San Antonio Carpenter Ants Destructive

San Antonio Carpenter Ants Destructive

Those small, winged, insects that you’ve seen tunneling through wood on your San Antonio property may not be termite… It could be a Carpenter ant.

In San Antonio, the Carpenter ant most frequently comes in two varieties: The Black Carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus), and the regular or generic Carpenter ant (Camponotus vicinus). Both are equally destructive.

The Carpenter Ants of San Antonio

Of all the different species of ant, the largest grouping happens to be the Carpenter ant. While some ants like the Fire ant are known for their painful stings, the Carpenter ant is most well known for their destructive nesting behavior.

Carpenter ants make their nests by tunneling through wood, in which they do not eat; and it is because of this behavior many San Antonio homeowners confuse these ant pests for termites.

Both the Carpenter ant and the Black Carpenter ant measure ¼ to ½ inch in length. Carpenter ants have a black head, a black abdomen, but had a dark reddish colored thorax. The Black Carpenter ant has black legs, with dull black body. A circular ring of gold colored hairs that circle the Black Carpenter ant’s abdomen make it easy to distinguish from other ant pest.

Both the Carpenter ant and the Black Carpenter ant can also have wings.

Damage Caused By San Antonio Carpenter Ants

If your San Antonio home has wood that is easily accessible from outdoor areas; or if your property has wood piles, tree stumps, or unused or abandoned wood leftover from a construction project you may be susceptible for carpenter ants. Carpenter ants will nest in the wooden structures on your property, and even in your home. This can be very destructive. As their innate tunneling behavior kicks in, Carpenter ants chew through wood. Dead, rotten, decaying wood or logs seem to be the ant’s preferred nesting choice; but old, cracking furniture, trees, tree stumps, and home structures are also vulnerable.

Carpenter ant nesting behaviors devastate the reliability of anything made of wood, including your home or furniture. Like I mentioned, these vicious ants robustly gnaw through wood, building tunnels for their nests. If you see piles of sawdust near any wood on your property, it’s a solid indication that you are dealing with a pest problem… A problem that could be very serious. Carpenter ants should not be taken lightly. If you suspect an infestation, or are seeing sawdust piles, have your home inspected by a licensed ant control professional.

San Antonio Pest Control For Carpenter Ants

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How To Detect Cockroach Infestation

Cockroaches, like rats, are nocturnal pests. This means that they’ll only come out at night to scavenge for food, the reason why it’s rare to see them in broad daylight. If you see one during the day, then it means only one thing. There’s a cockroach infestation in your home, and you need to do something to get rid of them.

Dangers of Cockroaches

You don’t want cockroaches in your home. They are known carriers of a variety of pathogenic organisms that cause diseases. If you have a weak or compromised immune system, then you have more than just a cockroach bite to worry about. You are also at risk for severe allergic reaction, asthma attack, gastrointestinal problems, skin allergies, salmonella infection, typhoid, poliomyelitis, dysentery, and other serious diseases. It is for these reasons why it’s important that you get rid of cockroaches in your home.

Signs of Cockroach Infestation

As mentioned earlier, cockroaches usually scavenge for food at night, so it’s rare to see one during the day. However, there are some signs that you can look for to confirm the presence of cockroaches.

Those little black pellets that you see in nooks and crannies, under large furniture, under the kitchen sink, and behind the stove or the refrigerator are not spilled coffee grounds nor are they black pepper. These are cockroach feces made by smaller roaches, while large cockroaches produce cylindrical-shaped feces. If you see little black pellets resembling black pepper or coffee grounds littering the floor, especially the kitchen and areas that are dark and damp, then you can expect a cockroach infestation.

Upon entering a room that you rarely use, like the attic or the basement, do you smell a strong, musty scent? If you answered yes, then there is a very high likelihood that your home has a cockroach infestation. Roaches emit pheromones – a very unpleasant, oily and musty scent – that attract other roaches for mating, and a very strong scent is a very good indicator of just how severe the cockroach infestation is.

The number of cockroach carcasses littering the property is also a good indicator of a roach infestation, so is the number of oothecae or cockroach eggs found in nooks and crannies. This means that the population of cockroaches is thriving in your home. They’re breeding and dying, and since cockroaches can lay up to 14 egg capsules per mating period, each capsule containing about 16 eggs, you’ll soon have hundreds of them infesting your home if you don’t do anything to get rid of them.

Getting Rid of Roaches

Cockroach prevention is easy. You only have to maintain a clean home and yard; seal up holes and cracks that cockroaches can crawl through; remove their water and food source; set traps, among others, and you’re home will be roach-free.

However, for severe cockroach infestation, you’ll need the help of experts. They can get rid of the whole cockroach population in your home and leave your home protected against these pests for months. Since most pest control companies use products to totally get rid of them, you need to ask the company if the products they’re using are green, organic, and environmentally-friendly.

Jennifer Daggett regularly writes for the blog of admiralpest.com. She’s also a frequent guest blogger for similar pest control-related blogs.

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Three-Step Roach Elimination Tips

Cockroaches are nocturnal and fast-breeding bugs that can easily adapt to any kind of environment. These bugs do not directly harm humans but they are known carriers of diseases and bacteria. For this reason, the very presence of roaches can put people at risk for various health problems and conditions.

With that said, cockroach infestation is not something you can ignore. You need to take the time to follow certain precautions to prevent them from infesting your property and to completely get rid of them. Although there are chemical pesticides that promise to kill these bugs successfully, you cannot be entirely sure that these products are safe and effective. Here are a few steps to help you prevent a full-blown roach infestation.

Step 1: Identify Whether You Have An Infestation

Generally, roaches have long elongated, brown-colored body that may or may not have wings, depending on their gender. They are usually medium-sized but in certain areas of the world, they can grow very large. These bugs are easily identified by their spiny legs, oval-shaped bodies, and long antennae.

These bugs love to dwell in warm, dark, and moist areas. They can also feed on anything they can find; thus, they can be found even in the most unhygienic places. If you want to look for these bugs, it is best to look for them at night. You can use a flashlight to avoid spooking them. The signs of infestation may include:

• Live roaches
• Dead bodies of roaches
• Discarded shell casing- these are small exoskeletons that are dark-brown in color
• Droppings- their excretions usually look like pepper and coffee grounds. Larger roaches may have cylindrical feces which may look like mice droppings only smaller.
• Odor- these bugs generally emit pheromones that have a distinctive and powerful musty odor. If the infestation is very serious, the smell can get pretty bad as well.

Step 2: Locate Entry Places And Starve These Bugs

After identifying whether your home is infested with roaches, the next thing you can do is to find out where they enter your home. In doing so, you can seal off the possible entrances to prevent further infestation. To find possible entry places, you need to look for cracks or holes. They can also come into your home through your drains. You can seal off these entrances using fibrous materials or by caulking them.

The next thing you need to do is to deprive these bugs of their basic needs. The best deterrent against roaches is by eliminating food and water sources. To do so, you must keep your home clean and sanitary. Regularly sweep and vacuum indoors, and make sure you clean up after meals. You must also seal all your foods in tight plastic containers.

Step 3: Eradicate Existing Roaches

Once you determine that your home is infested with these bugs, you must immediately take action. Do not wait until the infestation grows out of hand. Remember that roaches are fast-breeding bugs; thus, you might suffer from a full-blown infestation if you do not take the necessary pest control solutions. Here are some natural roach control solutions which you can apply on your own:

• Boric Acid Powder: This is one of the most effective solutions against pest infestation. You can sprinkle the powder in the entry places of roaches and in areas where roaches are commonly found, such as behind the refrigerator, pantry, cupboards, and kitchen sinks. This solution is toxic for roaches, but it can also be toxic for humans as well. For this reason, make sure to keep boric acid powder away from children and pets.
• Baking Soda: This is a very effective solution against roaches. When these bugs ingest baking soda and then drink water, they will eventually burst. This is a tested solution to remove roaches from your household.
• Roach Bait And Trap: You can use a slow working poison and mix it with food that attracts these bugs. When the bugs eat it or bring it to their nest, it can efficiently kill all the cockroaches. Be careful in using such techniques though, since it can have an adverse effect on children and pets when they accidentally ingest it.

You can also use traps to entice roaches and trap them using an adhesive. To create a roach trap, you can make a solution of soap and water. The soapy water will create a thin film on the roaches’ skin where they have breathing pores. In doing so, it will block their airway, causing the bugs to suffocate to death.

Citations:

• Online Image. EveryStockPhoto. Feb 11, 2013

The author, Kris Lim, is a writer for home improvement websites where she offers tips and advice on how to make the home a more comfortable living environment. Her works have also been used by pest control companies, such as Rove Pest Control.

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Top 3: Ways to Keep Bugs Away In Winter

During the cold months many bugs try to worm their way indoors to stay warm. Rather than spend the entire season living with unwanted intruders, you can keep those bugs at bay with a few simple tricks. These tips won’t take much time to enact, and they can do wonders to keeping your home bug free.

1. Don’t Leave Food Out

Bugs often come into your living space following the lure of food. Leaving food on the table, kitchen counter, and on the floor can be an open invitation to bugs. If you must keep food on the counter for easy access or to let it ripen, keep it in a sealed cloth or plastic bag. Also, make sure to keep the garbage cleaned regularly as bugs like to crawl in after leftover food particles.

On a side note, many bugs go crawling at night to get a drink of water. Whenever you come across a house spider in the bathroom at three in the morning, know that it’s just trying to sneak a drink from your water faucet.

2. Lay Down Diatomaceous Earth

As an option other than pest control, which will spray inside the house with insecticide, you can sprinkle diatomaceous earth along the wall and corners of the interior. You can also sprinkle this along window sills and in entryways. Diatomaceous earth is made up of microscopic fossils of ancient single celled and algae organisms. This earth is extremely sharp and will cut up any insects that crawl over it. However, it is so fine that it won’t cut a person. Be careful of inhaling this product by accident, as it can cause breathing difficulties. It’s safe to sprinkle on the ground in areas where you don’t tread very often. If you have a dog that likes to sniff around inside the house, you may also want to avoid using diatomaceous earth.

3. Use Essential Oils

Plants in nature create essential oils to help protect themselves from insects. We can use the same oils to keep them out of our homes. Create sachets soaked with these essential oils and place them in your closets, clothing drawers, or even cupboards in the kitchen. Some of these oils also smell quite nice, such as lavender and eucalyptus, which are both good for repelling insects. Clove oil can also help repel bugs for months at a time. Another good oil to consider is citronella, which is commonly used in candles to help repel mosquitoes when eating outdoors.

These tricks are easy ways to keep bugs from invading during the cold season. You can set up the diatomaceous earth and the essential oils within a few minutes and then forget about them for the rest of the season. It’s also easy enough to keep food from sitting out in the open to keep from drawing insects into your living space.

Image credit:Some rights reserved by Pig Monkey

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