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Ant Control, How to Get Rid of Ants, Ant Removal, Ants Extermination, Ant Pest Control |
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Ants
In Australia, about 3,000 species of ants are known.
Ants are social insects that live more or less in permanent nests. Colony sizes vary enormously and are mostly located in soil, wood, and among rocks. In relation to their feeding habits, ants may be predators, perhaps with specific prey (eg. termites), or scavengers, which again may have a specific diet (eg. the honeydew or sugary excretions of plant sucking bugs), or a general one.
The latter types may be almost omnivorous; that is, ants for which almost any type of food is acceptable. Being very common intruders in and around buildings, ants tend to be very familiar insects. They are commonly observed around foundations and in walls, roof voids, kitchens, lawns and gardens, the wood of decaying trees, and rockeries. As a group, ants are considered by many to be among the most successful of all insects.
Structure
Typically, ants have three clearly defined body segments: head, thorax and abdomen. In most, the first one or two anterior abdominal segments which connect to the thorax are much smaller than the rest, producing a distinctly ‘waisted’ appearance. These smaller basal abdominal segments known as the pedicel, usually have one or two projections called nodes, which may serve as important features in identification. The head carries compound eyes, elbowed antennae and sometimes ocelli. When present, wings are membranous, and forewings tend to be broader and longer than hindwings.
Life Cycle
Individual ants undergo a complete metamorphosis during their development. Eggs are mostly small and ovoid in shape. The larva that hatches out is a whitish grub that is narrower towards the head. The larvae are fed by the adults, and after sufficient feeding and several moults, the larvae pupates. The pupa is similar in shape to the adult but is usually soft, creamy-white and inactive. In some species the pupa is protected within a silk cocoon. Eventually the adult emerges, and a few hours or perhaps even days may be required for the process of cuticle hardening and darkening. The development from egg stage to adulthood may require from six weeks up to very long periods, depending on the species concerned, food availability, temperature, season and a range of other factors.
There are three castes of ants:
- 1) Male – adult males are winged. Their specific function is to mate with the female.
- 2) Female – This caste is usually the largest in body size. The female begins adult life as a winged insect, but the wings are dropped soon after mating. Normally the female mates only once, and she will care for the first young. Some ant species have only one female reproductive (queen), while others may have many. Typically, females may live for up to 15 years.
- 3) Worker – this caste comprises sterile wingless females. They are the most numerous caste, serving the colony by nest building, foraging for food, feeding immature ants and other castes, caring for eggs, defence and so on. In some species there are different kinds of workers. Large workers with well developed heads are sometimes called soldiers. Workers mostly live for about one year.
The female or ‘queen’ regulates the colony. After one mating with a male (after which the male usually dies), the female commences egg-laying. Those eggs which are fertilized become females (mostly workers), and those eggs which are not fertilized develop into males. At certain times of the year, large numbers of winged males and reproductive females are produced. These usually swarm in a colonizing flight, during which mating on the wing usually occurs. The male dies soon after. The female, if successful, will drop her wings and find an appropriate nesting site in which to start a new colony.
Some ant species seldom swarm. Instead, these ants may mate within the nest, eliminating the male afterwards and developing numbers of female reproductives. Some females, having been fertilized within the original nest, may, with numbers of workers, leave to form a new colony. This method of colony formation, sometimes called ‘budding-off’, seems important to the Argentine ant and Pharaoh’s ant.
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Habits
In Melbourne, most ants live in more or less permanent nests, but in adverse conditions a change of nest location is not uncommon. Typically worker ants forage from the nest for food. Many do this by traveling in fairly well-defined trails once a food source has been established. Methods employed in trail marking may include reference to landmarks, orientation with respect to light and, very commonly, the laying down of ‘scent trails’ in the form of trail marking pheromone secretions. More generally, orientation and communication in ants may rely on smell (as in trail marking or alarm pheromones), taste (as in food exchange by regurgitation), hearing (as may be the case with tapping and stridulation), touch (as in antennal stroking), or sight (in ants with well developed eyes).
In their feeding habits ants tend to be predators or scavengers with a wide range of specificity. A very common scavenging habit is the attendance of plant sucking bugs on plants. Here, ants consume honeydew and, sometimes, in exchange for this food, they will protect the often fairly sedentary plant suckers from predators. Several species of ants are almost omnivorous scavengers, consuming a very wide range of animal or plant products. It is these scavengers that have most successfully exploited people’s dwellings.
Ants as pests
Ants are often regarded as ‘nuisance’ pests in and around buildings. Small mounds resulting from their excavations may be considered unsightly along garden paths, on balconies, and around skirting boards and architrave bases. Occasionally such excavations under paths may be sufficiently extensive as to cause cracks in older paths. Trailing of the ants themselves, in and around buildings, is considered unsightly by many. Where plants are grown, ants may attack and damage or consume seeds and seedlings. Swarming may occur within premises, and this may prove particularly disturbing to occupants.
As well as general ‘nuisance’ aspects, ants may present a health risk. There are known instances of ants mechanically carrying, on their bodies or in their digestive tract, disease organisms causing dysentery, smallpox and a variety of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella. As ants commonly scavenge in kitchens and other food-handling areas, as well as in garbage cans, dog excrement and other possible sources of disease organisms, their potential for transmitting diseases to humans should not be overlooked. Such a threat to health can be very serious in the case of severe infestations in hospitals.
In addition to the health threat and nuisance aspects, some ants may bite or sting humans.
Ant species commonly found in Mebourne are:
- Black House Ant
- Whitefooted House Ant
- Coastal Brown Ant
- Argentine Ant
- Pharaoh’s Ant
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Ant Control
Effective control of ants often relies on knowledge of their foraging and nesting habits. At the broad level, knowledge of the nesting habits and feeding habits of important pest species can be helpful. More specifically, where a given infestation is being treated, a thorough survey and inspection should be carried out. By following trails – particularly, where possible, those of workers loaded with food – the location of the nest, either approximately or precisely, may be determined. Direct treatment of the nest, where possible, can provide the most effective, long term control. Alternatively, the use of chemical barriers that interfere between the nest and possible food sources is often effective.
Non-chemical methods for prevention and control
The state of hygiene and sanitation in and around buildings influences the likelihood of infestation by scavenging ants. Indoors all areas should be kept free of food particles. Typically, surfaces that become contaminated with crumbs and other food particles include kitchen work bench surfaces, shelves and drawers, floors, tables, chairs etc. Feeding utensils should be washed up soon after use and not left unwashed for long periods. Outdoors, the area should be free of food sources (eg. bones, unclean pet feeding bowls and unrinsed drink bottles and cans. As well, tolerating sap-sucking insect pests on plants around a dwelling may serve to support and encourage a variety of ant species.
Chemical control
The effective use of chemicals to control ants relies on a thorough inspection prior to application of chemicals. The inspection should attempt to locate nesting sites, feeding sites and the routes of travel between them. Care should be taken when making assumptions about nest location. For example, suppose that ants are trailing under a skirting and into a wall void. If a spot treatment to the wall void is carried out on the assumption that the nesting site lies within it, the ants may simply change their route if they are, in fact, nesting elsewhere and merely passing through that particular wall void.
Once the exact or approximate location of the nest(s) is established, control procedures may involve;
- 1) Direct treatment to the nesting site. This may be accomplished by the application of dusts, residual surface spray type systems where nests are located within the confines of wall voids and the like. Such direct treatment may require drilling or other modifications for access.
- 2) The formation of residual barriers between nest and food sources. Often it is not possible to treat ant-nesting sites directly. Where this is the case, dust or surface sprays may be applied to those surfaces, cracks and crevices over which the ants travel for food. As ants can be repelled by certain insecticides, and as they can be most resourceful in finding new routes to a food source, it is important that the barrier treatment be a comprehensive one that, within the constraints of safe practice, attempts to isolate the nesting site from food sources.
In broad terms, chemical treatments restricted to the inside of premises may achieve good control if all nesting sites are located indoors. If, however, nesting sites are located outdoors as well, interior treatments alone may be very limited in their effectiveness.
The chemicals used are synthetic pyrethroids in applications such as surface sprays, space sprays, dusts and baits, depending on the situation of the nest(s) location.
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