Other Pests

There they are again… A trail of tiny ants moving along the baseboard, up the wall, along the counter top and into the sugar bowl…Where do they come from? The invading ants may be outside around the foundation, under the sidewalk or in an old tree stump.

In order to completely eliminate the colony, Budget Pest Control uses very slow working baits and micro-encapsulated product.

CARPENTER ANTS

Size: These are typically large ants up to 1/2-inch long. Queens are about 3/4-inch in length, while the males are smaller at 1/2-inch. Color: Their color varies from black, brown & black, red and black, to light brown depending on the species. The two most common pest species are red or black in color.

Signs of Invasion…Infestation Sawdust piles can be a sign of foraging carpenter ants The black ant has been studied extensively. These ants nest in wood. Preferring fungus and moisture damaged wood, they excavate galleries or tunnels in rotting and sometimes sound trees and will easily infest wood structures.

Where they live…
We get calls mainly for 2 kinds of ants. One is the small ant and the other is for carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are the great big ants, there are some species that are big and all black, some red and black and a little smaller, but not the teeny tiny ones. A very slow working product controls the carpenter ants. If you try to spray or fog carpenter ants – like roaches it’s very irritating to them and all you do is run them to different parts of the house. You can make it so irritating that they bud off into satellite colonies instead of having one primary colony. If they are repelled by liquid sprays they can move into other parts of the house and then you have satellite colonies. Satellite colonies are a colony of ants that don’t have a primary queen but there is a lot of working individuals that live there and they go back and forth to the primary colony. If you use a liquid spray you spread them out all over the house. You have to use very slow working products. They are coming from the outside just like a lot of the other pests. A lot of times you will find them in dead tree limbs, tree stumps, and firewood piles. We use special ant bait called Carpenter Ant Bait. It is made for Carpenter ants alone.

Tips for Control
These tips will help you to prevent a carpenter ant infestation:

• Store any firewood away from your home, and remove any dead wood or wood scraps from around the foundation, so that carpenter ants do not migrate from the wood into your home.
• Make sure that all plumbing or roof leaks are sealed, and check crawl spaces for excess moisture.
• Water from rain gutters should be directed away from your home and not be allowed to accumulate close to the foundation.

FIRE ANTS

Identification Tips
There are many sizes of fire ants in a colony ranging from 1/8-inch to almost 3/8-inch in length.
Color: Reddish brown. These ants are very aggressive and will readily sting humans or animals leaving large welts that may be sore for several hours.

What they do…
According to the Washington Post, Oct. 11 1999 issue, a 5 -day old baby was attacked indoors in its crib and died of fire ant stings. A 2 year old attacked in his home suffered eye damage. Also reported was the death of 2 elderly Mississippi nursing home patients. Fire ant stings can kill both animals and people.

Where they live…
The red imported fire ant was brought into this country some 60 years ago .These ants nest in the soil and construct large mounds that are easily seen in lawns and pastures. A single lawn may contain a dozen or more smaller mounds. This ant will also locate nests within landscape mulch and beneath items on the ground, such as landscape timbers. The mounds of such colonies may be shallow and poorly structured making them difficult to detect for the less experienced eye. Fire ants may construct mounds next to the foundation and enter homes through weep holes or other exterior cracks and holes. Once inside, workers forage in trails beneath the edge of carpeting. On occasion, the ants will bring soil up into walls or beneath first floor bathrooms and construct a nest.

These ants are rapidly invading the states to the west of Texas and moving north through Oklahoma. They are accidentally transported with landscape material, construction equipment and other means.

PAVEMENT ANTS

Identification Tips
Size: About 1/8-inch long
Color: Brown
Pavement ants get their name from living mainly under concrete.

Where they live…
These ants have a preference for nesting in soil next to and beneath slabs, sidewalks, patios, and driveways.
Colonies are usually easy to find due to the piles of displaced soil next to and on top of pavement.
Indoors, pavement ants nest under the foundation and within block foundation walls.

Tips for Control
These tips will help you to prevent a pavement ant infestation:

• Seal cracks and holes in the exterior of the home to prevent ants and other pests from entering.
• Keep vegetation cut away from the foundation of the home.
• Avoid using items such as stones and landscape timbers next to the home’s foundation.
• Pavement ants nesting under these items are likely to infest the home.
• Keep layers of mulch in landscape beds no more than two inches thick and keep it pulled back away from the foundation.

CRAZY ANTS

Identification Tips
Size: 1/8-inch long, with extremely long legs and antennae.
Color: Black
These ants received their name from their habit of quick zigzag movements that seem to have no real direction.

Where they live…
These ants nest outdoors under items on the ground, in mulch, beneath bark on trees, in potted plants, and piles of wood, firewood, or bricks. Nests may be established inside homes in walls, under carpeting, and in other spaces.

Tips for Control
This species may be difficult to control and does not feed much on ant baits. The keys to control are to find the colonies and sub colonies and treat them directly. Regular inspections and service are necessary to find and treat new colonies as they move in from neighboring properties.

NON-VENOMOUS SPIDERS

Not including Brown Recluse

This group includes the little brown house spider, wolf spider, cellar spider and others.

The house spider spins webs in the corners of rooms where walls and ceilings meet. Wolf spiders which are large with dense hair covering the body, invade homes from the outside areas around the house.

Have a specific question? Contact us. We will be glad to answer your questions.

BROWN RECLUSE

Sometimes called Fiddle Back

Brown Recluse, sometimes called fiddleback spiders, are so named because of a dark fiddle marking on top of the head. Even young spiders have this mark.

Brown Recluse live in ceiling voids, attics, wall voids, under tack strip carpets, crawl spaces, cardboard boxes, drawer wells, closets, storage rooms, base shoe, doors, windows and ceiling trim, and sub-cabinet voids.

Brown Recluse spiders are primarily structural pests, living inside and around buildings. These spiders move from attics to wall voids into the living areas of homes starting in late April and May. This movement coincides with their breeding season. Young spiderlings can be found moving about in June. Often homeowners are not aware of these infestations because Brown Recluses are active mostly at night. They over-winter outside in unheated buildings under the bark of trees near houses as well as inside homes. Brown Recluse are more active April through October, but may be seen crawling any month of the year. Ordinary retail aerosols and liquid sprays do not effectively control this pest. Many insecticides are repellent and do not affect spiders, as they do insects. Brown Recluse spider control requires help from professional pest control firms. An entomologist or qualified professional should make a detailed inspection and draw up a service plan for treatment.

Homeowners can reduce harborage areas by removing all empty cardboard boxes and sealing all storage boxes with masking tape.

Control of this venomous spider requires extensive preparation by the homeowner and extremely thorough structural treatment of cracks and crevices, voids, room perimeters, garages, attics, basements, crawl spaces, exterior treatments and treatment of out buildings. Such treatment may require several hours to perform, using techniques developed by Budget Pest Control specifically for this pest.

If you suspect a Brown Recluse infestation, Budget Pest Control’s qualified professionals can make the proper identification, examine the structure, place spider traps and monitor any spider population in your home or office and make recommendations for treatment.

More than fifty percent of the homes in Oklahoma and Kansas have Brown Recluse infestations, to one degree or another. Budget’s quarterly service and monitoring program is scheduled after the initial services to make certain that the spider population is completely eliminated.

Click here to see the results of a Brown Recluse spider bite.

***WARNING – PHOTOS ARE GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE***

PREPARATION REQUIRED FOR BROWN RECLUSE TREATMENT by the Homeowner:

• Remove all items from under beds and place on top of beds.
• Remove all items from clothes closets, both clothing and all other items in the closet. These may also be placed on beds.
• Remove all light switch and electrical plates for treatment into wall voids.
• Remove all items from lower cabinets and shelves and out from under all sinks in kitchen and bathrooms.
• Pull out all drawers from chest and stack (to leave drawer wells accessible for treatment).
• Seal all cardboard boxes with packing tape (including those stored in attics, garages, home and outbuildings). It is recommended that moth crystals be placed in boxes before sealing to eliminate any spiders that may be present inside the boxes. Start purchasing plastic storage containers with tight fitting lids.
• Remove all items from linen closets and drawers.

– – – – – – – – – – W A R R A N T Y – – – – – – – – – –

Our money back warranty, will be issued to all quarterly or monthly customers after four months. This allows time for spiders to move down to the treated areas and contact our control materials. If brown recluse are not effectively controlled after this initial period, the price of the last service rendered will be completely refunded and extra services will be made until no more brown recluses are seen or trapped. The client is requested to provide a specimen for positive identification.