What To Do About Sugar Ants You Find In Your Ventura County Home

Let's start by pointing out that sugar ants are not a specific species of ants here in the United States. It is a term used to describe a type of ants that feed on sugary things. If you have a hummingbird feeder with sugar water in it and you notice thousands of ants crawling up the side of your home to get to that sweet liquid, those are sugar ants. But sugar water is far from the only thing that will attract sugar ants to your Ventura County home. Today, we're going to take a look at a few facts every Ventura County resident should know about sugar ants.

What Is Not A Sugar Ant

There are some ants that are attracted to protein sources. They'll feed on dead animals, the grease on the sides of your oven, sources of meat inside your home—namely dead bugs in your walls. If you attempt to control ants that prefer protein by putting down a sugary bait, you're not going to have any success.

Drawing The Attention Of Sugar Ants

When addressing sugar ants, you need to consider what these ants prefer to eat. The most effective way to target sugar ants and eliminate colonies is to put down a sugary bait. These products are often in a gel form. But there are some challenges to applying baits to get rid of sugar ants. Sugar ants can become bait averse. If you apply the wrong bait, in incorrect amounts, in locations that are inappropriate, your ant control can fall short.

Why It Is Important To Get It Right The First Time

There are several pitfalls to sugar ant control. What happens when your control efforts fall short?

There are many species of sugar ants. The most notable is the Pharaoh ant. This species feeds on the wounds of livestock, pets, and other animals. Their feeding behavior exposes them to harmful bacteria and pathogens. If you attempt to control Pharaoh ants and fail to do so, you can leave yourself and your family exposed to a health concern.

If you use the wrong bait, you can cause a sugar ant colony to split. This is called budding. A colony that has more than one queen can split into two or more colonies when a fast-acting ant control product is detected.

If you apply bait incorrectly, the ants will be alerted to your plan and they can begin to avoid the bait you're placing down. This can make your ant infestation more difficult for a professional to control, and there is a chance that this can add to your treatment cost.

If the sugar ants you're attempting to control are a carpenter ant species, you could put your property at greater risk when you fail to control them. Carpenter ants are destructive ants that chew galleries inside wood.