In Quebec, we have close to a hundred species of ants. The ones we encounter most often are: the wood brown ant, the little black ant, and the ant of the cobblestones.
The presence of a single cobblestone ant indicates the existence of a colony, either inside your home, or outdoors in the garden.
When many of them infest your homes, cobblestone ants can, over time, cause land to subside and harm the crops of young plants in your garden.
How do I recognize a cobblestone ant? How does it reproduce? What are his habits? How can you prevent it from bothering you? In the event of an infestation, how do you find a specialist pav ant exterminator to help you get rid of them?
Here are some professional answers to all these questions.
| Nom français | Fourmi des pavés |
| Nom anglais | Pavement Ant |
| Nom latin | Tetramorium caespitum |
Description: how to recognize the ants of the pavement?
The ants of cobblestones or sand ants is identifiable by its pale brown or black color. It is an insect that measures about 4 mm in length.
His head and chest are marked by parallel lines. 12-segment antennae rise above his eyes. The peculiarity of the cobblestone ant is that it moves slowly.
The workers of the cobblestone ants are sterile and wingless females.
The queens of cobblestone ants stand out from their workers. The only breeding females, they are 8 mm in length and their antennae have 3 large segments instead of 12. Like males, they also have wings.
Life and reproduction cycle
The ants of the cobblestones reproduce at a hellish pace. From spring to summer, males mate with queens. Once mating is complete, the males die. As soon as a queen is fertilized, she loses her wings.
She’s looking for a place to build an anthill for egg laying.
The queen lays about 5 to 20 eggs per day. The eggs then give larvae then gradually into nymphs and finally into adult ants. 40 days will be enough to allow them to reach maturity.
A colony of cobblestone ants has 3,000 to 4000 individuals. This unbridled reproduction is possible thanks to climatic conditions. Moreover, the sun is their strongest ally. As soon as he shows up, these bibittes activate until late at night.
The lifespan of worker cobblestone ants is 7 years. The queen’s, 10 to 17 years old.
Is their invasion harmful?
These ants nest in the following places: your kitchen, your garbage cans, the bottom of your cabinets, the paving slabs, parking spaces, cracks in sidewalks, etc.
They feed on meats, honey, cheese, bread crumbs, sweets, cakes.
The intrusion of cobblestone ants can be devastating. Their massive presence forms galleries on the ground, the lawn and on any overgrown surface. By digging tunnels in the soil, this affects the roots of the vegetation.
The structure of their nests degrades natural and man-made surfaces. They modify the ethics of landscaped spaces: lawns, gardens, parks, vegetable gardens.
Their presence in large numbers can attract birds and other parasites, increasing the nature and size of the invasion.
In their Indian line movement, the cobblestone ants leave small mounds of sand or earth on the terrace, under the doormat and on the slab of your patio.
To maintain their queen, the worker ants devastate the gardens. They devour fruits and other crops.
Appeler René Gélinas Votre exterminateur local, Expérience et intégrité dans la gestion parasitaire
Tel 514 830 2819
Hantavirus, definition and mode of transmission
Hantavirus is a severe lung syndrome caused by a virus. It is secreted in the urine, feces and saliva of infected animals. Most often these are rodents. When humans come into direct or indirect contact with these secretions, the virus is transmitted to them. Ditto when they are bitten by infected rodents.
However, the virus is not transmitted from human to human, only from animal to human. This type of disease is called zoonoses because they can only be transmitted to humans through an animal. It has been found that domestic animals (apart from the domestic rat) and livestock cannot contract hantavirus so there is every reason to believe that only rodents can carry it.
Symptoms of hantavirus
Being a lung disease, one of the characteristic symptoms of hantavirus is difficulty breathing. At the beginning of the disease, the infected person begins to feel fever, chills, headache and muscle pain.
It is about two weeks after the appearance of the first symptoms that they are usually accompanied by a feeling of shortness of breath. Nevertheless, this last manifestation of the disease can be observed after two days as after six weeks; it depends on the organism of the individual.
Hantavirus can also lead to kidney disease or infection. And although they are rare and very few people are prone to them, there is currently no treatment to combat these ailments. It is therefore better to be careful not to contract them.
15 tips to avoid an invasion of cobblestone ants.
- Close all cracks and openings in your home. Use appropriate caulking materials;
- Close empty spaces in foundations as well as windows and doors;
- Clean your kitchens and dining rooms regularly;
- Always put table scraps in the trash, and make sure to seal it;
- Store unrefrigerated food in tightly sealed food containers;
- Apply detergent to traces left by other insects;
- Spray cracks in your walls with boiling or soapy water;
- Eliminate points of attraction by gently closing a can of yoghurt or chocolate;
- Change and/or renovate your doors, windows and the basement of your home. You will destroy the nest of these critters.
- Occasionally turn the sand from your garden. This will disturb the tranquillity of the ants;
- Spray insecticides in every room of your home to scare away ants;
- Water the floor of your home with bleach. This will have the effect of poisoning the ants of the cobblestones;
- Use a rock stone base for the foundation of your buildings;
- Get all water leaks in your home to plug in, as water and moisture promote their presence.
With regard to the use of pesticides, it is recommended to follow the instructions written on the back of the product. Mishandling can be fatal.
So let an exterminator in Montreal help you! Obviously not just any one!
Extermination of cobblestone ants: means used by the professional exterminator
To get rid of the cobblestone ants, the exterminator will proceed to:
- Their elimination by biodegradable products, preferably spray insecticides. The exterminator will spray them in the frames of windows and doors, dark places of the house, etc.
- Their eradication by the use of diatom land. This action involves dusting a portion of this substance into the holes dug by the cobblestone ants. It will also erase traces of pheromones and other signals used in the path of colonies.
- Their destruction by the use of light traps. This method involves attracting ants with light and then capturing and killing them.
- Their extermination by the use of a mixture of boiling water and soap. By this action, it is possible to exterminate an entire colony of ants from the cobblestones.
But beware, know how to recognize a true specialized professional exterminator.
The effective exterminator, the true professional is recognized by:
- His permit from the Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development with the mention CD5: Extermination. For you, this means that it will remove ants from the cobblestones in compliance with Environment Canada’s regulations regarding people and pets.
- His methodical work. While focusing on professionalism and quality,
- It uses certified professional technicians in extermination.
- He quickly moves to the site of theinfestation to identify the type of attackers, the intensity of theattack and its source.
- It offers appropriate treatment
- It trains, informs and sensitizes the occupants of the dwellings to the precautions to be taken to avoid an invasion of cobblestone ants.
- His discretion in his interventions. For example, it uses unidentified vehicles.
Its guarantee against any damage that could result from the means used for extermination and on the effectiveness of its treatment against the invasion of which you are victim.
That’s the gist of what you need to know about cobblestone ants. And you, have you been a victim of their infestation? How did you know they were, not other species of ants? How did you end up with them? ? Share your experience with us in the comments below.
