If you have a family or even pets, then you already know how expensive it is to feed multiple bellies. Feeding hundreds or thousands of miniature bellies can break the bank though, especially if their constant feeding leads to extensive food contamination. That's usually how it goes if you have an ant infestation in your St. Louis home, but depending on the species, food contamination could be the least of your worries. So how can you get rid of them?

Common Invasive Ants In St. Louis

There are roughly 150 different species of ants in Missouri alone, but thankfully, most of them don't want to invade your pantry or infest the cavities in your walls. There are quite a few that tend to be invasive though, and some are far worse than others:

• Pavement ant – 1/8th of an inch, brown to black in color
• Carpenter ant – ¼ to ½ of an inch, red and black, brown, or a mixture of all three
• Acrobat ant – 1/8th of an inch, light brown to black, sometimes multicolored
• Pharaoh ant – 1/16th of an inch, yellow to orange in color
• Odorous house ant – 1/8th of an inch, dark brown to black in color
• Small honey ant – 1/8th of an inch, dark brown to black in color

While most of these ants are relatively harmless as pests, food contamination is a big problem with any ant infestation. There are dangerous ants to have to infest your home, though, and that includes carpenter ants, acrobat ants, and pharaoh ants. Carpenter ants and acrobat ants can do some serious structural damage, and pharaoh ants are known to carry harmful and even deadly pathogens.

Preventative Methods That Actually Work In Your St. Louis Home

While these preventative measures won't eradicate an ongoing ant infestation, they will help to keep your home safe against any possible infestations in the future:

• Sweep, mop, and vacuum regularly to keep messes and food particles off of the floor
• Clean up any food messes immediately after they occur
• Wipe down counters and food prep areas daily
• Proper food storage; airtight containers for dried goods and opened packages, never leave food or dirty dishes sitting out overnight
• Tight-fitting lids on all indoor and outdoor trash cans
• Seal up any possible entry points around the home; worn down insulation around doors and windows, holes between pipes and electrical wires, cracks in siding, foundation, roof, and trim
• Make sure there are no leaky pipes or extensive water damage; invest in a dehumidifier for moisture-retaining rooms like the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, basement

Attempting To Get Rid Of An Ant Infestation In St. Louis

A lot of people will swear by certain store-bought brands of pesticides or more natural remedies for ant infestations, but the truth is, none of these methods are reliable or even safe. Store-bought pesticides often contain harmful chemicals that are dangerous for humans and pets, and they can do some pretty awful damage to the environment as well. On top of that, these pesticides are rarely ever completely effective.

On the flip side, some homeopathic remedies may help in repelling ant infestations, but only until they get swept or washed away, and they don't actually kill the ant colonies that have decided to nest on your St. Louis property. Diatomaceous earth has also been used to treat ant infestations, but that can only do so much as well, and often gets washed away with the rain before it's completely effective.

Both of these methods, store-bought and homeopathic, are terrible options, and can often make this bad situation much worse; when ants get scared, they often branch out to create satellite colonies, causing an even worse infestation than before. Instead, call our pest professionals at Arenz Pest Management Solutions. With over 75 years of combined pest control experience and a certified entomologist on staff, we know exactly what it takes to get rid of your pest problems. We love making sure our customers are completely satisfied with our services, so get in contact with us today to start discussing your options.

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