Ants around the pool house in Bridgewater, NJ

Recently, I was at the home of one of our residential customers in Bridgewater, NJ where i removed a hornets nest. Whenever I am dispatched to a home, I always conduct an inspection of the home’s exterior perimeter to check for signs of other insect or rodent activity. Often, homeowners are not aware of what insect activity may be going on just outside their home, and it is far easier to deal with an infestation before the pests gain access inside. 

Here, while inspecting the pool house and patio areas, I cam across a large ant colony with a number of foraging ants out and about searching for food. Swimming pool areas are a common location for ant infestations. When we are in the middle of the summer “grilling and chilling” by the pool, we happen to be creating an ideal habitat for ants to thrive. There is plenty of water and we manage to leave behind plenty of crumbs and food debris from our poolside snacks and everything that’s left behind after cookouts and family gatherings. The homeowners had no idea that their pool area was infested, and they were thankful I identified the problem. It just so happened that they were planning on having a poolside party in a couple of days and ants crawling around is an unwanted distraction for the guests. I treated the ant trail with a residual non-repellant product. The foraging ants will bring the product back to the nest where it will be distributed throughout all the members of the colony, soon eliminating the queen and everyone else. I also applied a granular bait to the landscape beds for good measure. There will be a noticeable reduction in ant activity, and by the time the family get-together happens, I expect that the colony will be gone completely.