Are Ants Around My Irvine Property Dangerous?
14 / Oct / 2020
What has six legs, lives on every continent except Antarctica, and resides anywhere you work, live, or play? If you guessed ants, you are correct.
There are over ten thousand different ant species. These fascinating six-legged creatures can live in virtually any environment. Belonging to the same order as wasps and bees, they are comprised of three parts: a large head, a narrow thorax, and an abdomen. At the end of each of their six legs are claws. Ants are possibly the strongest animals (for their size) on the planet with the ability to lift 50 times their body weight. They have two jaws equipped for gripping and carrying these “heavy” items.
While they don’t have ears, ants have two antennae that house their sense receptors, the most powerful of which are their odor receptors. The odor receptors of ants are exponentially stronger than other insects, which enable them to find food particles even as small as a crumb. When an ant locates a source of food, it communicates using pheromones to provide a type of GPS coordinate to the buffet. But what if that buffet is in your home?
Malang Pest Control is your source of information on ants. We provide the service and tools needed in our ant control service to protect your Irvine home against ant invasions.
Nuisance Ants
Ants are considered the number one nuisance pest by the National American Management Association. They are not harmful to your property or your health. But man, there’s nothing more annoying than opening a cupboard to find a single file line of marching ants headed straight for the organic honey. No ant is welcome inside your home.
If you have had the experience above, you might have dealt with a variety of ant species collectively called sugar ants. Sugar ants include carpenter ants, odorous house ants, and Argentine ants. Odorous house ants emit a rotten coconut smell when crushed.
Odorous and Argentine ants are small dark brown or black ants. Relatively harmless, these two types of ants are highly attracted to sweets. They find a route into your home through cracks and make their way to your kitchen, where they can contaminate food items. Once inside, they build their nests in warm moist areas.
Ants That Are Dangerous To You & Your Home
Carpenter ants are the most dangerous type of ant to your home. Like termites, large colonies of carpenter ants target and damage wood, but not by eating it. They tunnel through the wood to create nests, leaving behind trails of sawdust-like particles. Carpenter ants need moisture to survive, so they look for soft, wet, or rotting wood.
Notorious red fire ants can be dangerous to your health. Common in California, the red fire ant nests in mounds above the ground. When their nests are disturbed, often inadvertently by pets or humans, red fire ants sting, injecting venom that can cause painful burning, itching, and swelling in its victims. The venom could be life-threatening for pets or people who have allergies to fire ants. A fire ant sting to a family member with an allergy can cause anaphylaxis shock and potentially death, if untreated. Secondary bacterial infections introduced from the sting are also a cause of concern as victims scratch and scrape at the irritated skin.
The yellow and light brown Pharaoh ant is known to transmit dozens of diseases like staphylococcus and salmonella. Pharaoh ants are a hospital’s worst nightmare as they have been known to enter the mouths and wounds of patients, exposing them to bacteria. In your home, these ants target your cabinet and can track harmful pathogens in and around your food supply.
No matter what type of ants may plague your home, contact the professionals at Malang Pest Control for pest solutions in Irvine, CA.
Fire ants are a problem no one wants to have, for a number of reasons. Between the pain of their stings, the potential danger those stings can carry, and the difficulty that comes with trying to treat a fire ant infestation, keeping fire ants at bay with fire ant control is a necessity for Irvine residents. Unfortunately, Irvine residents are no stranger to fire ant mounds covering their yards, especially in the warmer months of the year.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at fire ants, the dangers they pose to homes and yards they invade, and what Irvine residents with fire ants on their property need to do to keep themselves protected.
What Are Fire Ants?
Fire ants are named for two reasons: their fiery red coloration and the burning sensation their stings leave on those unfortunate enough to come into contact with them. They range from roughly ½ – ¼ inch in length, with reproductive castes growing slightly larger than their worker counterparts. Beyond their coloration, they can be differentiated from other ant species due to the two nodes on their thorax that aren’t found on other ants.
Fire ants are unique among ant species in that their primary method of defense is their powerful stingers. While they have biting mandibles like other ants, they primarily use them to hold their prey in place in order to sting them, rather than simply using their bite as the primary method of attack.
Most of the country sees fire ant mounds around the yard as spring arrives and the temperature starts rising. Unfortunately, the high heat and humidity that Irvine provides makes it the perfect breeding ground for fire ants for much of the year.
Dangers Fire Ants Pose
Because fire ants sting instead of biting, they carry a severe risk that is not present in other species of ants. Stings are more than just painful: in large numbers, the venom each sting transmits can be seriously dangerous to people – even fatal. If you accidentally step on a mound, you could find yourself in a harmful and dangerous situation.
The risk is especially great for people with allergies. People with allergies to fire ant venom can experience life-threatening reactions, specifically anaphylaxis, wherein the person will develop hives, swelling in the throat and tongue, stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms. In severe cases, the rapid loss of blood pressure can send the victim into shock and cause them to lose consciousness.
Fire ants can also be dangerous to pets, particularly dogs. Dogs wandering around outside can easily stumble into fire ant hills, and dog food attracts them, so failure to monitor your furry friends while they’re playing outside could leave them covered in stings that could put their health at serious risk.
Why Fire Ants Are a Difficult Problem Pest
Fire ants are notoriously difficult to eliminate from yards they infest. In an infested yard covered with fire ant mounds, you can’t destroy one colony at a time and have any hope for success. Through a process known as “budding,” a threatened colony will split itself off into multiple colony groups that will disperse throughout the property and create their own new colonies, starting your problems all over again. This is also why untreated fire ant populations tend to double or triple every few months.
Why to Turn to Professional Pest Control for Fire Ants in Irvine
Due to the threat fire ants pose and the difficulty associated with getting rid of them, affected homeowners have only one realistic option to rid themselves of this problematic pest: call a professional for help.
Luckily, the pest control professionals at Malang Pest Control have got you covered. We have years of experience protecting homeowners in Irvine and across California from fire ants and numerous other pests. Contact us today and find out why a professional fire ant treatment from Malang is the perfect solution for any fire ant problem you’re facing.