Pests We Treat - Severe pavement ant infestation in Bayville, NJ

I was dispatched to a home is Bayville, NJ, a community within Berkeley Township in Ocean County, today to resolve an entrenched ant infestation that had been plaguing this homeowner for a few weeks. According to the homeowner, she had tried every DIY remedy “in the book,” but nothing was working. Instead, the ants were winning.

Time and time again, we see customers determined to handle pest infestations on their own. Some drive out to the nearest hardware store and load up on products with “kill ‘em dead” slogans and cartoon pictures of scared insects. Other scour the Internet looking for natural remedies, most of which are completely ineffective old-wives’ tales. More often than not, as this homeowner found out, DIY pest control results are often unsuccessful. The homeowner realized that it was time to get serious and bring in a professional pest control service.

Upon arrival, the now-distraught homeowner escorted me to the problem area — the kitchen that was in the back area of her home facing the backyard. I immediately spotted a busy pavement ant trail that went from under the baseboard by the back door and straight across the kitchen floor on a direct path to her dog’s water bowl. The and trail was not surprising. Ants are highly predictable insects. Like all insects, they search for water in order to survive, and they will not stop until they find some. Unfortunately, for this homeowner, the ants’ journey for water lead them right through her kitchen. I expanded my inspection outside. The ant trail started from the mulch bed beside her back patio, and entered into the home right through the back door where there was plenty of room for the ants to sneak under the back door’s kick plate.

The surest and best way to resolve an ant infestation is by eliminating the colony. Here, the colony was easy to find. The ants were marching from the mulch bed right into the kitchen. Armed with my trusty B&G sprayer and knowing the location of the and colony and their scent trail, the ants didn’t stand a chance. I was able to directly spray the colony as well as the ant trails entering the home. The ants had nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. I treated the scent trails so the foraging worker ants would pick up and spread the chemical application amongst the entire colony. It won’t take long for the colony to die out.

The client was relieved that the ant problem was resolved so quickly. Her only regret was not contacting Cowleys sooner. She wasted too much time and energy trying to do this on her own. I enjoyed helping her out, although I wish that I was called sooner so she could have avoided the needless stress and aggravation caused by these pesky ants.