Ants are in issue that you and your Broken Arrow Pest control company can work together to solve for your home or business. Ants are a eusocial insect that colonize in our yards and fields. These highly organized insects wage wars against one another all year long in an attempt to secure the needs of their colony. In many cases these colonizing insects find their way into places where we live, and do business. Its at these times that they become pests and must be dealt with. So in this article, let’s take a good hard look at ants, their lifecycle, and what you and your Broken Arrow pest-control company can do to protect your home and business from these invading insects.
ANT LIFE CYCLE AND BROKEN ARROW PEST CONTROL
Ants develop using a complete metamorphosis. This means that they have four different sections of their lifecycle. They start as an egg and then hatch as a larva. Once the larva is fully developed, they will be pupate into a cocoon like state, and then hatch as a full grown adult. These ants have three distinct body sections, separated by very narrow wastes. Because of this, they can only feed upon liquid foods. Their mouth, of course, is in their head, and the digestive system is contained in the abdomen, or last part of the body section. So the food must travel through both wastes in order to get there.
So, in order to break down solid foods, they employ the help of the larva stage of the ant. Larva‘s are much like a worm. So they can take solid foods to these larva’s and feed it to them and these larva will eat every bit of it. They won’t stop eating until they over gorge themselves to the point where they will actually regurgitate the excess food. This excess food will be in a liquid form that can be eaten by the adults. This symbiotic relationship with their young gives them the ability to survive and enjoy many different kinds of foods types. Contact your Broken Arrow pest-control company for help with ants.
ANT COLONY LIFE AND BROKEN IN ARROW PEST CONTROL
These insects use a colony to efficiently use their numbers for survival. In order to do this, they must be highly organized in a way that they can get everything needed accomplished. The organization system of the ant colony is set up in casts. At the top of the pyramid is the reproductive caste. The number one individual in the colony is the queen. She is tasked with laying all the eggs of the colony. From the point that she becomes a reproductive adult, she will begin to lay eggs until the day that she dies. Many of these in colonies number into the hundreds of thousands and sometimes even to the millions of individuals. So it’s important these queens maintain that population numbers by laying eggs constantly.
Next in line, you have a soldier cast. These ants are in some species, larger than the other ants, but always have some sort of offensive and defensive mechanisms built into their bodily structures. Strong mandibles, large heads, glans that can eject sticky or acidic substances and many other things are available to these ants in order to protect the colony. If an invader strikes, these insects come to life and go head first into the fray, protecting their brothers and sisters. Often they are also used in raiding parties in an attempt to get food or other supplies from competitive ant colonies nearby. Their role is very important in the colony. Contact your Broken Arrow pest control company for more information on soldiers or other ants. Check out what our customers have to say!
WORKER ANTS AND BROKEN ARROW PEST CONTROL
The last cast that you’ll find in the ant colony is the worker ant. These sterile females are the most numerous of all the castes. They are tasked with all the menial jobs that are required to make sure that the day-to-day survival of the colony continues. These workers will forage for food, bring the food back, build the nest, take out the trash, take care of the young and a million other different menial tasks are required to be completed.
While these females are sterile, some species of ants allow their females workers to become reproductive in the right circumstance. Through a process known as splintering, the queen of a colony will emit a pheromone that tells the worker ants that they must stay sterile. As they go to and from from the nest, they’re constantly in contact with this pheromone. If for some reason they’re separated from the colony for too long, they won’t have access to this pheromone. When this happens, one of the workers will become reproductive, and then become a queen for a brand new colony. She’ll use the workers that are with her and multiply the colony in this way.
ELIMINATING ANTS
If you are having a problem with ants, the first and most important thing is to identify the kind of ant that you’re dealing with. If you use the wrong kind of control on an ant, you cannot only not control the ant species, but you can actually make the problem much worse. In cases where ants may splinter such as the odorous house ant, if you spray all over the counter pesticide, you could possibly create barriers, causing these ants to splinter. This will mean that you now have two colonies in your home, as opposed to one which could be much more problematic.
If you’re having issues with ants or any other pests, then its time to call a Broken Arrow pest-control company that you can trust. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with ants or any other pests. We service the greater Tulsa area, including Broken Arrow, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Claremore, Catoosa, Coweta, Owasso, Jenks, Turley, Bixby, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!