5 Tips For Knoxville Residents To Keep Spring Ants Out Of The Home

5 Tips For Knoxville Residents To Keep Spring Ants Out Of The Home

Knoxville is a beautiful place in which to live. Unfortunately, our warm temperatures can drive unwanted pests into our homes. As we enter spring, ant populations will be on the rise, busying themselves with food gathering and growing their colonies. We can expect ants to be busy from April through late fall in TN. Fortunately, there are strategies you can employ to help keep ant populations down on your property and keep them out of your home.

Here are five ant-prevention tips for Knoxville residents this summer:

  1. Remove trash from your home frequently and keep outdoor trash in containers with tight-fitting lids. Ants are always on the hunt for food and your trash is one of their favorite places for them to find it.
  2. Seal up your home the best you can. This includes installing or fixing screens in all windows and doors, using sweeps or guards under your doors including garage doors, and making sure that all openings and vents are sealed or covered properly.
  3. Take care of your yard and landscaping. Keeping grass trimmed short, pruning landscaping, removing dead vegetation, and providing proper drainage around gardens can reduce the attractiveness of your property to pests.
  4. Store food properly. Clean up spills and crumbs quickly. Only put pet food down when pets are eating and remove leftovers promptly. Keep your pantry goods in sealed air-tight plastic containers.
  5. Reduce water around your home. This includes making sure that gutters are draining properly, hoses and spigots are not leaking, sprinkler systems are used only when needed (and have no leaks), and drainage is effective around your foundation.

Even when following these recommended steps, it is still possible to have an ant problem in or around your Knoxville home. Ants are small and resourceful and hard to contain. The best way to completely eliminate an ant problem is with a year-round pest-control service plan from Russell’s Pest Control. With over 45 years of pest service experience, we have the expertise to keep your home free from ants and other pests. We guarantee it. Contact us today to set up a home inspection and to choose a plan that is right for you and your family. We’d be happy to partner with you to keep your home pest free.

5 Tips To Keep Ants Out Of Your Kitchen

5 Tips To Keep Ants Out Of Your Kitchen

Winter is the time of year when some pests enjoy digging themselves a little deeper into the ground than normal, slowing down, and taking a nice long nap. They will reappear when the weather warms up in spring. Other pests remain active throughout the year, which means they can cause problems all year long. If you’ve noticed ants in your home even though it’s winter, you probably want to know how to prevent them.

Here are five tips to keep ants out of your kitchen:

  • Keep your yard tidy. Ant prevention starts outside. Remove yard debris, such as lawn clippings, branches, and leaf matter. Keep your grass trimmed. Consider replacing any mulch you use in your landscaping with crushed stone instead.
  • Close off entry points. Ants are small and can fit through the tiniest of cracks. It makes sense to seal up as many as you can find to reduce the chance of them finding their way inside. Check around your foundation for cracks and seal the ones you find. Gaps around doors and windows are a favorite way for ants to get inside. Tears or holes in a screen can also allow them access to your home.
  • Clean up spills and put food away. Like most humans, most common ants are quite fond of anything sugary. If you have even a small spill that you fail to clean up, they will find it. The same goes for any food you leave out. Whether it’s fruit on the counter or sugar left in its paper bag, ants will find it. In order to dissuade ants from entering and remaining in your house, you must remove their food sources. Make sure to clean all spills immediately and don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink. Wipe down your counters after every meal. Keep food stored in the refrigerator or in air-tight containers.
  • Eliminate moisture. While most ants are simply a nuisance, there are some that are quite destructive. Carpenter ants can go undetected for months, or even years. Once they get into your home, they chew through the wood structures in your home, causing a huge amount of damage. Carpenter ants are especially attracted to your house if you have water-damaged wood structures in or around it. It’s important to reduce moisture and humidity as much as possible. Eliminate standing water outside your home, and replace any water-damaged wood. Repair leaking taps and pipes. Allow good ventilation throughout your home, and use dehumidifiers in the more humid rooms of your house.
  • Call the professionals. If you find ants in your home, the best way to get rid of them is to get professional help. Russell’s Pest Control has the experience necessary to identify the type of ant you’re dealing with, figure out how they’re getting in, and understand what the best course of action is to eliminate them.

Ants don’t have to be a winter problem. Keep them out of your kitchen this year with the help of Russell’s Pest Control.

What Is Up With All These Ants?

What Is Up With All These Ants?

What is it with ants? The weather turns cold and they disappear. But then when things start to warm up a bit, there they are again! As if by magic. Where were they all this time? And why don’t they stay away? Why do they come back every spring to torment us in our homes and our businesses? Is there anything you can do to make them stay away? Actually, there is, and we are going to explore that possibility in just a moment. But first, let’s look a little bit at why having ants come back year after year is not a good thing.

Problems Ants Bring To Home Or Business

Ants Bite

All ants can bite, but there are two that are particularly troublesome in this respect, the fire ant and the carpenter ant. Fire ants can quickly swarm and bite repeatedly, which is not only painful but can be deadly if the victim is a person who is not able to escape the biting insects, persons such as infants or the infirm. If you have fire ants plaguing your property, it is wise to have them eradicated.

Contrary to what their name suggests, carpenter ants do not build or repair anything. In fact, they destroy. And they do this by chewing galleries inside the wooden structures of a home or business. And while they are not normally inclined to bite humans, they are able to use their wood-cutting mandibles to give a painful bite. They may also spray a defensive chemical (formic acid) into the wound, increasing the pain.

Ants Crawl

All ants crawl, but pharaoh ants are some of the worst. These ants are known to invade kitchens and pantries, crawling all over stoves, countertops, refrigerators, food, plates, cups and silverware. Perhaps this wouldn’t be too bad except for the fact that they also crawl around in garbage cans and inside toilet bowls, and then carry all sorts of bacteria back to your kitchen. Studies show that pharaoh ants are able to carry more than 12 infection organisms.

Ants Stink

All ants put off a scent, but odorous house ants take the cake. Not only do they have the pheromones that all ants use, but if they are threatened, or stepped on, they put off an awful smell that is comparable to rotten coconuts.

If you are encountering these ants, or perhaps Argentine, acrobat, or little black ants in your Tennessee home or business, consider help from the pest professionals here at Russell’s. It stinks having biting, crawling, annoying and potentially dangerous ants around. Reach out to us today and become ant-free.

How Knoxville Residents Can Get Rid Of Ants

How Knoxville Residents Can Get Rid Of Ants

Ants can quickly become a major nuisance when found inside your home. These little black insects have found their way into your home in search of food. They will forage for food until they find an easy source. If they decide your home is an easy target for food, they will mark a trail and lead their colony there. Your home can make the perfect environment for a newly established ant colony. They need shelter, food and water to thrive and you happen to have all three. These pests can contaminate food and some damage wood sources in your home. So how do you eliminate their interest and keep them away from your Knoxville home?

The first step to keeping these ants out of your home is to seal up the exterior of your home. This can be any gaps or cracks you find around your home. These gaps can be around piping or venting. There may be cracks in windows and doors. Seal up the exterior of your home to stop ants from even trying to forage for food inside.

Next, seal up any food and water sources in your home. This can be in the pantry, the trash and pet food. Make sure all of these food sources are in airtight containers, preventing pests from getting inside. Fix any leaks or moist areas in your home. This will help deter them from seeing your home as an easy target.

The last step is to make sure that any landscaping shrubs and bushes are trimmed away from your home. Bushes and shrubs are a great place for ants to hide in and start a colony. Also, keep wood piles around 20 feet away from your home. There are a lot of pest insects that thrive in wood piles.

Most homeowners will try some of the DIY ant control products once they find they have an infestation. These products can be faulty. They only work to a certain extent and leave the rest of the colony to keep thriving. If they are done improperly, they can cause more harm than good. Some chemical DIY products can be dangerous to you, your family and pets. If you are going to try these products, make sure to read the entire label and use them exactly as instructed. The major problem with these DIY products is that they do not eliminate the entire colony and after a few days the infestation may continue or grow worse.

If you find that you have an ant infestation in your home, it is best to call Russell’s Pest Control for ant control. We can set up a plan of action for the current infestation, eliminate the ants (and other household pests) and keep them from coming back to your home.

Tips For Pest Prevention During The Holidays

As families get into the holiday spirit, digging out decorations and unpacking strands of twinkling lights, it is important to be aware of unwanted guests. Pests can make their way into your home via boxes of ornaments, fresh-cut Christmas trees, wreathes and even firewood.

Ants and spiders can easily hide in the branches of trees and crevices of firewood, while mice can chew through cardboard boxes of decorations that have been stored away since last season. Unfortunately, these pests can pose serious health threats, from food contamination to the spread of disease, should they find a way inside.

Russell’s Pest Control advises homeowners to carefully inspect these items for pests before bringing them inside the home. Here are some tips The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) recommends during the holidays:

  • Inspect live, fresh-cut, evergreen trees, wreathes and garlands for spiders, insect nests or eggs before purchasing. Shake greenery outdoors to remove any pests before bringing them inside.

  • Unpack decorations outdoors so pests aren’t released into the home. Repack decorations in durable, sealed containers that pests can’t chew through.

  • Store firewood at least 20 feet from the home on a raised structure, such as concrete blocks or poles.

  • If you suspect a pest infestation in your home, contact a licensed pest professional to inspect, identify and treat the problem.