Autumn has arrived in NJ, PA, MD and DE! It’s time for beautiful fall foliage, cooler temperatures, apple picking, pumpkin-spice everything… and ants?! Unfortunately, just because fall has arrived doesn’t mean you’re free and clear from worrying about ants in the house. Ants are less active in the fall as they burrow deeper underground to avoid freezing, but they may be looking for the convenience and comfort of your temperature-controlled home to spend the winter months. If they get into your home, you can have ant problems throughout the fall and winter.

Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are big and black and are often confused with termites. Carpenter ants will tunnel through the wood in your home, damaging structures, but unlike termites – they’re not eating the wood. They’re just chewing it up and spitting it out in order to make a path through the wall, furniture, or cabinetry. Inside the wood, they create nests for their growing colonies to rest. If this problem goes unnoticed for long periods of time, the growing colonies of ants will cause severe damage to the wood in your home.

Carpenter ants need access to moisture to survive. Outdoors, you’ll find them in rotting tree stumps. In your home, you’ll find them in walls where a plumbing leak created the ideal, moist wood they prefer for tunneling and building nests.

Pavement Ants

The pavement ant, or picnic ant, is usually found with nests under your foundation, sidewalk, or driveway. When they find their way indoors, they will emerge under floor registers connected to heating ducts, baseboards, and expansion joints. They will not cause damage to the wood in your home, but they will help themselves to any food you leave uncovered.

Odorous House Ants

Another common ant is the odorous house ant. These ants won’t destroy wood like a carpenter ant, but they’re also attracted to moist areas, such as near your heaters or pipes. While you don’t really have to worry about them ruining the structure of your home, you probably won’t enjoy sharing your pantry items with them as they seek out food and invade kitchens once inside.

How to Keep The Ants Out of Your Home

You can make your home less attractive to all ants by:

•     Keeping firewood away from your home
•     Pruning shrubbery, removing dead limbs, and keeping landscape trees away from the home
•     Eliminating water leaks and problems around basements, crawl spaces, and your foundation
•     Repair any roof or plumbing leaks immediately
•     Repair clogged or broken gutters to eliminate standing water sources

NJ, PA, MD and DE Ant Control Solutions

Don’t wait until your home is overrun with the various ants, thinking they will disappear come winter. They won’t! If they’re living in your home, they’ll be active year-round. Our highly trained and licensed pest control technicians can resolve your ant problems with year-round pest solutions that are guaranteed to work. Give us a call today!

Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about our ant pest control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!

Now that summer is coming to a close, you may think that your time of dealing with pesky ants is coming to an end – for this year anyway.  You may be surprised to learn though, that this is simply not the case. Ants, although they are more active during this warm weather season, are not just a summer pest that will magically disappear on September 22.  In fact, if the temperatures are warm enough and there is enough food, ants can remain active throughout the entire year.

Where Do Ants Go In The Winter?

Living here in the Northeast, the outside temperatures drop to freezing and below which forces colonies outside to burrow deep inside their nest in the ground to keep warm. These ants will huddle together and reserve their energy only to emerge again in spring. But, when ants have successfully created a satellite colony in the temperature controlled voids inside your walls or under your floors, they will remain active all winter.

If those ants happen to be carpenter ants, then you have a lot more to worry about than ants in your sugar bowl! This is because carpenter ants will actually tunnel through the wooden structure of your home; not to eat the wood like termites do, but to create nesting galleries for their ever-expanding colony. Over time, this habit can damage the structure of your home and the integrity of any wooden belongings inside.

Odorous house ants are another species that typically remain alive and well all winter long throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Odorous house ants love to build their nests inside wall voids, giving them the warmth they need and the access to your pantry that they desire.

Pharaoh ants are a bit different than the other types mentioned above.  They do not typically survive cold, harsh winters if they’re outside.  If they make their way indoors… well, that’s a whole other story.  Let’s just say there’s a risk these pests will contaminate food supplies.  More concerning is their reputation for transmitting diseases like Strep, Staff, and salmonella.

Time and space would prevent us from discussing little black ants, pavement ants, and Argentine ants – all of which can infest a structure and remain active throughout the entire year. The point is, once these ants find their way into your space and decide that they love it as much as you do, they will create a nest, begin to reproduce, and stay active – all year long!

For professional ant control in NJ, PA, MD, and DE, contact Viking Pest Control, a local pest control company.  Our highly trained and licensed team have the knowledge and tools to solve your ant problem, no matter what type of ant is infesting or how severe the problem is.  Learn more about our Home Protection Plans or, if you’re a business, visit our commercial pest control page.

Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about our ant pest control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!

Ants are fascinating creatures! Did you know that ants are the longest living insect, with some living up to 30 years? Did you know that, in relation to its size, the ant is one of the world’s strongest creatures? It’s true. Some ants can actually support up to one HUNDRED times their own weight while clinging upside down on glass! And did you know that ants have two stomachs? Yup. One is to hold food for themselves, and one is to hold food for others.

These facts about ants are interesting, but did you know that other facts about ants are disturbing? For instance, carpenter ants cause billions of dollars of damage in North America alone, every year. Carpenter ants burrow into the support structures of homes and can cause extensive damage if left untreated.

Ant Prevention Tips

• Clean, clean, clean. Ants are attracted to food particles, so cleaning your home and focusing on areas where food particles are present, such as kitchens, pantries and teenager’s bedrooms, will go a long way toward discouraging ants from sticking around. Don’t forget places like the bottom of the toaster or hard-to-reach spots, such as under the fridge or between the stove and counter.
• Immediately wipe up spills and vacuum regularly.
• Avoid leaving dirty dishes around. If you can’t wash them immediately, place them in a sink full of soapy water.
• Wipe off jars of honey, jam, etc, before putting them in the pantry or keep them in the refrigerator. Whenever possible, store foods in the fridge or in tightly sealed containers.
• Keep your home as dry as possible. If ants can’t find water, they are less likely to stay. Fix any leaky pipes or fixtures, and use dehumidifiers or fans to reduce moisture.
• Search the outside of your home and carefully seal any gaps or cracks in your foundation or walls. Ants don’t need much of a space to crawl through.
• Trim vegetation, bushes, and tree branches away from your home. Ants and other pests use these as bridges to get inside.
• Keep the area around your home free from moisture.

Contact Viking Pest Control for Professional Ant Control

Did you know that some ants can swim, some ants have no eyes, and some ant species actually make slaves out of other ant species? It is no doubt that ants are fascinating creatures. But do you know what else is fascinating? How simple it is to keep them out of your home with help from Viking Pest. With over 40 years of keeping ants and countless other pests, out of NJ, PA, MD, and DE homes, Viking Pest is the way to go. Reach out to Viking Pest today, and get that ant problem solved.

Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about ant pest control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!

It can be more than a little disconcerting to find hundreds of ants in your kitchen. While ants aren’t necessarily dangerous, there is something disturbing about hundreds of any kind of bug crawling around inside your home. So, it is only natural to wonder why this is happening and how to stop it. Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place.
 
At Viking Pest, we place a strong focus on understanding bugs and wildlife so that we can provide our customers effective pest solutions that use the least amount of chemicals. That is why we have certified entomologists who are educated in the habits and habitats of bugs on staff. Their expertise is invaluable, and nowhere can it be seen more than in the battle against ants. Ants are versatile and mysterious insects to find and eradicate. While the reason they come into a home may be simple, getting rid of them and keeping them out isn’t nearly as straightforward.

Why Are Little Ants All Over My Kitchen?

1. They found a way in. This means you have entry points in your exterior walls or foundation that are providing a pathway for pests.
2. They found a food source. Ants don’t come out in mass numbers unless a food source has been found. This can be an unsealed trash can, food left out on the counter, a stack of dirty dishes, bread crumbs under a toaster, sugar on a pantry shelf, and hundreds of other possibilities. All that can be surely found food in any home.
3. They mobilized. When worker ants find a food source, they leave a pheromone scent as they travel back to their nest. Other worker ants use this scent to find their way to the food source. The larger the food source, the more ants will come. The more ants that come, the more scent that will be laid down.

How Do I Get These Ants Out of My Kitchen?

There is something you can do to immediately begin to deter those ants. Find and remove the food source and spray the ants with soapy water or vinegar. This will get rid of the scent that is allowing them to find their way to the food.
 
While spraying ants and ant trails can stop your current issue, it won’t get rid of the problem or keep ants from doing this again. Controlling ants and eradicating ant nests is a complex process best accomplished by a professional technician. Improper pest control can be dangerous to families and pets and can cause the problem to become worse by splitting a colony into two – thus, doubling the infestation.
 
Get fast, effective, and safe ant control with Viking Pest Control. Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about pest control and ant extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!

The change of seasons dictates many things in life that are unavoidable and unchangeable. The weather is going to do what it wants whenever it wants to do it. The winter season ushers in snow and icy conditions. Spring brings warmer temperatures and spring rains, both of which trigger many things from grass and weed growth to blooming flowers, baby birds and wildlife. Most of these seasonal changes give us no choice but to accept them and learn to adapt to such.

Another thing that takes place this time of year is the emergence of spring pests. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland residents are already recognizing an increase in pest activity as these spring pests are being awakened with the warming temperatures. Spring season is a prime time for pests as they come out of hiding after a long cold winter. A few of the more common spring pests  include termites, wasps, ants, flies, mosquitoes and beetles.

Are Spring Pests Dangerous?

Most of these spring pests are more than just a nuisance. There are increased health risks and potentially destructive effects as a result of spring pests. For example, the termite is a very common spring pest. After a long, hard winter, termites are eagerly searching for places to move in and begin eating away at the structure of your home.

Paper Wasps

Paper wasps also become very active this time of year as they begin building their nests. Paper wasps can be very aggressive and will fiercely defend their nests. This can be a problematic situation especially for homes that seem prone to paper wasp invasions.

Ants

Even though ants are a problem throughout most of the year, they start emerging in full force during the spring season. Carpenter ants, like the termites, are very common and can cause damage to structures. Other ants like the sugar ant invade homes as they forage for food to feed the very hungry colony that was short of food all winter.

Flies & Cockroaches

We all know the pesky flies that begin swarming and invading homes during the spring. Mosquitoes begin buzzing around and biting people with a great intensity as the spring rains give the water needed for breeding. Cockroaches also have an increased activity in the spring as they invade homes while searching for food. Cockroaches are noted for filth and spreading diseases.

Contact Viking Pest Control for Comprehensive Spring Pest Treatment

While it is not possible to stop spring pests from showing up, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland residents have the opportunity for quality protection. Viking Pest Control is the most responsive pest control provider in the area and has been providing quality pest control services for more than 40 years. Take control of eliminating spring pests by contacting Viking Pest today and let us provide the protection you deserve for both you, your family and your property.

Call Viking at 800-618-2847 to learn more about  pest control and extermination services, or get a fast, free quote online today!