Nobody likes ants. Whether it’s in your home, out on your patio, or at your family picnic!
Springtime means pest-time. Pests like ants, wasps, and birds are out in force to breed, feed, and cause general mayhem!
sAnts are really more of a nuisance than anything else, but people still don’t like having them around.
There are two particular ants we can expect to see in abundance on the west-coast this spring; The Pavement Ant and the Carpenter Ant.
Let’s explore these insects in a bit more detail and look at some ways to prevent an infestation from happening.
TLDR;
- Ant season ramps up in spring as colonies become active and start searching for food
- Small crumbs, moisture, and easy entry points make your home an easy target
- Common early signs include scout ants, trails along walls, and activity near kitchens or sinks
- Sealing cracks, fixing leaks, and keeping surfaces clean helps prevent infestations
- Outdoor prep matters too. Trim vegetation and keep ants from getting close to your home
- Early action is key since small ant problems can grow quickly into full colonies
- If ants keep coming back, it usually means the nest is nearby and needs targeted treatment
Or Summarise this article with.
The Pavement Ant
Pavement ants love sugar. They’ll invade your home in search of sweet treats, coming in their thousands.
They’ll feast on almost anything including insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, grease, nuts, ice cream, cheese, or any sugary substance. It’s also common for dead insects and small seeds to be collected and stored in the nest, along with any sorts of food scraps that fall to the floor.
Pavement ants are dark brown and 2.5 to 4 mm in length, with parallel lines on their head and thorax. Fortunately, they do not pose any danger to humans, making them merely a nuisance since they are hard to prevent.
As their name suggests, pavement ants usually make their homes under sidewalks, driveways, building slabs, and large rocks. In early spring, colonies attempt to conquer new areas and often attack nearby enemy colonies. These result in huge sidewalk battles – very cool to watch if you are 5 or 75 years old!
Related: How to Identify Pavement Ants
What types are there? aka “Caste Of Ant”
Ants live in colonies and are divided into different castes: workers, males and queens. Different castes have different responsibilities in the nest.
thanks to the University of Minnesota for this graphic
From left to right we have the Queen, Winged male, Major worker, and Minor worker.
Each caste of ant serves a particular purpose. The worker ants forage for food, build nests, and defend the colony when attacked. The males are typically found only in larger colonies. Their sole purpose is to mate with the new queens and will die soon after mating. The queen is the head of the colony responsible for laying eggs and reproducing.
Nesting & Colonies
Pavements ants usually make their nests under sidewalks, driveways, logs, rocks and may even make nests under your homes foundations.
Some ants build nests in the soil in exposed areas, producing characteristic mounds (which look like sand piles), while others nest in the soil under objects, like logs, bricks, or concrete.
Pavement ant colonies can number 100,000 or more, and could consist of multiple parent and satellite colonies. When you’re dealing with something of that scale, unfortunately you’re in for some tough remediation work!
Ants Under Your floor
Pavement ant colonies can also reside directly below the slab of the house, making permanent eradication very challenging. They love to nest near warm areas, under flooring and inside insulation.
Heated floors pose additional challenges as the ants do not enter the typical dormant state but instead go into reproductive overdrive 365 days a year.
Swarming
An ‘ant swarm’ is a collection of the reproductive males and females only (reproductives are the only ants with wings in a colony).
You may have noticed flying ants around the place in Vancouver. ‘Swarming’ is the act of flying out of the nest to mate.
Winged reproductive ants typically swarm in the late spring, early summer but have been known to emerge any time of the year in heated structures.
After emergence, the ants mate and the male drops dead, while the queens burrow into the soil to establish new nests and begin laying more eggs.
This act of mating is often referred to as the Nuptial flight.
Beware: “What to watch for the presence of swarming winged ants inside your building, as this is an indication that you have a nest indoors”
So, if you spot swarmers inside your building, give us a call.
An ant infestation caught by one of our technician last year.. not a pleasant sight!
That’s a decent size colony, living directly under the pavement slab. Sometimes we have to excavate to get to the nest.
What are those ants with wings?
A common misconception about ants is that winged ants are a species separate from all other ants. Every type of ant has reproductive swarmers (or winged ants) in it’s colony and every ant colony “swarms” once a year. Winged ants can be carpenter ants, pavement ants, moisture ants, cornfield ants etc.
An ant swarm, as we already mentioned, is a collection of the reproductive males and females only. After mating, the males drop dead and the females fly on to try and establish new colonies.
These winged “swarmers” are usually an indication that a colony is healthy and well established – a good reason to have a professional address the situation and determine an optimal treatment method.
How to prevent pavement ants
Pavement Ants fall in the “hard to prevent” category, since they commonly reside under sidewalks, driveways, and the foundation of homes and other structures.
Here are a few ways you can prevent them from coming near your home;
- Cleanliness and good home maintenance is important. Reduce the amount of crumbs and spoiled juice and you’ll avoid attracting them
- Make sure you use air-tight containers for food storage, compost bins, and waste bins
- Seal any gaps or cracks in your siding or concrete using a silicone-based caulk
Boiling water trick
One of the best and oldest tricks for getting rid of ants requires nothing more than boiling water! When pavement ants begin to form sand piles in the yard, on the sidewalk or patio, boiling water is a great way to slow them down! Pour the water directly over the pile of sand. Pavement ant colonies can number 100,000 so although boiling water will slow them down, you will be winning only the battle, not the war.
Get Juicy
Another trick is to create a borax-juice concoction. One part Borax, to two part juice is a great recipe.
Any liquid bait that you can buy from the hardware store as well. They’re not that expensive and actually works really good. So try the Borax. You could even go three to four parts to one at this time of the year because right now they’re just waking up, they’re really weak.
What kind of juice? Apple juice, orange juice, anything sweet.
Tip: Don’t use the strong stuff this early in the spring. Use a diluted solution instead. And if you give them a commercial grade product, that’s like not to work this early in the year, because what’s going to happen is you’ll just kill that ant, and they won’t take it back and share it with the rest of their friends.
Learn more about pavement ant treatment and prevention methods.
Best Pavement Ant Bait
Not all ant baits are equal. Pavement ants can be picky, and using the wrong bait is one of the biggest reasons DIY treatments fail.
Here’s what actually works:
- Use slow-acting liquid or gel baits
You want ants to carry it back to the nest, not die on the spot - Look for sweet-based baits
Pavement ants often go for sugary foods, especially early in the season - Place bait directly on active trails
Let them find it naturally instead of guessing where they are - Be patient
Activity may increase for a few days. That’s a good sign the bait is working
If ants ignore your bait, switch it up. Sometimes they’re in a protein phase and want something completely different.
When Is Ant Season?
Ant season usually kicks off in early spring and runs through late summer, but the exact timing depends on temperature.
Once things warm up, colonies wake up hungry and ready to expand. That’s when you’ll start seeing:
- Scout ants inside your home looking for food
- Trails forming along baseboards, windows, and countertops
- Increased activity after rain or sudden warm spells
If you’re seeing ants in March or April, you’re right on schedule. This is your window to act early before colonies ramp up and send in reinforcements.
Carpenter Ants
An apt name for an ant who loves to make quick work of any wooden structure!!
Carpenter ants will burrow deep into your timber framing creating tunnels in order to build their nests. You’ll see this more commonly in places that have experienced water-damage, or suffer from moisture problems.
In the Vancouver area and the surrounding area carpenter ants are completely at home thanks to a wet climate that creates ideal conditions in homes and other structures. Contrary to popular belief, most carpenter ants on the west-coast do not require a rotten house that is falling to the ground to build their homes in.
When are they most active
Carpenter ants in the Metro Vancouver region are generally most active between April and October, although they can groggily appear as early as late January.
Parent nests must maintain a good level of moisture for the queens eggs to survive. A parent (or primary) nest can have many satellite nests. Satellite nests do not contain eggs and therefore do not require moisture. This enables carpenter ant colonies to have multiple satellite nests within an individual structure.
Spotting a large number of winged ants inside of your home is a clear sign that a nest exists in your home.
Related: How to spot carpenter ants at home
Avoiding Damage
The best way to avoid damage caused by carpenter ants is to keep your home in good repair, and to prevent opportunities for moisture to rot the wood around the building.
This is always a challenge in Metro Vancouver, but the good news is carpenter ants will not start an assault on your home by attacking dry wood although they will set up satellite nests in dry wood or styrofoam insulation. The best defense is ensuring that any opportunities for moisture to do damage are minimized.
Tunnels carved into the wood as they excavate to find. spot to nest
Best defence against carpenter ants?
The best way to avoid damage caused by carpenter ants is to keep your home in good repair, and to prevent opportunities for moisture to rot the wood around the building.
Do you have Clematis vines?
Another way to prevent ants from coming near your home is to give them no excuse to do so. Carpenter ants love sweet stuff, and have a real knack for finding it. Clematis vines are really nice when they flower in the summer time but they provide a favourite tasty treat for carpenter ants, high in carbohydrates. We do not suggest you dig up the whole garden, plants and insects are very important!
However, to keep insects such as carpenter ants at a distance from your home, you should also keep the food sources a short distance from the home – even if it just means the vegetation is not in direct contact with the foundation or siding.
Getting rid of them
Spraying with insecticides or repellants isn’t the most useful way to go as sprayed-on insecticides will only kill the carpenter ants that are exposed to the killing agent. While you may kill a bunch of them, you actually risk having the queen go into reproductive overdrive to repopulate the colony, which could well make the original problem bigger than it was.
As well, ants can sense most of the chemical repellents, so they simply learn to avoid the deadly toxins. If the spray comes too near the nest, the workers will simply move the eggs to a new location.
Apply non-repellent borates
The best method is to apply non-repellent borates into the wall cavities that will kill the carpenter ants within seven to 14 days after contact. The non-repellant borates work because the ants can’t detect them, and so carry the chemicals back into the nest to spread their toxicity around.
Many of the most effective products require a trained technician who is a licensed applicator. Whether it’s a borate treatment, insecticide spray or a fumigation, proper care is essential when treating for Carpenter Ants. It’s best to call a Pest Control company to remove these pests on your behalf.
More ant prevention tips further down in the post.
Video of carpenter ant damage at a Burnaby home
Two Other Ants to be Mindful of this Spring
Fire Ants and Pharaoh Ants are two other ants you might come across here in Vancouver.
Less common their pavement and carpenter ant counterpart, but they’re nasty and pack a good punch!
Fire Ants
No, these ants do not breathe fire! But they do pack a nasty sting.
Their sting/bite is painful, with victims experiencing “severe heat” in the area around the bite.. a feeling of “being on fire”!!
They are reddish-brown in colour, roughly 1/8 to 1/4 inch in length, and found mostly in grassy areas. Fire Ants are not very common, but in case you spot one of these.. you’ll know it’s a fire ant mound, and you’ll know to stay clear!
Pharaoh ants
Cool name eh?! One source suggests that the name possibly arises from the mistaken idea that it was one of the plagues of ancient Egypt. But we can’t be sure about that.
Usually light yellow/red in colour, these ants often appear to be “invisible” when standing over them, and are extremely small; 2mm long. Since these ants are very delicate, intelligent, and sensitive, attempting home remedies is strongly discouraged as it will usually result in exacerbating the problem!
Known for foraging far from the nest, they tend to prefer protein-rich foods like meat, cheese, and fats, compared to their pavement ant counterparts who are sugar fiends. In hospitals they will also feed on blood, intravenous diet fluids, the fluid associated with wounds and vomit, according to EnvonrmentaScience.
Learn more about fire ant control methods
Ant Prevention Tips for the Spring
If you see one or two ants in early spring we suggest leaving out a diluted mix of borate-based ant bait as these early foragers will be very weak and even more susceptible to insect control products.
Mix the domestic product with a sweet substance like apple juice and put it out in an upside-down bottle cap. They’ve gone all winter with no food so even the low-concentrated domestic products will be too strong and kill them. You want them to take the bait back to the nest
Next, it is best to start by eliminating any potential food source that they can feed on. When dining outside, be mindful of spilling crumbs on the ground and by cleaning up properly you’ll avoid attracting them.
Here are some additional preventative measures you can take to protect your residence from ants this season.
- Food products should be sealed and stored properly and in a clean place.
- Make sure you repair all plumbing leaks as soon as they’re spotted.
- Replace damaged or decayed wood
- Make sure your gutters are cleaned regularly to prevent overflow.
- Ensure the wood siding of your home is not touching the moist earth around it.
- And if you want to lockdown your home entirely – you can look at plugging up potential entry points, such as utility line holes, cracks in the siding or concrete, and anywhere else that might provide ready access. You can use silicone-based caulk for this.
Westside Pro Tip
Skip the spray when you first see ants.
Spraying kills the visible ants, but it also breaks up their scent trails. That sounds helpful, but it actually scatters the colony and makes the problem harder to track and control.
Instead, watch where they’re coming from. Follow the trail. Then place bait right in their path and let them do the work for you.
A little patience here saves you from chasing ants around your house for weeks.
In Summary
Whether you’re terrified of them or think they’re just a nuisance, nobody likes ants crawling around their home!
First, we want to know who we are up against. Once you know what type ants do you have, you can take the appropriate measures to get rid of them effectively.
Ants can be a nightmare if left uncontrolled. We know that having a pavement ant infestation under your driveway may mean ripping up your driveway to get to it. While having carpenter ants could mean potential serious damage to structural wood in your home. In both cases, restoration could be costly!
Ants are a resilient pest often hard to tackle without proper experience and know-how. If you find signs of an infestation at home, please reach out to us to learn about the various treatment options.
We provide a FREE onsite evaluation and written quotation provided. Service options include both once-off treatment and preventive services. Call 604-559-9060, or use our webchat to speak with an expert.
Liked this blog?
Check out some of our other guides with tips for homeowners.
How to prepare for spring pest season
A guide to carpenter ant removal
FAQs
When is the best time to spray for ants?
Early spring is your best shot, right when ants start becoming active. That said, spraying isn’t always the most effective first move. It can kill visible ants but miss the colony. For long-term control, baiting during early activity tends to work better since it targets the nest directly.
Do pavement ants stay active in winter?
Outdoors, they slow down a lot once temperatures drop. Inside heated homes, they can stay active year-round. If you’re seeing ants in winter, it usually means they’ve nested indoors or found a warm spot close to your foundation. Winter sightings are less common, but they’re worth addressing early.
Why do ants keep coming back every year?
Ant colonies don’t just disappear. If conditions stay favorable, they’ll return to the same food sources season after season. Leftover scent trails, easy access points, and nearby nests all play a role. Breaking that cycle means cleaning up attractants, sealing entry points, and dealing with the colony itself.
Leave A Comment