Keep Ants At Bay And Kill The Queen

Ants are the most common insect throughout the globe, and the Pacific Northwest is no exception. Today we’re going to look at some effective techniques to rid your home of these tiny critters, specifically by finding and destroying the queen!

If you have an ant problem in Vancouver, WA, PestLock can help you! We will find and eradicate all of the nests and ant population from your property. Give us a call today for a free home inspection, and find out how we can make your home pest and insect free.

Identifying the Queen

If you want to truly destroy an ant colony, you will need to find the queen or queens. This is the most difficult part of the process, especially in large colonies. In some instances, queens can live up to 30 years, so finding them is very important. Queen ants are typically bigger than the workers, so if you spot an ant that stands above the rest, be sure to squish it right away! The longer abdomens associated with queens allow them to lay eggs and grow the colony, which is their primary function. Queens also usually grow wings when they are younger. This allows them to travel, mate, and find a new home for the colony. The wings eventually are shed once the colony is settled.

If you can find and kill the queen or queens of a colony, it will only be a waiting game until the nest dies off. Since queens are responsible for birthing new workers, there will be no new ants, and it will just be a matter of time before the remaining workers seek a new colony or die off.

Down With the Queen!

There are two main sources that kill the queen. The first, and most obvious is death by humans. But sometimes the worker ants in a colony form an uprising and kill off the queen. If there are multiple queens in a colony, they may be choosing a singular monarch. Or it is possible the queen has been hoarding the colony’s resources, and the workers must attack to gain the upper hand.

If you are having trouble identifying the queen in your property’s colony, here are a few options to try and remove the whole nest:

Insect killer — find insecticides at your local department store to kill ants
Boiling water — pouring hot water, or water mixed with soap or bleach onto the colony can help to destroy the ants
Ant bait — this causes ants to carry poison back to their nest, thinking it is food, slowly killing off the colony

Hire a Professional in Vancouver

The most surefire way to remove ants from your property is to give PestLock a call! Our crews in Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest have vast amounts of knowledge and experience in destroying ant populations. When you need the job done quickly, safely, and efficiently, we are the pest control company to call. Our residential and commercial pest control services are the best around! Schedule a free home inspection today, and rid yourself of ants.