Most ant infestations are fairly harmless. The ants set up inside or near the home, and every now and then forage indoors. While this may be unpleasant, it’s certainly not dangerous. However, there are several species that can pose a serious threat to the integrity of the building and the health of the inhabitants. Let’s take a look at these species.
Fire ants
Fire ants are known for two things – their painful sting and their aggression. These ants have a venom that they can inject multiple times into a victim, and they will swarm anyone who gets too close to the colony. Usually, the sting will cause intense pain that goes away after a few hours, but when injected in large quantities, the venom becomes dangerous, leading to serious reactions. Some people will also have a natural weakness to the venom.
This tendency to fiercely defend the colony makes fire ant infestations hard to remove, and they will be particularly dangerous when the ants have set up in a wall void inside the home, because they will be constantly attacking the inhabitants.
Pharaoh ants
Pharaoh ants are tiny, and they are light in coloration, usually yellow. They are capable of spreading a wide variety of diseases, ranging from salmonella to botulism. To make matters worse, their colonies have multiple queens, which increases the amount of effort needed to remove an infestation.
Carpenter ants
Carpenter ants are very similar to termites. They will target the wood of the home in order to build their colonies inside it. If left untreated, the carpenter ants will spread throughout the home, causing extensive damage. Luckily, they are easy to detect because of how large they are. If you notice large ants crawling around the home, then you have a pretty strong indication that there is a carpenter ant infestation. Usually, these ants are removed by a pest control pro.
Control options
Baits are almost always used to control these infestations, with the exception of fire ants, which often build their colonies out in the open where they can be targeted by direct application insecticides. Pharaoh ants and carpenter ants will need to be targeted using baits, because of the way they build and organize their colonies. Contact us today if you have any questions about the dangerous ant species out there, or if you have an ant infestation in the home that needs to be removed.
