Pavement ants infest Hazlet, NJ home

Pavement ant activity has been extremely active in New Jersey, and the rest of the northeast, this summer. We call these ants pavement ants because of their nesting locations. These soil-nesting ants like to build their shallow nests under sidewalks, driveways, and building slabs. You know these ants are busy when you see little dirt mounds accumulating on top of the pavement. These ants often keep to themselves outdoors and don’t become a nuisance until they invade your home. Homeowners often find these ants after a heavy rain when they are flushed out of their nest and are looking for higher ground. Homes become a quite attractive ant refuge to escape, from their perspective at least, is major flooding of their home.

Ant invasions can become quite frustrating for homeowners because of their sheer numbers. No matter how many foraging ants you kill, there are plenty more to take their place. A homeowner from Hazlet, NJ, was in the midst of a Great War with a colony of these ants. She soon came to realize that her DIY attempts were unsuccessful and she was in a losing battle and decided. The homeowner had enough. She contacted Cowleys to bring in “the big guns” and get rid of this ant infestation once and for all.

Upon arrival, I was immediately brought into the kitchen where she she had seen the ants trailing along her countertop and straight into a cabinet where her family’s sugary snacks. She understood that the snacks were an ant attractant once they were in the kitchen, but she could not figure out where they were coming from. She checked everywhere around her kitchen cabinets and there were no ants to be found other than the countertop trail. I asked her if the inside did not turn up anything, did she inspect the outside? She give me one of the “lightbulb just went on” expressions.  

Together, we walked outside into her backyard to look for evidence of ant activity. It didn’t take much detective work. There was a vegetable garden right below a kitchen window. The ants were walking across the garden and entering the house underneath the siding. Unfortunately, ants can enter homes through the smallest of entry points, and the natural gaps and cracks around a home’s foundation provide almost unlimited opportunities for ants to gain entry. Now that I was hot on the ant’s trail, I followed the ants a bit farther and saw that there was an ant trail along a long stretch of fence panels. Walking along the fencing, I saw the ants foraging about 30 yards away from the home. They were feeding on pollen and pine secretions that were leftovers from a  few deceased bees. Ants are scavengers what will exploit any opportunities for food.

I lightly treated the ant trail along the fencing. With this product, the ants will unknowingly get it on their bodies when they come into contact with it and then take it back to the colony like a Trojan horse. The product spreads throughout the colony from the ants’ activities. They feed and groom each other and even eat their dead. Ant colonies are a closely knit group and the product spreads from ant to ant. Within two weeks or so, the entire colony will be eliminated and there will be no more ant activity inside this home — the kitchen and all of the snacks will once again be safe and ant-free!