Fire Ants - Bugs Incorporated offers annual fire ant yard treatment!
Fire ants are a stinging insect known to attack with no warning, stinging their victims repeatedly. The venom of a fire ant is unique. It contains very high concentrations of poisons.
Colonies frequently migrate from one site to another. The queen needs only half a dozen workers to start a new colony. They can develop a new mound several hundred feed away from their previous location almost overnight. Flooding causes colonies to leave their mounds and float until they can reach land to establish a new mound. Colonies also can migrate to indoor locations. Fire ant builds mounds in almost any type of soil, but prefers open, sunny areas such as pastures, parks, lawns, meadows and cultivated fields. Mounds can reach 18 inches in height, depending on the type of soil. Often mounds are located in rotting logs and around stumps and trees. Colonies also can occur in or under buildings.
Fire ants are extremely resilient and have adapted to contend with both flooding and drought conditions. If the ants sense increased water levels in their nests, they will come together and form a huge ball or raft that is able to float on the water, with the workers on the outside and the queen inside. Once the ball hits a tree or other stationary object, the ants swarm onto it and wait for the water levels to recede. To contend with drought conditions, their nest structure includes a network of underground foraging tunnels that extends down to the water table.
Carpenter Ants- Bugs Incorporated offers a one year warranty treatment plan
Are a wood destroying ant. Normally workers are black or red and black in color and range in size from 3/8 to 1/2 inch. Winged queen ants may be as large as one inch. However, size is not a reliable characteristic to identify carpenter ants. Carpenter ants differ from termites by having dark-colored bodies, narrow waists, elbowed (bent) antennae, and if present, hind wings shorter than front wings. Carpenter ants are very common and are frequently seen in the open. Termites are light-colored, have no waist constriction, have straight antennae and, if present, wings are of equal length. Termites are much less common. Carpenter ants feed on sources of protein and sugar.
Outdoors, carpenter ants feed on living and dead insects. They are also very attracted to honeydew, a sweet liquid produced by aphids and scale insects. Aphids and scales feed on trees, shrubs, and other plants. Indoors, carpenter ants feed on meats, as well as syrup, honey, sugar, jelly, and other sweets. Carpenter ants DO NOT eat wood. They remove wood as they create galleries and tunnels. Most foraging is done at night between sunset and midnight during spring and summer months. Sometimes workers travel up to 100 yards from a nest in search of food.
Carpenter ants nest in moist wood including rotting trees, tree roots, tree stumps, and logs or boards lying on or buried in the ground. They can also nest in moist or decayed wood inside buildings. Wood decay may be caused by exposure to leaks, condensation, or poor air circulation. Nests have been found behind bathroom tiles; around tubs, sinks, showers, and dishwashers; under roofing, in attic beams, and under sub-floor insulation; and in hollow spaces such as doors, curtain rods, and wall voids. Carpenter ants may also nest in foam insulation. A parent carpenter ant colony sometimes establishes one or more satellite nests in nearby indoor or outdoor sites. Satellite nests are composed of workers, pupae, and mature larvae. A satellite nest does not require moisture because the workers do not tend eggs (the eggs would dry out without sufficient humidity). For this reason, satellite nests can be found in relatively dry locations, such as insulation, hollow doors, and sound wood. The workers of satellite colonies move readily between their nest and the parent colony. In late summer, winged reproductive (i.e. queens and males) may emerge from pupae transported into satellite colonies. They may appear in structures in late winter and early spring as they swarm from a satellite nest. Carpenter ants damage wood by excavating and creating galleries and tunnels. These areas are clean, i.e. they do not contain sawdust or other debris, and are smooth, with a well sanded appearance. The damage to wood structures is variable. The longer a colony is present in a structure, the greater the damage that can be done. If structural wood is weakened, carpenter ant damage can be severe. Carpenter ants nest in trees in one of two situations: 1) in rotted, decayed wood or 2) in the center heartwood section of the tree. In neither case are they harmful to the tree. Control is unnecessary for the tree's health, as the ants are taking advantage of preexisting soft, weak wood to establish their colony. Insects, disease, or environmental conditions such as drought are often responsible for weakening and killing limbs or sections of trees. This allows wood rot to set in, which results in wood decay, giving carpenter ants the opportunity to colonize the tree. Carpenter ants use knots, cracks, holes, and old insect tunnels to gain access to these Areas.
Sugar Ants
Very small; Light yellow to red, with black markings on abdomen. Pharaoh ants are small, yellow ants about 1/16-inch long. Pharaoh ants being extremely small can be found in a diversity of places appearing suddenly. They have a wide range of foraging and their nest are usually well hidden.
They are very persistent, with large colonies.
HABITS:
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS AND TREATMENT:
Baiting would be the preferred treatment over typical residual spraying, so you can eliminate the entire colony
Rover Ants
Over the past several years, an introduced rover ant species has been making its presence increasingly known in the Texas area. Wherever this species appears in and around structures and have become increasingly invasive in residences and commercial buildings.
In southeast Texas, the rover ant is the single-most difficult ant to control; Rover ant colonies are relatively small and have a single queen. Multiple, distinct yet compatible rover ant colonies may be found in wooded environments, in soil and within and beneath decaying wood.
Workers commonly forage for honeydew from aphids, scale insects, treehoppers and other Homopterous on plants. Invasive rover ants have been found to nest in many of the same structural situations favored by odorous house ants and carpenter ants – namely, damp, layered wall construction adjacent to plumbing, dishwashers, shower and tub enclosures and leaky window casings and sills. Like odorous house ants, several rover ant colonies may occupy the same building, wherever conditions of retained moisture and warmth occur.
What do rover ants look like? To the naked eye they look like tiny, dark-colored ants ranges in color from amber (males) to brown (workers and females. They are only about 1/16 inch long, or about half as big as fire ants. They are uniformly dark brown and the workers are all similar in size. They do not have a sting. These ants have only one node between their thorax and abdomen, but you have to have a good microscope to see this (Little black ants have two nodes). The node is flattened and angles slightly upward toward the thorax. Rover Ants can also produce winged reproductive "swarmers." These swarmers are very large in comparison to the worker ants. They are usually found in bathrooms and kitchens and tend to fly toward lights and windows.
Normally workers are black or red and black in color and range in size from 3/8 to 1/2 inch. Winged queen ants may be as large as one inch. However, size is not a reliable characteristic to identify carpenter ants. Carpenter ants differ from termites by having dark-colored bodies, narrow waists, elbowed (bent) antennae, and if present, hind wings shorter than front wings.