Few species are more destructive than those that have been introduced by humans to areas instead of developing alongside the other species in the region, and there is no better example in the United States than that of the fire ant. There are a couple of different species of fire ant that have been imported to the country as well as a couple that occur naturally, and the imported species are rapidly increasing in number.

In addition to their ability to breed and adapt quickly, and the fact that they are incredibly tough insects, the fire ant probably packs more of a punch as a problem pest than any other insect. They may not yet have the population numbers or range of the common house fly, but where they occur they cause a number of different problems which run the gamut from the physical to the economical and even the ecological. Let’s take a look at the different problems that fire ants cause.

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Most species of ants are considered pests, but some deserve the reputation more fully than others. Fire ants are probably the worst kind of ant pest as far as their general evilness goes, but carpenter ants sit solidly in the middle, just above sugar ants. Let’s take a look at what it is about carpenter ants that qualify them as pests.

* No one likes to see ants. The first thing to look at when it comes to the carpenter ant is the same pest quality that applies to all ant species; ants have their place, but they are not in the home. No one likes to see a troop of ants going across their basement floor or around their windowsills, and all ants seem to have a way of finding any food you may have lying around, including fruit.

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Ants are one of the most common of the household pests, and they come in several different varieties. Sugar ants are the smallest of the ants that can be found in the home, and aside from being a nuisance don’t pose too much of a threat. Still, no one wants to have a solid double line of ants moving around the house, exploiting every possible food source throughout your living space.

Integrated pest management offers a feasible approach to pest control through the least toxic methods possible. This means understanding pest biology and behaviour in order to implement sound prevention and control policies, without having to resort to insecticides which may prove to be more damaging to our own health than to the pests we are seeking to control.

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As insect pests go, fire ants are definitely one of the worst there are. These nasty little creatures carry with them all of the annoying aspects of other ants (they horde food, appear in great numbers, and so on) and pack a nasty bite to boot.

Fire ants are also an introduced species, and that means that they found the virgin plants and some kinds of animals in the United States ripe for the picking; as a result their numbers increase rapidly and they spread further and further out with their range. As with other insects, chemical warfare is ineffective against fire ants and can be harmful to humans as well.

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From Invading your Home

Ants are one of the most common pest insects in North America, and carpenter ants can go beyond annoying and into the area of causing some serious damage to your home. Like other species of ants, carpenter ants are very hardy as well as adaptable, and many methods of eliminating them have failed. This isn’t a bad thing, because ants are an important part of nature and it would be no good to humans at all if they were to be eradicated.

Of course, an understanding of the role ants play and letting them invade your home are two different stories. Part of an effective integrated pest management strategy is preventing numbers of pest species from getting out of control; that is, making sure their population does not grow to problem proportions, or that the pests stay where they belong (with carpenter ants, that is outside). Here are some ways to prevent carpenter ants from coming inside your home.

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When it comes to infestations, sugar ants aren’t all that high on the list of least possible pests. Still, they can be a pain, getting into virtually all your food and constantly being squished underfoot, and of course once that happens there is that awful accompanying smell.

Dealing with sugar ants, as with most ants, the key to success comes in locating or penetrating the colony. Let’s look at some of the least toxic ways of wiping out that queen and thus brining the colony’s life, and that of the infestation, to an end.

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Ants are a fairly common household pest, and there are several different families and species of ants commonly found in homes across the country. Carpenter ants, sugar ants, and fire ants are all annoying to one degree or another in certain parts of the country. In this article, we will discuss the biology of sugar ants, but first I think it’s a good idea to convince you of why this knowledge is important.

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If you live in the Southwestern States, probably the last thing that you want to hear is someone telling you to try and understand fire ants. These nasty little introduced species spread a lot of misery wherever they occur, and the last thing you want to do is sit down and have a chat with the group to find out what makes them so mean.

Fortunately, that is not what we mean by understanding, and we are not advocating the place of the fire ant within the ecosystem at large. In fact as an introduced species fire ants are one of the few insect pests that we would happily disappear from our borders forever. Unfortunately, like so many insect pests, fire ants are very resistant to toxic, broad based control strategies, so the best we can do is to use an integrated pest management control plan to keep the species as minimal as possible.
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Integrated pest control is the process which uses a greater understanding of pests and their natural habits to achieve better success in the control and prevention of infestations. Chemicals, once the mainstay of the pest control industry, are used as a last resort with an emphasis on using the least toxic versions first.

Part of the foundation of the integrated pest management system is gaining knowledge as to the specific life cycles, breeding habits, and habitats which pests need in order to survive and thrive. Through a knowledge of these factors we have a far better chance of targeting an effective pest control program towards certain species. In this article, we are going to take a look at the biology of the carpenter ant.
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Fire ants are a truly nasty pest; with their nasty bites, their adaptability, and their long lives it can be hard not to take their existence personally. Most people answer by declaring war on the fire ant; using a lot of poison to completely eradicate a nest will work on that nest, but it will not solve the fire ant issue as a whole and it may even do further harm to other organisms, including humans, as well as the ecosystem in general.

The first thing you need to do when you spot a fire ant nest is to resist the urge to go out and drench it with deadly, unsafe insecticides. Instead, contact a company that specializes in least toxic pest control and ask them to have a look at the situation. It’s pretty familiar territory; each year in the Southwest the federal government spends millions of dollars combating these introduced species. Let’s take a look at some ways that fire ants can be controlled without resorting to a lot of poisons and other chemicals. (more…)