The Key To Effective Argentine Ant Control In Ventura County

There are over 12,000 species of ants in the world. About 270 ant species call California home. So, it isn't surprising that Ventura County residents are often perplexed by these insects. Each species can be slightly different in how it behaves and in what food sources it will go after. If you put down protein baits, you're not going to have success with sugar ants. If you lay down sweet sugary baits, protein-eating ants will turn their noses up at the "food source" you've offered. To make matters even worse, ants can learn which food sources are safe. If the bait you lay down works too quickly, the ants you're trying to eliminate will continue to be a problem. This is why we suggest professional ant control if ants are already a problem for you. But, if you don't have an infestation yet, there are many things you can do to keep it that way. Today, we're going to talk about what you can specifically do to deter and manage Argentine ants.

Identification Of Argentine Ants

First, let's figure out if the ants you're seeing around your Ventura County property are Argentine ants. While these are very common ants, they aren't necessarily the ants you're dealing with.

Argentine ants are:

Monomorphic. All of the workers are the same size.

Uniform. The coloration of these ants is uniformly brown.

Mid-sized. At ⅛ of an inch long, these ants fall into about the middle of the size range. They're not as large as ⅝-inch carpenter ants and they're not as tiny as 1/32-inch thief ants.

Numerous. An Argentine ant colony can have millions of workers in it and there can be many subcolonies in one area. 

If you capture one of these ants and examine it under magnification, you may see one more helpful visual characteristic that can distinguish this ant from some other ant species. Argentine ants have one node between the thorax and the abdomen. You might think of this as the waist of the ant. While they're not the only ant species with one node, that one node can help you narrow the number of ant species significantly.