproductive is heavily dependent upon the speciesIn the end, of ants. Soldiers do exactly what they’re implied. They protect the colony from invaders. After they will give their life for the safety of the colony. They also may take part in raiding parties to raid other ant colonies. Lastly, the worker ants are sterile females that do all the work of the colony. They’ll feed young, forage for food, take out the trash, and many other things that are necessary for the survival of the colony. Contact your Tulsa pest control company for help with ants or any other pest control issues.
PHEROMONE USES AND TULSA PEST CONTROL
There are many different things that pheromones will do when it comes to ants. One of the most common things is for workers to know where the food is, that they have foraged for. When a worker ant leaves the nest looking for food, it will leave a trail of pheromone as it walks. Once it finds food, it will bring that food back following the pheromone trail back to the colony. It will leave another trail of pheromone on top of it to strengthen the scent of path to the food. Once other workers, see that this worker ant has brought food back, they will follow the same for pheromone trail, strengthening it with their own pheromone.
If there’s a second path, that goes to the same food, but it’s a much longer path, the same process will be taken. But because it takes longer for those ants to follow that path, the pheromone trail will be strengthened at a slower rate than the shorter path. Because of this, eventually the stronger path will attract many more ants until it’s the only path that is used to get to the food. This is an ingenious way for ants to use pheromones in order to forage for food.
ANT COMMUNICATION
They also use these pheromones in order to alert each other when there’s danger entering the colony. Soldier ants are alerted to a danger entering the colony and will spring into life at the first scent of this pheromone. Certain species of ants communicate to their workers that they should remain sterile by coming in contact with a pheromone that is produced by the queen of the colony. Pheromones are used for all sorts of different uses in the ant world.
If you’re having an issue with ants or any other pest control problems, then it is time to call a Tulsa pest control company that can help. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business at dealing with ants or any other pests. We service the greater Tulsa area, including Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Broken Arrow, Claremore, Catoosa, Coweta, Bixby, Jenks, Owasso, Turley, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!