You’re minding your own business, walking to your car, when you notice a swarming pile of ants digging up the sand under your driveway. Like any peeved homeowner, you step on them. That's when you notice a foul, intense odor reminiscent of rotten coconut. Congratulations - you have odorous house ants.

OHA can live and thrive anywhere, both indoors and out. Outside, you'll find them under paver stones, large rocks, near water spigots, in the cracks in your pavement, and even at your foundation marching right up behind your siding. Once inside they'll start nesting in the walls, traveling between walls on electric wires or water pipes. They also tend to be found in spots with an available water source (think kitchen or bathroom). They'll likely be looking for a home to invade during the fall months or when it’s raining outside.

OHA don’t sting or have a dangerous bite, but they can be a huge nuisance. You're likely to see them day and night, as they are almost constantly foraging for food. They’ll eat almost anything, from meat to dairy products to vegetables. And like one of their nicknames "sugar ants" implies, they love sweets, and your pantry is their candy store. As far as appetite goes, think of them as children lacking self-control. Candy, cereal, fruit, pastries, any type of sugar - you name it, they’ll eat it, and in the process, they’ll contaminate your food supply. If you have pets and have noticed ants in their food dish, your animals often won't touch their food after it's been picked over by Odorous House Ants.

You may have read about any number of home-grown ant remedies to try and treat your ants yourself. And you've probably met with some temporary success. Chances are, in an effort to kill all the ants, you've only killed some of them but alerted the rest of the colony to your intentions.

If a colony of ants goes on alert after you've used contact-kill sprays or fast-acting baits, the queen starts producing eggs at a higher rate, the foraging workers come up to the surface less often, and the colony prepares to bud. That means your colony of 5,000 ants might split in two or three and strategically move to different parts of the house. It might seem like you've gotten rid of them, but they're just busy moving to a place where you haven't tried killing them yet...they're not gone, they're just preparing for battle!

If you've got ants, call Presto Pest Solutions right away. We offer a range of ant control solutions in the Treasure Valley, and can deliver safe, effective results to help you get rid of your ant invasion. All our methods are effective and eco-friendly, exterminating your pests for good and preventing them from coming back any time soon.  We know that an ant problem can be daunting and that's why we offer a pest control solution that will feel like magic.