Pest Control Guide: Ants

Ants

The most common Irish ants you’ll encounter are black garden ants. Although not dangerous, they can be a nuisance when they forage within your home, destroy your paving, or in hot summer months when they take flight as part of their yearly mating cycle. If unlucky, you may also encounter the pharaoh, fire or ghost ant within your home or business. Be sure to identify them correctly as incorrect pesticide use can worsen the problem with some species. Our guide will help you identify and prevent different ant infestations.

Black Garden Ants:

Habitat:

The garden ant tends to be found in dry, sandy soil. This type of soil can be found in flower beds, potting areas, at grass edges, or under paving stones/slabs. Which is why they can appear in all corners of your garden. Look along paving stones for mounds of soil forming around small openings, these small gaps are often entry and exit points for the colony. They can also imbed themselves in cavities or tunnels created near the edge wall of your home. Within the home, they will most commonly be found in the kitchen, although if you’re a bedroom snacker don’t be surprised to find them there.

Appearance:

The worker ants generally range from 3 to 5 mm in length, with queens spanning up to 9mm. The name ‘black garden ant’ is slightly misleading as the can vary from a dark brown shade to black, but all will appear slightly glossy.

Lifecycle of the black garden ant:

Within Ireland, the mating period for these ants takes place during the hot summer months, usually late July-August when an noticeable increase in temperature occurs. During this mating process, reproductive males and virgin queens will take to the sky causing masses of ‘flying ants’. The males will die off within a few days of the mating cycle. Whereas the queens will create a new cycle by discarding her wings, tunnelling and hatching a new colony. Astonishingly, the queens can live for as long as 20 years!

How to get rid of black ants:

If you notice ants appearing in your home a good first step would be to examine their movements, see where they’re coming and going from. This may inform you as to whether they have nested in or outside your home. The next step is to always remove any available food sources, then give the area a good clean to remove food scents and ant trail pheromones. If the problem persists, there are over the counter products available, however they can take time and often aren’t powerful enough to destroy the queen and stop the cycle fully. A professional ant spray treatment can be performed very quickly and is very cost effective, stopping the cycle instantly. If you’re considering a professional treatment then we recommend leaving the ants and area undisturbed, as this will allow for better inspection and an easier/quicker extermination process.