moisture ants

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Safeguard Pest Control

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Solving ant problems in King and Snohomish Counties

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Safeguard Gets Rid of Moisture Ants
Getting Rid of Moisture Ants:
We look for whatever is causing moisture in your home and contributing to your moisture ant infestation and give you recommendations to remedy the cause. We apply either fast, effective, no odor control materials designed to kill the ants you see and all the ants you don't see inside their hidden nests or We apply an all natural mineral salt related to boric acid that kills ants, fungus, mold, and helps prevent re-infestation. Moisture ant treatments often involve injecting control materials into walls or under slabs. The pictures below illustrate this process with a a very small drill bit and a needle tip 4 way injector.


		Video on the left: Swarming Male Moisture Ants in a Home.

What Are Moisture Ants?
Moisture ants are our term for two kinds of ants we lump together for convenience: The Cornfield ant and the Large Yellow ant. Moisture ants are very common and exist in the exterior environment of almost every home in our area. They live in fence posts, tree root systems, parts of dead trees, decorative wooden landscaping, beds of beauty bark, etc... They will also live in any moisture rich environment in, on, or under your home. Their affinity for moisture is why they are referred to by some people as:
Wet ants, wet wood ants, water ants.
The moisture needed to support these ants is the same moisture needed to facilitate the growth of wood decay fungus - commonly known as wood rot, wet rot, or dry rot. Another Northwest pest, the Dampwood termite, is also common in these environments.

Moisture Ant Damage
While rot is often the biggest cause of damage when and where moisture ants are found, these ants do mine wood. They are also known to farm moisture, that is to spread the moisture out, and to pack areas with a dirt or combination of dirt destroyed wood and fecal matter which hold moisture, increasing damage due to water ant rot.

Moisture Ant Types:
Top: Cornfield ants trailing up from a buried root system to the sub floor of a home and, right, enlarged for detail. Actual size 2-3 mm	Don't let the name or the picture fool you, these guys, 'Large Yellow Ants' are actually smaller than the Cornfield ant.	Small male winged Moisture ants are many times smaller the winged females ants and are sometimes mistaken for gnats or flies.