Are Ants Getting Inside?

Ants are one of our specialties here at Coyne Pest Control.

Understanding the life cycle and behavior of ants makes it possible to eliminate whole colonies of ants. Ants are social insects that share food (and toxins) throughout the whole colony including the queen. All crawling insects, including ants, drag their abdomens when they walk and ants almost always take the path of least resistance (straight lines).

We bait the ant trails that we find on the inside, the worker ants gather the bait and take it back to the ant colony where it is put into the “brew” that all the ants, including the queen, feed from. This is the only way to get to the ants if they are hiding in your walls and are not traveling outside. We thoroughly dust the rest of the interior with a couple ounces of non intrusive, odorless, dust. Upon entering your home, we stay to the right and very thoroughly go thru the whole house (at your discretion, of course). It only takes a puff of dust around your windows and doors, and in the cracks and crevices inside your home to keep new critters from getting in. By spraying the exterior perimeter with the best product, Termidor SC, we can eliminate the ants for several months. Termidor SC is a slow acting, non-repellant; the ants don’t even know it’s there. They walk through it and they pick up the active ingredient on their bodies, and because it is slow acting, they have time to spread it all around the colony before they start dying.

We do much more than just killing the ants:

Spiders are not insects, so they do not drag their abdomens when they walk. In other words, spiders can walk over anything we put down for insects without being affected; we have to hit spiders to kill them. This is the beauty of the dust we use on the inside, we put it on the spiders and it kills them too.

Also, on the exterior, we apply dust with our Webster, or spider broom, around the doors, windows, up under the eaves, decks, and anywhere else we see spiders congregating. This dust is waterproof and lasts for several months, sometimes years depending on the amount of exposure to the elements. The dust also repels and kills insects that are relentlessly trying to get in.

Our second step on the outside is to spray the exterior perimeter. When we are targeting ants, of course we use Termidor SC, but we do alternate our sprays. We use a repellant when we need a barrier that bugs cannot cross. We treat around windows and doors and cracks and crevices where bugs are hiding. All exterior sprays are regulated by the EPA so they only last about ninety days. This is why quarterly service is important to maintain a bug free home.

Finally, we go around your house again with granular bait. The bait is great for ants, roaches, and any larger insect that might be hardy enough to cross the spray and get inside before they die.

Too much information? Probably so. I am bad about that sometimes. But if I missed anything I would be glad to answer any other questions you might have. Just call us at 678-243-9901.

Chris Coyne – Owner

Termites Never Rest

Published October 6, 2016 | By admin

Termites are social insects that never sleep, never stop working, and have been cleaning up forest debris for about 250 million years. The problem is that they are blind and and don’t know, or care, that the wood in your home is not meant to be recycled quit yet. Their relentless search for cellulose is a big problem here in Georgia. We are right in the middle of the list of 7 states in the Southeastern U.S. that are rated as Very High Risk for termites.

The most common termite that we deal with in North America is the Easter Subterranean Termite (Reticulitermes flavipes). The food source for these termites is the wood that makes up your home and any thing that is made of cellulose materials. Exposure to the air will dry up their exoskeletons and they will die, so they build mud tubes to travel up and around any physical barriers that are between them and their food. One colony, (and most houses are surrounded by many) can have as many as 5 million workers and the queen can lay up to 10,000 eggs a year. Most people notice they have a termite problem during the months of late February thru May when they see them flying in the daytime. This is what we call “Swarm Season”, it’s when termites briefly fly from the nest, loose their wings, and mate to start new colonies. The “out of sight, out of mind” thing does not work for termites. Do not be fooled, just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they are not behind your drywall or under your carpet.

Fortunately, it is not too difficult to avoid a nasty termite problem and the possibility of having to rebuild parts of your home. Liquid treatments are very good if they are done right, but there is a better way. You do not have to put up with digging, drilling, and hundreds of gallons of termiticide chemicals around and under your house. These chemicals can contaminate surrounding (visible) water or leach into the soil and contaminate ground water.

HERE’S HOW WE DO IT. Simply by placing eco-friendly, discreet, non-intrusive termite stations about 10 feet apart around your home, we can target whole colonies with baits. Termite workers find the wood and cellulose in the Termite Stations. We check the termite stations every 3 months and we find the termites feeding on the wood and cellulose, we in turn, replace the cellulose cartridge with a bait cartridge (about 3 ounces of solid bait). Termite workers collect the bait and feed it to all the other members and spread the toxins throughout the whole termite colony. We continue baiting until the whole colony has been eliminated, then we replace the wood and cellulose cartridge and resume monitoring until the next colony moves close to the house.

We will inspect your home before we start to assure we agree on how much the cost will be. We have a Retreat and Repair Contract and a price that is very, very competitive. We take great pride in our technicians integrity to keep your house free from termites for years to come.

Chris Coyne – Owner