Ants in the house are the scourge of many people in summer leaving many people to dread the summer and the annual flying ants invasion which they expect the summer will herald

Only the unluck people who have suffered it will appreciate the true nature of flying ants in their own homes.

Having an infestation of ordinary wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their annual mating phase the situation can become unbearable.

Ants will form colonies in the sub-floor areas and in the wall cavities of our dwellings and these colonies will live for many years if left untreated becoming progressively more persistent each year.

Our dwellings are warm and dry and provide the perfect places for a thriving ant colony; even solid concrete floor is not a barrier to ants.

Our home heating systems keeps their metabolism even in the depths of winter and my earliest ant call-out was on my birthday, in January!

Ants like a sandy soil and there are lots of areas in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which tend to provide more ant infestations than others, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham come to mind as regular ant locations.

Unfortunately it is when they are in their mating phase that they are most troublesome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this usually is pretty often around the middle to end of July.

Ants mate on the wing and around mid-summer the colony releases flying immature Queens and winged males which in nature would fly off and mate whilst airborne. Many thousands of these winged ants are produced from each and nests tend to time their release in order to mate with ants from neighbouring.

Often this process starts after a period of days of hot, dry weather and will usually last for about acouple of weeks although smaller releases will extend throughout most of June, July & August.

Unfortunately when the colony is built under the floor of the house the results can be horrifying, literally thousands of flying are produced into the lower rooms, aiming for windows as they go towards the light.

This can be unbelievably distressing for some people leading to extreme emotional trauma to the extent that people learn to dread the summertime and have actually sold their homes to avoid the plague of ants which they know will inevitably appear each summer.

The poor summers of recent years have meant that ant jobs were down on earlier but ants appear to have a way of catching up and 2010 looks set to be a particularly troublesome year.

A lot of people who have this problem try for DIY solutions with powders from DIY outlets etc but mostly these efforts do not work as they are not getting to the heart of the matter which is the colony itself, securely hidding safely in the cavity wall or sub-floor area.

Luckily for many people help.

At Harrier Pest Control (subject to local site) we are able to remedy this problem and issue an extendable three year guarantee.

The treatment which is done mainly from the outside of the dwelling, is perfectly safe for animals and children and produces no smell, involves drilling small holes into the cavity walls of the building, not unlike a damp-proof course injection and blowing an insecticidal powder into the cavity wall under pressure.

This forms an impenetrable barrier across which the ants cannot cross and together with a precautionary internal spray treatment (if deemed necessary) will slowly bring the ant colony under control.

The holes, which are only 8mm in diameter are left open so it is a simple matter of topping up the wall cavities every three years to extend the period of the guarantee in 3 year blocks.

This treatment is best carried out in the early spring however it can be done all year round.

As a strictly limited time offer before our busy period begins we are offering 25 percent off the usual price until May 30 2010. Whilst we normally cover the whole of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, we are willing to travel further afield but this will be at extra cost.

For a chat or to arrange an appointment contact Harrier Pest Prevention on Free Phone 0800 019 8382 or 01257 230637

Ant Pest Control ? Don’t endure flying ant horrors, act now!