With temperatures finally warming up, ants are already appearing in homes and offices throughout Philadelphia. Harpoon Pest Solutions wants to help you keep those ants out of your pants — well, out of your house altogether — and back to where they belong: outside!

While the ant army plans its annual invasion, we, in turn, will ramp up our defenses. Who will win? It may just depend on whether or not you recruited Harpoon Pest Solutions, your very own ragtag group of ant exterminating mercenaries, to come in, eliminate the threat, and restore your home to its former glory.

Know Thy Enemy

The first step to a proper defensive strategy is to know what you are up against. In this case, pest identification is the first step in pest prevention. The odorous house ant and the carpenter ant are our most worthy adversaries here in the Northeast, but even the maniacal pavement ant could give you reason to request our services. For the point of this blog, we’re going to focus on carpenter ants because of their abilities to nest within the wood of your home.

One Ant to Rule Them All

Carpenter ants, otherwise known as “worker ants,” are black, wingless, and relatively small compared to other ants. They may not look very threatening and, individually, they aren’t, but we’re talking about hordes of ants who work together to extract as much food from the source as possible. Right up there with carpenter ants are odorous house ants and tiny pavement ants, who also tend to make a ruckus come springtime.

Keeping Carpenter Ants At Bay

There are basic pest prevention methods that apply to all pests: sealing cracks and crevices; ensuring your home or office is free of food, crumbs, or food garbage; and clearing clutter and keeping branches and logs off your home. These are all ways to prevent most pest attacks, not just carpenter ants. Luckily, there are simple, easy and effective ways to control ants wherever they invade.

Ants are notorious for appearing as a result of food exposure. The following tips will help you prevent them from infiltrating your sacred pantry:

• Make sure all food containers are closed tightly and that countertops are kept clean.
• Take your trash out often and ensure it’s closed and sealed in your home. 
• Clean out bottles, jugs, etc. before recycling. Always rinse your trash and recycling bins.
• Locate areas where ants can enter your home and seal them. Weather seal doors and gaps around windows.

Rally The Troops!

Here we are — glorious springtime is upon us once again. The flowers are blooming, the leaves have returned to the trees, and the sun’s vengeance beams with warmth. Despite nature’s best efforts, evil remains in Camelot, ahem, in Philly, as all planetary forces require their opposite equal to maintain balance in the universe. Cue the ant nation, who have been reproducing by the millions in preparation for the long summer, as they march toward your “El Dorado” of pantries.

Don’t let the ant militia push you around. Harpoon Pest Solutions is just a phone call away. Contact us today for your greatest defense against the Formicidae army (that’s the fancy word for ants, but you already knew that).