Common Black Garden Ant (Lasius niger)
How do you know if you have them?
Worker ants are the ones most likely to be seen. Males and females are produced at certain times of the year. The so-called flying ants have wings and are common on in the summer. The workers, about 2-5mm in length, are black/brown in colour. The females and males are larger in body size and are about 6.5 – 10.00 mm for the female and 3.5 – 4.5 mm for the male. Garden ants generally nest outdoors in sandy soils but travel widely in search of food. They become a pest when they enter homes in search of food; they are particularly attracted to sweet substances. Garden ants become a nuisance because of their foraging habits. They walk across unpleasant and dirty areas during their search for food. They are therefore thought of as unacceptable in our homes.
How do we control them?
Our treatment programme consists of two visits. Our technician will initially talk through the problems you are experiencing and explain what our initial treatment entails. He will then carry out a thorough inspection of your premises prior to any treatment and assess the level and extent of the infestation.
Black Garden Ants are normally controlled using residual insecticides namely sprays and dusts. In domestic properties we would normally treat the kitchen and garden areas where the ants may have originally entered the premises.
Once our treatment is complete we will detail our work in an inspection report and leave this with you, our technician will then arrange a convenient time to carry out a two follow up treatments.
The follow up
Our follow up visits are normally carried out 7-10 days after the initial treatment. A residual insecticide is applied to all high risk areas. Once these treatments have been carried out our technician will detail our work in an inspection report and advise on ways of preventing garden ants in the home.