Ants: Several Types of Household Pests

Ants colonies can be located outside or inside your home. And in every colony, there may be more than one queen. 

Many insects in the world can be a nuisance to your home. These are small animals that usually appear in large numbers; one example is ants, characterized by not coming alone. Today ITerminate brings you all the information you need to know about them and how to differentiate easily two of the most common type of ants.

Meet the ants

Ants are small insects with a body very similar to that of bees and wasps. They present three main parts, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. They are arthropods and possess a skin that is identified as an exoskeleton, a kind of surface with small holes that allow its oxygenation since they do not have lungs.

The ant colony has a well-structured labor division. First of all, there is the queen ant, which has wings and lays eggs. Secondly, you can find the worker ants; they are all females and are in charge of building the nest and looking for food. Finally, there are the males of the colony, who have the task of mating with future queen ants; they do not usually live long.

Their lifetime varies according to the species. In general, worker ants can last from 2 to 3 months or only a couple of weeks. However, some queen ants can last up to 10 or 15 years, and during that time they can lay thousands of eggs.

Common Ants

Nowadays, there are approximately 20,000 species of ants. However, in today's blog, you will read about two of the most common species that can be present at your home and pose a pest problem.

Carpenter ants

The carpenter ant is one of the largest that can be found. In general, they are black, although you can also see the so-called red and black carpenter. This ants bear the name “carpenter” due to the fact of building nests in the wood and are characterized by being one of the species with a single ant queen that can produce up to 2000 working ants.

This is the ant that is most frequently seen at homes on the American continent and often represents a pest problem. As they usually nest in wood and make a tunnel in it, they can weaken the structures and foundations of a house, which can lead to losing a lot of money on repairs. They can usually be confused with termites because of the damage to the wood; however, you should always keep in mind that they don't eat wood but build their home on it.

Fire ants

This is one of the most aggressive ants; its name is due to the color of its skin: the head and chest are reddish with brown spots, while the abdomen is much darker.The fire ant colony may consist of several queens and can produce between 100,000 and 400,000 worker ants. This ant can eliminate other colonies of other ant species.

This ant can be found outside or inside your home, although they usually nest under soil mounds in landscape areas or near a building's foundation. The biggest problem with these ants is their aggressiveness and tendency to bite with their strong jaws while inoculating their venom. This sting can be very painful and can be a severe problem for people with allergy. Likewise, they are in symbiosis with aphids so they can cause damage to the plants and their soil mounds can damage crops.

Each ant has characteristics that can help identify them more efficiently and treat the problem they can cause. In small amounts, these tiny organisms are not harmful, but when they become a pest, it is necessary to call in experts and eliminate them before they cause more severe problems. If you think this situation is present in your home, don't hesitate to call ITerminate, a company that exterminates pest in an eco-friendly way and can answer any question you may have.

There are more than 20,000 species of ants in the world, and several of them can be considered pests.

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