Vancouver’s Pavement Ant Control Experts
Ants can be a nightmare on paths around your home and in your yard. We can help you deal with all ant issues at your residence.
Pavement ants, or sugar ants as some people call them, are tiny black ants that come alive in the spring and summer months. They might come crawling into your kitchen or basement in search of food scraps, or you might see them excavating sand from beneath the patio slabs.
Either way, they are really more of a nuisance than anything else but people still don’t like having them around.
Pavement Ant Control
FREE YOUR HOME FROM ANTS!
If you spotted pavement ants in your kitchen, or on your patio, and you want to get rid of them we can help!
It’s important to catch them early and treat the nest before a colony grows out of control. Get in touch with us today by submitting our contact form and we’ll call you right back to book your appointment.
Pavement Ant Removal
Got Pavement Ants all around your home and yard? We share some top tips to get rid of these pesky buggers!
How To Identify Pavement Ants
Not sure which type ants you have? How can you tell the different between pavement ants, carpenter ants, fire ants, red ants and flying winged ants? Let’s take a closer look at the pavement ant species so you can identify them and locate the source of infestation:
Identifying Pavement Ants
Pavement ant workers are dark brown in colour and measure 2.5 – 4 mm in length and have parallel furrows or lines on the head and thorax.
A pest that is native to Europe, and also lives as an introduced pest in North America, the pavement ant is one of the most commonly seen ants in North America, being well adapted to urban and suburban habitats.
As noted in the picture to the right, the winged reproductives are several times larger than the worker ants. Swarming pavement ant reproductives are often mistaken for the more destructive carpenter ant. On the west coast, pavement ant swarms (very noticeable surgence of winged reproductives) generally occur between the beginning of June and mid-July.
Unlike carpenter ants that can cause significant structural damage to your home with their wood-chewing ways — pavement ants are more of a nuisance with their habit of excavating sand and dislodging patio stones.
Winged Pavement Ant reproductives and pavement ant workers
Pavement ants are quite amazing! A utopic species…probably the most selfless insect or animal on the planet.
Diet and Behaviour
Pavement ants will eat almost anything, including insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, nuts, ice cream, cheese. or any sugary substance. Pavement ants love sugar!
It’s also common for dead insects and small seeds to be collected and stored in the nest, with any sorts of food scraps that falls to the floor also consumed
Pavement ants swarming on a sugar treat
Habitat
Pavement Ant Profile
| Pavement Ant | Carpenter Ant – Modoc | Carpenter Ant – Vicinus | Pharaoh Ants | |
| Colour | brown or black | black | reddish-brown and black |
light yellow/red (translucent) |
| Length | 2.5mm-4mm | 6mm-12mm | 6mm-12mm |
2mm long |
| Nest(s)
Location |
sidewalks,
driveways |
various locations, usually
places with higher humidity |
various locations, usually
places with higher humidity |
live solely indoors |
| Nest(s) | Multiple Parent nests .
+ Satellite colonies |
One Parent nest
+ Satellite colonies |
Multiple Parent nests
+ Satellite colonies |
appear to be “invisible” when standing over them |
| Queen(s) | Multiple Queens | One Queen | Multiple Queens |
Multiple- when threatened, they |
CLICK TO ENLARGE
How To Get Rid Of Pavement Ants
FREE YOUR PAVEMENTS FROM ANTS – LET THE EXPERTS HELP
In the summer the ant scouts enter your Vancouver home looking for crumbs, spills, oil and grease, and any accessible items left on kitchen floor. Behind them, they leave an invisible trail that will be followed by an army of their ant friends and relatives.
To help you fight of those pavement ants this summer, our technicians share their best tips for managing these pesky buggers and keeping your paths ant-free!
Technician locates a swarm of pavement ants
Pavement Ants swarming some honey
1. Don’t Freak Out
- Soap and water is your best early defence. Locate where the ants are entering your home and spray the area with a mix of dish soap and water.
- Don’t give into temptation and stomp them with your shoe.
2. Get Spicy
- Ants hate cinnamon. Pull a jar down from your spice rack and sprinkle it around the entrances to your home. You don’t need a wall of it but just spread it liberally around the corners of the door. You want to do it right away when you first see ants, because once they are established and they understand the kitchen counter is where the food is at, cinnamon is not going to stop them.
3. Commercial Products
- A good solution for small ant invasions is to try liquid ant bait which is sold at hardware stores.
- Look for anything with borate. You don’t have to worry about the corrosive nature of the borate as domestic products available have 0.025 concentration of borate which is perfect for households. Anything higher than that concentration and you are going to get instant relief and kill any ant that comes in contact with it, and that’s not what you want. With the lower concentration, the ants will take some back to the nest for other ants to consume.
- Extra Tip: Ants have two stomachs, one for consuming food and one for storing food so they can later share with their nest.
Ant technician treating a basement for pavement ants
Pavement Ant Removal – Home Remedies
4. Early Prevention is Key
- If you see one or two ants in winter or early spring we suggests leaving out an even more 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
Looking for more DIY tips?
Check out one of our recent posts 6 easy ant control tips for the spring.
See Carpenter Ants? Call The Pros
Fast and Effective Pavement Ant Treatments
Do It Yourself – Pavement Ant Removal
There are several do-it-yourself methods to battle Pavement Ants. Our owner Mike Londry shares some tips to help remove them:
How to Treat Your House For Ants
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!
Boiling Water
- Boil one gallon of water and then pour it directly into the mounds. Repeat the procedure one time a day until all the pests are exterminated.
- 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.
Baiting
Make your own pavement ant traps and place them wherever the pests are frequent. Be sure to remove other food sources. Here are several products that can be used as bait:
- A 50/50 solution of sugar mixed with Borax. The insects are attracted by sweet things, and Borax is known to be fatal for them.
- Corn meal. These unwanted visitors are unable to digest it properly, and will eventually die.
- Raw cream of wheat (or farina). When they eat it, the product will expand in their stomachs and kill them.
Pick Up Some Liquid Bait
Need Help With Pavement Ant Control In The Vancouver Area?
After a few simple questions, free estimates can be given over the phone for pavement ant removal in
Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland. Call the Vancouver Pest Control experts
now at 604-559-9060 or contact Westside Pest Control by email.