Ants in the house are the scourge of many homes in summer months leaving many people to fear the summer and the annual flying ants invasion which they know the summer will herald
Only the unluck people who have suffered it will realise the true effects of flying ants in their houses.
Having an infestation of plain old wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their yearly mating phase the position can become unthinkable.
Ants often form colonies in the sub-floor areas and in the wall cavities of our houses and these colonies will continue for many years to come if left untreated becoming progressively more persistent as the years go on.
Our houses are warm and dry and provide the perfect places for a growing ant colony; even solid concrete floor is not a deterent to an ant.
Our house heating systems maintains their metabolism even in the winter months and my earliest ant job was on my birthday, which falls in January!
Ants like a sandy soil and there are plenty areas in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which have more ant callouts than other areas, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham come to mind as regular ant spots.
Unfortunately it is during their mating phase that they are most troublesome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this tends to be pretty often around the third or fourth week in July.
Ants mate on the wing and sometime around mid-summer the colony produces winged immature Queens and winged males which in nature would fly off and mate on the wing. Many thousands of these flying ants are released from each and nests tend to time their release so that they mate with ants from other nests.
Normally this process starts after a period of days of hot, dry weather and will usually continue for about seven to ten although smaller releases will extend throughout most of the summer.
Unfortunately when the colony is under the floor of the dwelling the results can be dreadful, literally thousands of flying are produced into the lower rooms, aiming for windows as they make for the light.
This can be unbelievably upsetting for some people leading to severe emotional upset to the level that people learn to dread the summertime and have actually sold their homes to escape the plague of ants which they know will come each summer.
The poor summers of the last three years has meant that ant call-outs were reduced on previous years but ants appear to have a way of catching up and 2010 might be a particularly troublesome year.
Most people who have this problem attempt for DIY solutions with powders from local shops etc but mostly these efforts are doomed to failure as they are not getting to the heart of the infestation which is the colony itself, hidden away safely in the cavity wall or under the floor.
Luckily for a lot of people the answer.
At Harrier Pest Prevention (subject to site survey) we are able to remedy this problem and give an extendable 3 year guarantee.
The treatment which is done mostly from the exterior of the property, is perfectly safe for animals and children and produces no smell, involves drilling small holes into the cavity walls of the house, not unlike a damp-course injection and blowing an insecticidal powder into the cavity wall under pressure.
This forms an impenetrable barrier through which the ants cannot go and together with a precautionary spray of the inside (if deemed necessary) will slowly bring the problem to its end.
The holes, which are only 8mm in diameter stay open so it is an easy matter of topping up the wall cavities every three years to extend the period of the guarantee in 3 year periods.
This procedure is best carried out in the early spring however it can be done all year round.
As a very limited time offer before our busy period begins we are offering 25 percent off the usual price until May 30 2010. Whilst we normally cover the whole of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, we are able to venture further afield but this will be at extra cost.
For a chat or to arrange an appointment contact Harrier Pest Control on Free Phone 0800 019 8382 or 01257 230637
Ant Pest Control ? Don’t suffer flying ant horrors, call us now!