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Pavement Ants Build Nests Inside & Outside Your House

Ants are cute in kid movies but they’re just plain annoying in real life! Pavement ants do not cause structural damage but they can still be a pain as they can easily contaminate food. It can be alarming to walk into your kitchen to have them crawling all over the place. Unless the nest is in your home it will be easy to see where they are getting in. Follow the trail and it will lead you to where they are coming in from the outside. Outside the nest will be under stones, along curbs or in the cracks of pavement. Indoors, the nest can be found in walls and under the floors. Just because they’re called pavement ants doesn’t mean that’s the only place you’ll find nests. Other places they will build colonies include under logs or boards and piles of wood.

 

Pavement Ant Identification

Pavement ants are light brown to black in color with appendages that are lighter than the rest of their body. They are 1/8” long with parallel lines on the head and thorax. You will find them in your home when they are looking for food and they aren’t picky. They will eat a wide variety of foods and they’ve hit jackpot when they get into our homes. The best way to differentiate pavement ants from other ants is to look at what they’re eating. If the ants you see are eating sugars only and leaving greasy items behind they are unlikely to be pavement ants. Remember, pavement ants are not picky about what they eat-they like it all!

 

Pavement Ant Prevention

Create a plan of action to get pavement ants out and then keep them out. Consider doing the following;

  • Use a clear silicone sealant to seal the crack or cracks they are using to get in
  • Look around and find any other cracks they may use in the future and seal then up.
  • Areas where water is leaking or there is poor drainage need to be addressed so new cracks won’t develop.
 

Ant Inspection & Control

Sometimes getting rid of pavement ants can be tricky as the colonies can become stressed out and will split into sub-colonies and scatter which can obviously make the problem much worse. It’s best to use professionals to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. If you notice ants and have been unsuccessful in dealing with them contact Eagle Pest Services to successfully get rid of the problem. Different species of ants require different treatment methods in order to remove them completely. Eagle Pest Services can conduct a thorough inspection to determine the species of ants present and then present a custom treatment plan to exterminate them. Contact us for all your pest control needs!