Brown And Black Ant Problems

 

We know it’s tempting to kill brown and black ants when you spy one running across the kitchen bench. However, it’s the worst thing you can do if you have an ant problem.

Brown and black ants live in a colony and leave a special scent for all their ant friends to follow in search of the food they’ve just found.  the ants will leave this scent on our kitchen bench.

The ONLY way to get rid of ants is to destroy the colony and their nests. It stops them dead in their tracks!

What do we do with these ants?

Ants love to nest outdoors under rocks and trees. However, they can also set up camp indoors, in your wall cavities, under your house and in your roof. Ants particularly like damp areas. Their colonies build very quickly. Before you know it, ants can overtake your home.

This is one of the most common questions asked by our clients at Hitman. You have lots of options available from supermarket products but our clients complain that they don’t work because they don’t last, are very costly and smell awful!

You could use ant baits to get rid of brown and black ants, although you’d have to spend time finding their trails as they need to be placed as close to the nest as possible. Then you have to wait for the worker ants to take the bait back to their queen and if she takes the bait it kills her and the colony.

You’d probably have to use ant sand too on the trails but only outside just in case, they slip through the cracks. If you don’t know where the nest is, you could place baits where the ant trail enters your home.  However, there would be no guarantee that the queen would ever be given the bait by one of her workers.

You need to be aware that these baits come with a warning NOT to use them if you have children or pets!

Smart Little Critters

Brown and blacks ants are pretty smart for such a tiny critter and if they feel threatened can set up home elsewhere very quickly. Only a few need to survive to rebuild numbers quickly and pay you a return visit. You’d always have to be prepared and constantly have ant baits, sand and sprays  in your cupboards. The question is of course, do you really want to spray your surfaces, especially in your kitchen?

If your brown and black ants don’t respond to these products then you’d have to resort to bombs and heavier-duty sprays. That can be expensive and  bombs tend to be more intrusive in their chemical content.

Minimising Ant Problems

We can do lots of things to minimise ant problems. Storing our food in containers with a lid is a big start. We can decrease the problem by covering sugar and fruit bowls.  Brown and black ants love sweet things.

Washing dishes soon after you’ve eaten and making sure the garbage bin is sealed is a definite. Clean up any food or juice spills as soon as possible. Wipe down kitchen benches, shelves, drawers, tables and mop floors and areas where you store your rubbish regularly.

Pet food should be stored in airtight containers.

The Most Effective Treatment

The easiest and most cost-effective way to treat your ant problem is to hire a Hitman. Our Hitman technicians are experts in finding ant colonies.  PLUS if they do return you have complete peace of mind as at Hitman we have a 12-month guarantee on ants! this means Hitman will come back and re-treat the problem areas within that 12-month period. They will also leave some ant dust with you if you ask them. This is dust that is toxic only to insects and is very effective.

Not only does our Complete Pest Package treat brown and black ants it covers silverfish, spiders, and cockroaches- PLUS you’ll have a FREE termite check too. For your complete peace of mind give our great staff a call on 07 3801 6505 and book your package today!

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