PestAway Pest Control Blog

Coastal Brown Ant Control

Coastal brown ants are light yellowish brown to darker brown and 1.5 to 2.5 millimetre length. They have two raised nodes on pedicel and their hind nodes are much more rounded. Coastal brown ants have one pair of small spines on hind part of thorax. Coastal Brown worker ants are dimorphic, so they have two workers castes: those ants with enlarged, darkened head (major workers or often times called soldiers), and numerous smaller minor workers. Typically, there is approximately one large worker ant in around every one hundred, so they are sighted a noticeable deal less than the smaller worker ants. Nests of Coastal brown ants are occasionally nest indoor and may be located within building structures, in brickwork, in cavity walls, and behind skirtings and architraves. In certain cases they nest around paths and rockeries. They furthermore may nest in soil in protected areas and in the ground with nest entrances in the open or under rocks, logs, firewood, patio blocks, landscape debris, or between pavers. Piles of loose soil are thrown up close to nest entrances.

Coastal brown ant prefers materials of animal origin, such as dead insects, meat particles, fat and grease. Its preference is for fatty foods but will attack seeds, meats, insects, fruit, honeydew from aphids, sweet foods, fats and grease. Adults are unable to ingest solid food particles however ingest liquids which generally are pressed out of food material. Coastal brown ant larvae depend entirely on workers for food. Their young larvae are fed in liquids; the older larvae are fed on small food particles which they can ingest. Adults will also feed on excretions from larvae.

Three are different castes of coastal brown ant adults. Male ants are winged and their function is to mate with female ants. Female ants are winged also until after mating. They are largest in body size and become the reproductive queen of the colony. Female ants can live many years. Finally, worker ants are wingless and sterile. They act as nest-builders, foragers for food, feeding larvae, looking after eggs and defence of nest. Soldiers come from this caste. Normally they live about one year.

Coastal brown ants do not sting but small mounds from excavations near paths or trailing of ants can also be considered unpleasant. They can be nuisance pests in the garden area and may enter buildings to search for food. Swarming can happen within properties which can cause frustration to the residents. These ants are normally human disturbance in Melbourne but have invaded native bushland in some areas. Invasion of kitchen spots and wet places can also be a nuisance to residents. Plants and seedlings can be damaged if infestation is noticeable. External electrical appliances such as hot water systems can be damaged and present a fire hazard due to short-circuits from high moisture levels. They can also transmit disease organisms such as dysentery, smallpox and bacteria such as Salmonella. The coastal brown ants can build up to enormous populations and displace native ant species and affect other invertebrates.

Ant Control
The coastal brown ant control is difficult because they are social insect pests. They are small and particularly adaptable at establishing large colonies outside. The best solution for coastal brown ant control in Melbourne is through direct treatment of their nests and destroying their colonies. Coastal brown ant control measures can involve barrier treatments to try to keep ants away from their food and water source. The most successful form of ant treatment is to locate the ant nest itself and treat with an effective insecticide. A liquid insecticide which possibly will flood tunnels and galleries and has a long residual life in soil would be preferable for both an ant barrier and ant nest treatment. Due to the fact that coastal brown ants favour outdoor nesting areas, outside ant treatment of the premises is often all that is needed. An additional form of coastal brown ant control and treatment method is to exploit their foraging endeavours for food. Using ant baits, the food is taken back to the ant colony where it can affect a great number of members including the queen. Click here for more information about Ant Control in Melbourne.

Posted by PestAway Australia on 1st January, 2013 | Comments
Tags:

Comments

There are no comments for this post

Post a Comment

HTML is not allowed in comments, http://... will be automatically linked.