Real Estate Agencies

They’re baa-ack…if you have been seeing more ants in your house lately, you are not alone.  This spring’s weather, with its copious rainfall interspersed with bright, sunny days, was ideal for the insects.

Two types of ants typically plague homeowners: tiny pavement ants (sometimes known as sugar ants), and larger, more destructive carpenter ants.  Pavement ants generally don’t damage wood; they are more of a nuisance than anything else.

But try telling that to homeowners – including this one – who have been driven nearly to distraction by the critters. 

Glen Ridge resident Janet MacMeekin Neal has been so tormented by ants lately that she has taken to blogging about it:

…it is amazing to me how a minute creature can bring out these deep primal instincts.  I (am) now on a crusade: Must Kill ANTS!!!

Janet said that because she has dogs, she is wary of using any chemicals to combat the pests.  Instead, she has waged a valiant war with Windex.  “I am squirting nonstop,” she said.

She’s not the only one.  Irene Langlois of Maplewood is fighting ants that are relentlessly swarming in her kitchen, mostly around her dog’s food bowl.  “Any stray crumb results in a feeding frenzy.”

Even Baristanet’s own Debbie Galant vented about the problem on Facebook recently, with a post that simply said:  “Stupid ants.”

I had been battling the varmints for two months (my weapon of choice: a bottle of cleaning spray.  Spray, wipe, and repeat.)  But what finally put me over the edge was the recent discovery of hundreds of ants doggedly marching in a trail on my screened porch.  Blind with rage, I took a broom to them then finished them off with an attack of lavender-scented cleaning fluid.  A few hours later, hundreds more had taken their place.

That’s when I called in a professional.  Jerry Buckingham has been in the pest control business since 1998, when he joined Buckingham Pests, the Maplewood company founded by his father in 1971.

“Ants have been a real challenge this year,” said Buckingham.  He checked out the pavement ants swarming around my living room window, and started filling traps with a sticky gel.  “These love sweets,” he said.  Like flies to honey, the ants quickly headed into the trap.  “This is good,” said Buckingham.  “They will go back to the colony and pass it along to the others.”

It’s generally NOT a good idea to do something like I did – grab a broom and wildly kill them.  Instead, observe the trail to figure out where they are coming from, inside or out.  If they are nesting outside, that is better than if they have established a beachhead in your house.

When pavement ants head indoors, they are generally searching for food.  Hence, good sanitation is key.  “Is your kitchen always this clean?” he asked me suspiciously.  I assured him that it was.  “You’d be surprised how many houses I go into where it looks like they haven’t cleaned their kitchen in three months.”

Outside, he located the source of my ant colony – a branch just outside the screen.  “It exploded when I touched it,” he said.  “It’s like a pheromone highway out here.”

He proclaimed it good news.  “If I can’t see them outside it means they could be embedded in the foundation of the house.”

Looking with disapproval at my overgrown shrubbery touching the sides of my house, Buckingham suggested cutting them back.  He also recommended cleaning up all dead leaves, mulch and wood chips that surround the house.

He noted the importance of keeping your basement dry (he recommended using a good dehumidifier).

He told me about one house he worked on.  “Everything was overgrown and the house was really damp.  It was like a horror house of ants.”

Finally, he sprayed around the perimeter of the house, reassuring me that the pesticide was safe.  “It’s as green as it gets.”  He found a few carpenter ants on the garage and sprayed there too.  “I got lots of calls all last week about them, because of the humidity,” he said.

Buckingham said the treatment generally takes a few days to work.  So for now, I am crossing my fingers – and keeping the cleaning spray close by.

Plagued by pests?  Bugged by bugs?  Share with Baristanet your biggest “pest peeve.”