Unlike other common pests such as cockroaches and bedbugs, ants prefer to live outdoors and often make their nests in the garden. They don’t hide from humans which makes their detection much simpler. Catching an infestation early yields the best results, so keep an eye open for the following signs. Book a professional pest control service immediately to tackle an infestation of ants in Doha if you notice any of these signs.
Exposed food is overrun
Why do ants come indoors? Short answer: food. One of the earliest signs of an ant infestation is that you will start spotting ants in the areas of your house where you prepare or eat food. While dietary requirements of ants are tied to their type, the diet of a typical ant includes sugar, starch, carbohydrates, fats and meats. For this reason, pet food is a rich food source for ants, and what makes it even better is that it is usually much easier to reach than human food. For this reason, during the early stages of an infestation you will routinely find ants around your furry little friend’s food bowl.
An ant’s constant search for food can also be used to detect the infestation early on. A credible but fairly simple way to test for an infestation is to leave out some food. If you have an ant problem, the uncovered food will attract a swarm of ants. If you never had an ant problem before but now see ants swarming at any and every tiny bit of food, an ant nest is likely to be in a nearby garden.
Spotting ant trails
A single stray ant in your house does not amount to an infestation, but if you see a line of tiny specks moving on the wall you have a problem. Worker ants, the ants you typically see swarming your food, won’t eat the food. Rather, they transport it back to their nest. Ants are quite efficient: when a worker ant finds food it takes a chunk of it back to the nest while leaving a trail of pheromones that other ants can detect. Soon other worker ants join the trail in a combined effort to move as much of the food to the nest as possible.
A trail of ants is a true manifestation of a colony of ants working together and is a clear sign of an infestation. Now is the time to call a pest control service. However, if you still need more proof to ascertain the true extent of your problem you can try to locate the ant nest on or near your property.
Finding a nest
In the early stages of an infestation, you may spot only a few ants in your house. These visual sightings can increase or decrease depending on the amount of exposed food in your house and are not a clear indication of the extent of the problem. But if you stumble upon an ant nest in your garden, it is a clear sign that you have an infestation, even if you were not truly aware of the extent of the problem.
This is because the numbers observed in usual home sightings are nothing compared to the numbers that a typical nest houses. Furthermore, an indoor nest created in a crack on a wall, in the pavement or in some rotten wood panel might cause some structural damage.
Seeking help from pest control companies who specialize in getting rid of ants in Doha is the only effective way to eradicate an infestation. Book a professional ant pest control service in Doha through ServiceMarket now.
