_{There are more than 700 ant species found in the world, although only about 25 species commonly infest homes. Ants are social insects that typically live in underground colonies, made up of workers and a queen. Ants will eat practically any kind of food, but are especially attracted to sweets. Ant identification is relatively simple due to their three distinct body regions: head, thorax and abdomen, as well as antennae. Despite similar construction, ants vary in overall appearance. Small or large ants and brown or black ants are common nicknames for different species.
Ants navigate long distances, find food, communicate and avoid predators. They care for their family similar to any mammal. When finding a new home, ants take advice from their more experienced brethren who had memorized alterative hive locations. When enough ants visit the new space and decide that they like it, the colony decides to move. Ants are led by the smartest of the group, not by a mysterious “hive intelligence.” Ants are altruistic and spend hours trying to help a comrade who is stuck, at great risk to themselves. Ants integrate many types of information for navigation—the number of steps, direction travelled, wind, land type, angles of the sun, visual memories of landmarks and smells. Individual ants use diverse information in different situations and can learn entirely new ways to navigate.}

_{Ants respond immediately to new situations. They can adjust to different levels of threat and decide how aggressive they should be and how much energy should be used. When the nest is damaged, immediately large numbers of ants will work to fix it. Ants understand the new problem and what has to be done. They gather the material needed to fix it.}

_{Ants cooperate to take items that are too large for one ant. Ants can connect multiple sites in the shortest possible way and produce this result by making many trails and then eliminating all but the most efficient path. Ant paths are formed by their leaving smells called pheromones, which take personal effort.}

_{Ants use multiple antibiotics in their farming of fungus for food. They inoculate the hive for mild illness (vaccinate) and isolate themselves voluntarily for serious illness}

_{If you do find signs of an ant infestation in your home, contact  our professionals promptly. They will be able to inspect your home, perform proper ant species identification, and recommend a course of ant control and extermination.}