Ant control

Ants are social insects and live in large colonies. There are two main types of ants in a colony: queens and workers. The queen ant lays eggs, while worker ants care for the larvae, forage for food or defend the nest. In carpenter ant nests, the worker ants vary in size, depending on the role they play in the nest. This can make identification difficult.

Ant species differ in the number of queens per colony, how and what time of year the colony reproduces and the type of food they prefer. It is important to know these characteristics to plan an effective control program, therefore it is essential to identify problem ants correctly.

Depending on the species, there may be one queen or many queens to a colony. Since the key to eliminating an ant colony is to kill the queen or queens, the pest manager must know how many queens to expect in a colony
Depending on the species, ant colonies multiply by swarming or budding; they may also extend their colonies by developing satellite nests. Swarming means that at certain times of the year winged males and winged females leave the colony to mate. The mated females, or queens, then establish new colonies.

Budding behavior in ant colonies means that a group of workers leaves the colony. They carry larvae and pupae away to start a nest in a new location. The group may include a queen (from species that have colonies with multiple queens) but a queen is not necessary to start the new colony.

Satellite colonies or nests, such as those made by carpenter ants, are separate nests that act as extensions of the main colony. They remain in contact with the main nest as worker ants go back and forth. Older larvae, pupae and workers are found in satellite colonies but not queens, eggs or the youngest larvae.

Ants have a complex food cycle, in which food is exchanged between worker ants and larvae. Food may be passed from one individual to others many times in a nest. When the workers feed on a slow acting insecticidal bait, such as sugar mixed with boric acid, they live long enough to feed the poison to the larvae. In this way the poison is spread throughout the colony.