The spring and summer months bring with them many different kinds of insects. Ants are one of the largest groups of insects that emerged during this time. Being part of a pest control company, ant problems are a large part of the calls that we get in especially in the spring months. One of the many complaints about these insects is the presence of flying ants, especially in someone’s home. Why do flying ants suddenly appear? The reason is is because these ants are reproductives. Their purpose is to meet up with other reproductive ants from other colonies and create new colonies. Let’s take a look at this in a little more depth.
SWARMERS
After flying ants are referred to as Swarmers. This refers to the large swarms of flying ants that develop in the summer months. Like many social insects, ants thrive in colonies. These colonies can have thousands even millions of individuals within it. At a certain point, the colony can’t grow larger than it already is based on food needs and availability, space available and other factors. In order to keep growing, it must create a new colony.
Once a colony has reached maturity, it will begin to create reproductives. These reproductives will be found in male and female. They are meant to be future kings and queens of their own colonies. Based on many factors such as temperature, wind speed, humidity and other factors, a colony will release its flying ants to go out and swarm. These large swarms contain reproductions from colonies of ants in the area. They will pair up, and go begin a new colony. A good Tulsa exterminator can help you.
In reality very few of these flying insect make it to the point of creating a new colony. Birds and other animals find the Swarmers easy prey. Once they meet up and meet, they will find a place that’s adequate for their new colony. Here they will lose their wings and then dig into the ground and begin laying eggs in creating the new colony.
FLYING ANTS VERSES TERMITES
Ants are not the only social insect that create a flying version of themselves. Termites will often do the same thing. Subterranean termites, such as the eastern subterranean termite found here in Oklahoma, will release their swarmers in April and May depending on the weather. The Swarmers function in the same way that flying ants do. They’re reproductives that go out, swarm and try to find a mate. Once they find a mate, they will find an adequate place for a new colony, lose their wings, dig a hole to our royal chamber and begin their new colony.
If you’re seeing flying ants in your home and are not sure if these are ants or termites, the easiest way to determine is to take a good look at the flying insect themselves. Often these insects will go to a window and attempt to get outside, and die they’re on the windowsill. These insects can be great for taking a look and determining exactly what you have. Ants have three distinct body sections each separated by a waist, or small circumference area between the body sections. Termites do not have distinct body sections. Their bodies are straight and even throughout the length of their body. The other thing you can use to determine if these are ants or termites, is the length of their wings. Ants usually have wings that are about the same length as their body. Termites wings extends far beyond the end of their body. Call your Broken Arrow exterminator for more information.
CARPENTER ANTS
So let’s say that you have found Swarmers in your home, and have identified that they are ants. You may not be out of the woods yet. Even though termites are known for eating wood, carpenter ants will also destroy wood. These ants search out for water damaged wood that they can create their nest in. An important distinction between termites and carpenter ants is the fact that ant carpenter ants do not eat wood, but termites do. Carpenter ant galleys, or paths through wood, or smooth and almost looks like they’ve been sanded to a nice sheen. Termites have a much rougher cut on the wood, and are usually covered with a mud tube to protect the termites from the outside air.
Often when carpenter ants are found inside homes, they can be inside a wall, a hollow door or a false beam. Sometimes they even will make their nests within spray foam. You can usually tell where the nest is based on ants and how they move throughout your house, piles of sawdust and holes where ants are going in and out of. If you suspect a ant nest is in a place in your home, you can try to disturb the nest and see if you can hear any sounds coming from that area. Carpenter ants nest will make a strange rustling sound when they are disturbed.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT FLYING ANTS
If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you may be dealing with carpenter ants or some other flying ant, then it is important to get in touch with your Tulsa pest control company as soon as you can. It’s important to have a professional take a look. Often people will use ant traps and ant bait to try to deal with the problem. These over-the-counter solutions will only kill workers that have made their way inside your house. If you have a nest in your house, in most cases these ants are going to try to go outside in order to forage for food. Aunt traps inside your home are only going to kill a very small portion of those ants.
When searching for a Broken Arrow pest control company to help you with your aunt issue, it’s important to hire the best company in the business. Your Terminix pest control our reviews speak for themselves. Were the best pest control company in the area servicing Broken Arrow, Coweta, Claremore, Catoosa, Jenks, Owasso, Turley, Prattville, Sand Springs, Sapulpa and much more. Call us today. We are here to help!
