It’s spring at last! Think we’re happy? Guess who is just as happy? Pavement Ants. They are cold-blooded creatures, and therefore cannot be active during the winter months. As the weather begins to warm up in March, April and May, pavement ants begin to wake up.

Exterminate Pavement Ants – Know Their Habitat

Pavement ants love to create nests and satellite nests in the safety of the area under a slab of stone or concrete. This is why you are likely to find pavement ants emerging from underneath a patio, or from a crack in the sidewalk or the cracks between the stones of your front walk. For this reason, they’re hard to eliminate due to the inaccessibility of their colony.

Exterminate Pavement Ants – Know Their Behavior

To successfully eliminate pavement ants, it’s important to understand their behavior. Upon waking up to the warm temperatures of spring, pavement ants are extremely hungry, having lived off their inner food reserves during winter hibernation.

Exterminate Pavement Ants – Know Their Food Needs

What kind of food are they looking for? Pavement ants eat just about any type of food humans eat: Sweet, greasy, grains, fruits, seeds, meat…you eat it, so do pavement ants.

How are they looking for the food? Pavement ants normally follow scent trails left by their scouts. The trails lead to food sources. However, when they wake up in the spring, the scent trails have long since dissipated. Therefore, the pavement ants don’t know where their food sources exist. So, pavement ant scouts will wander about seeking food sources. When they find the food source, they will head back to the colony, leaving a scent trail as the go from the food source to the colony. The ants from the colony will then travel along the scent trail, creating a major freeway between the colony and the food source.

This is why spring is the best time to exterminate pavement ants. They’re hungry, disoriented from their food sources, scattered about searching, and their colony is not yet firmly established. Eliminate them now and you’ll possibly enjoy NO ANTS throughout the warm summer months.

Exterminate Pavement Ants – What to Do During the Spring Window of Opportunity?

Successful pavement ant extermination requires destroying all the ants in the colony, the eggs, and especially the queens (each colony has multiple queens). Once they emerge, swarm in their winged version and scatter about creating new colonies, extermination can be much more complicated, so you need to act in a timely manner. 

Baits can be effective, due the the inaccessibility of the colony under some stone or concrete slab. The ants take the bait back to the queen, the bait is ingested, the ants die.

Exterminate Pavement Ants – Hire a Licensed Professional Exterminator

Since pavement ants create multiple colonies in inaccessible locations, each with multiple queens… and since they are extremely difficult to exterminate once firmly established…and finally, since the major window of opportunity in the spring is fairly brief, it’s important to call in an expert.

A licensed professional pavement ant exterminator knows the pavement ant’s habits, how to locate their colony, what bait to use, where to place it, and how to accurately assess the results. Your professional pavement ant exterminator will ensure that you don’t go through the summer months with ants appearing in the kitchen, climbing up your legs, spoiling stored cereal and pet food and contaminating your home.

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378 

Additional Information:

Pavement Ants

Safe Ant Repellants

Pavement Ants In Your School

Stop Pavement Ants In Their Tracks

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply

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It’s Spring and ants are sprouting wings and reproducing near your home by the millions. The goal is to keep them out of your home, even though your home contains many things that attract them. A carpenter ant colony might be attracted by moist conditions. They like to burrow into moist wood to make their home. Pavement ants are attracted to just about every food that humans eat, and have extremely keen senses.

Safe Ant Repellents – Good Scenario for Their Use

If your home is ant-free at this time, safe ant repellents may be especially beneficial in keeping ants out. On the other hand, if you currently have an established ant problem inside your home, you may be better served by contacting a licensed pest exterminator.

Call ApolloX Pest Control Now

(888) 499-7378

An established colony of carpenter ants or pavement ants inside your home may not be successfully eliminated by the natural repellants named in this article. They’re already inside!

Safe Ant Repellents – How They Work

As we mentioned, ants have extremely keen senses and can sense the slightest odor of the food they crave. This is exactly why safe ant repellents work. Certain natural odors overpower ant’s senses making it hard for them to locate the food they need to survive and breed. When these odors are present, the are likely to look for another place to live.

Safe Ant Repellents – Plant Around Your Home

The great thing about the following ant repellents, is that you can plant them decoratively around your home. Basically, consider surrounding your home with beautiful herbs that smell pleasing to humans, yet repel ants! Here are a few:

• Mint
• Peppermint
• Basil
• Lavender
• Rosemary
• Thyme

Safe Ant Repellents – Bring the Herbs Inside

You can not only use the herbs as a shield around your home. Use them for cooking. And, more importantly for repelling ants, place them in sachets (small decorative net bags – about 2 inches in diameter) in places where you store food. You can place them on window sills, near doorways, basically anywhere there might be an entry for ants.

Safe Ant Repellents – A Few More Possibilities

• Garlic Cloves
• Cinnamon Sticks
• Chili Peppers
• Eucalyptus
• Black Pepper

You may find cinnamon sticks and chili peppers an attractive and even decorative alternative to the herb sachets mentioned above. If you continue to have ant issues, try eucalyptus, black pepper and garlic cloves.

Safe Ant Repellents – Chemical Warfare

• White or Apple Cider Vinegar

Vinegar acts as a fungicide, and ants love fungus, they feed on the fungus in decomposing food. Fill a spray bottle with the vinegar and spray it where you see the most ants.

Safe Ant Repellents – Not Working?

If you have tried all the above means and are still seeing ants in your home, it’s likely you have an established ant colony inside your home: In the foundation, crawl space, a wall void…etc. In this case, you may be better served by contacting a licensed pest exterminator.

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378

We will inspect your home for the presence of an ant colony, then safely eliminate it.

Learn more about:

• Carpenter Ants
• Pavement Ants

Credits: Repellant list thanks to http://www.greenpestsolutions.com/2013/04/natural-green-ant-remedies/

The post Safe Ant Repellents – Herbs and other natural solutions appeared first on Pest Control.

Those tiny black to brown ants, barely 1/8 inch long called pavement ants thrive in their nests under driveways, patios, sidewalks and slab-constructed buildings.

Learn how quickly they can multiply, and how to “ant-proof” a building.

Pavement Ants In Your School? What attracts them?

In the Spring, pavement ants are a particular nuisance in schools where there are lots food sources from the cafeteria, vending machines, waste containers, student lunch sacks and boxes, and food or food containers discarded by students in hidden corners that might not be discovered for weeks–at least by humans.

Those tiny pavement ants have an uncanny inner “food scent radar”, and will find the food sources long before they are discovered by even the most experienced, skilled school custodial team.

Pavement Ants In Your School? What’s at risk?

As the ants move about, they can contaminate children’s lunch boxes and even the school cafeteria. Once they’ve crawled from their hidden spaces on and under the floor, then all over our children’s food and food containers, it’s a bit like the children are now eating off the floor!

It’s no wonder that colds, flues and other sickness seems to spread rapidly in a school environment, then back home to the family. The pavement ants are helping make this possible. 

Pavement Ants In Your School? Is even the best custodial team up to the challenge?

Schools can take all the most stringent measures against the pavement ant invasion. Custodial teams can clean everything down daily. We suggest they also wipe surfaces down with vinegar–an odor that repels pavement ants. Yet, no custodial team can ensure that every hidden, discarded bit of food is located and eliminated.

Cafeteria staff can tightly seal all food in ant-proof containers, however, it doesn’t take much to attract the ants.

Grounds staff can strive to locate and eliminate every visible pavement ant colony under the surrounding sidewalks, asphalt slabs, in the foundational cracks of an aging school structure. In some cases applying a pesticide to an outdoor pavement ant colony may make the colony look as if it has disappeared when, in fact, it’s actually driven the colony into the school!

Pavement Ants In Your School? What constitutes adequate protection for children and school staff? 

Adequate protection of our children from pavement ants and the disease they carry requires a licensed professional exterminator. A professional exterminator has the experience and the tools to locate and safely eliminate the source of the pavement ants.

In addition, a licensed professional represents a new set of eyes, from outside the organization, inspecting the school building, grounds, classrooms, offices, break rooms, gym, waste containers and cafeteria for hidden food sources that will attract pavement ants. The pest control expert can even help create or review school building and grounds policy where it speaks to conditions that could attract pavement ants and other pests.

Pavement Ants In Your School? Contact a licensed pest control professional.

When a school calls a licensed pest control professional, it’s a sound investment in our children’s health and future. If it helps eliminate even a small portion of student and teacher absences due to illness, is it not worthwhile?

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378

Licensed, professional pest control for schools, restaurants, commercial buildings and homes. 

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The other night before bed, out of the corner of my eye I saw a tiny black spot on the kitchen floor that caught my attention. Instinctively, my focus was attracted to that spot because it was moving! Upon closer observation, it became clear that this was a little black ant. “How cute”, I thought, as I continued on to bed.

The next morning as I entered the kitchen, no lie, there were over 1000 of the little black specks hurrying about on the kitchen floor, making a bee-line to the stove and disappearing underneath. Actually, it was a two-lane ant highway going to and from the stove. Not so cute anymore.

I quickly did the math: If 1 tiny black ant + 8 hours = 1000+ tiny black ants undertaking a massive highway project in my kitchen, then 1000+ tiny black ants + another 8 hours could become 1 million ants established in their own thriving new major metro area in the kitchen. Now it was sounding a bit science fiction. This meant war.

Stop Pavement Ants – Where do you start?

Upon doing a little research, I found that pavement ants are pretty much attracted to all the food I love. My kitchen must seem to them like a pavement ant superstore! They have an extremely keen sense of smell and so can detect the slightest odor of food.

Stop Pavement Ants – First battle tactic.

It’s clear, then that my first line of defense against this invasion was to eliminate even the slightest food odor from my kitchen. Wow! Not so easy as it sounds. I’d need to begin by thoroughly cleaning EVERYTHING. This meant, the entire inside of the refrigerator, pulling out the refrigerator and discovering everything that’s been hiding there over the years–yuk! Same with the oven–inside, outside, underneath. Then the dishwasher, the floor, all the hidden cracks.

Stop Pavement Ants – Second battle tactic.

“If no odor of food is neutral” thought I, “why not escalate the battle by providing a repellant odor?” Is there an odor that pavement ants hate, despise, makes them want to get as far away as possible? Back to the books. And, victory! There is not one, but many odors that pavement ants hate:

Peppermint oil, lemon juice, crumbled bay leaves, mint, cinnamon, citrus, cloves, cayenne pepper, onion, orange oil mixed with vinegar and rubbing alcohol, coffee grounds, sage, catnip, cucumber peel, white pepper, Windex, and chalk. Credits: Preventing Pavement Ants in Your Home | Colonial Pest Control

“That’s what I’m talking about!”, I thought. I’ll not just clean everything, but rub it down with orange oil mixed with vinegar.

Stop Pavement Ants – Third battle tactic.

But wait! I missed something important. Pavement ants have a keen, uncanny sense of smell. Yes, they’ll sniff out any food crumbs where ever they might be. But even after everything has been thoroughly cleaned, the scent of food continues to come from any unsealed containers. Consider that bag of dog food, those cereal boxes in the cabinet, the flour and sugar bags, the pancake syrup container that has a slight drip at the spout. All are huge welcome signs to pavement ants.

So, my next line of defense will be to seal all food so tightly in containers that absolutely no odor of food can escape to welcome the pavement ants. I’ll use Tupperware or Ziploc.

Stop Pavement Ants – Fourth battle tactic.

Now I’m going to take the battle to their territory, outside the house. I’ll keep the trash can tightly sealed, and move it further away from the house. I’ll also trim back any tree branches or bushes that are touching the house (these could be pavement ant highways into the house). I’ll make a thorough inspection of my home’s exterior and seal up even the tiniest crack where pavement ants might find an entrance (window seals, the foundation…etc.)

Stop Pavement Ants – Fifth battle tactic.

I just found there are plants that actually repel pavement ants. Mint is a big one, and grows so rapidly, it will be easy to plant around the house.

In addition, during the hottest days of the Summer, when pavement ants are looking to escape to a cooler place like my house, I’ll spray a hose around the outside of my home. Pavement ants will not cross over water.

Stop Pavement Ants – Sixth battle tactic.

Remember that first ant that I discovered the evening before there were over 1,000 in my kitchen. Here’s the way it works: That ant was a scout. He discovered a food source, then created a scent trail to the source. The next 999 ants honed in on that trail right into my kitchen! The moral of the story: If you see a pavement ant scout, kill it immediately, before it has a chance to send the coordinates to the home colony!

Stop Pavement Ants – Seventh battle tactic.

I’m exhausted just thinking of all the things I need to do to stop these pavement ants in their tracks. Time to call in a professional trained soldier who stops pavement ants for a living:

Calling ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378

The post Stop Pavement Ants In Their Tracks – 7 Battle Tactics appeared first on Pest Control.

Perhaps the most successful species of ant in areas where humans live is the pavement ant. They’re the tiny dark brown–nearly black–ants you see crawling about cracks in your walkway or home foundation in huge numbers.

The first indication you have a pavement ant problem might be when you see a few ants around the base of your refrigerator or  kitchen counter where you left a few crumbs of food. The next day there are hundreds of them. Follow their neat pathway, and you may discover where thousands are emerging from their nest, perhaps under a concrete slab.

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply: Endless Multipliers

The key is that these ants won’t just disappear on their own. They seem to have the ability to endlessly multiply as long as there is a food source, and they love just about everything we humans eat.

Image Credits: Pavement Ants have Highest Level of Carbon-13 | newsmaine

“Eating human food could be an advantage for the pavement ants, allowing them to thrive in areas where their natural diet of dead insects and things might not be so prevalent”, said Clint Penick, a post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University.

Image Credits: Pavement Ants having Taste for Human food more than any other …

“Humans bring a ton of general resources,” he said. “The species that can take advantage of these resources the best, sort of wins.”

Image Credits: Ant Control Services in Idaho at Brax Pest Control |

Tests on insects collected from pavements and traffic islands in Manhattan show that their bodies contain the molecular fingerprint of junk food. Credits: New York pavement ants have taste of human food says Study | The …

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply: First Line of Defense

So, the first line of defense is to keep everything very clean. Clean all food particles and residue under tables, counters, under your refrigerator, on the floor under and behind your stove–all those hard to reach places. Your goal is that all food in any form is only to be found in tightly sealed containers. Know that pavement ants have the ability to penetrate cereal boxes and sugar sacks that seem neatly sealed, so you’ll need strong ant-proof containers like Tupperware and Ziploc.

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply: Finding the Nest

Look around your home or business for small piles of super fine gravel–larger than sand, looking like tiny rocks. Unlike the carpenter ant, the pavement ant doesn’t burrow into wood, and is not likely to damage a structure. However, they can eventually undermine walkways, causing them to crack.

Image Credits: Pavement ants develop taste for human food | The Silver Ink

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply: Don’t Inadvertently Drive Them Indoors

So you’ve found the nest. The first natural thought is to spray it with an over the counter spray you found at your local home improvement center or grocery store. This may just end up driving them indoors!

Image Credits: Pavement Ants — A Serious Summer Problem – Ransford Pest Control

Pavement Ants In Our Food Supply: Call the Professionals

Pavement ants can be very persistent and aggressive. If you notice a colony in or near your home, it’s best to call a professional exterminator.

Call ApolloX Pest Control

(888) 499-7378

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