We have always had problems with the tiny black 'sugar' ants. Apparently, there are at least 3 enormous colonies on the property. The entire neighborhood is heavily infested with these and other ants. My husband has always been able to keep them under control over the last 36 years - or at least we THOUGHT they were under control as he has always been able to stop their attempts at home invasion. Unfortunately, since it had been an unusually mild winter and early, warm spring this year, we suddenly found ourselves fighting flying ants in our basement around the end of January. Apparently, there were colonies between the old wood siding and overlay of vinyl siding. We contacted Orkin at the end of February after my husband's attempts to control the infestation with the usual over-the-counter pest controls had almost no effect on the invading swarms. Their technician came in during the first week of March to treat the ants - as well as the spiders and other insects that we have problems with during most of the year. He put out two different types of bait, and that has been the end of the ants inside the house. He came again in April for another treatment. Our last treatment was during the first week of July, as Orkin does quarterly treatments rather than the 'every other month' treatments Terminex practices. During his July visit, I walked around the property with him, discussing what has been happening since his last visit so he could plan his 'attack.' Besides heavily treating the entire perimeter of the exterior foundation, he treated the entire perimeter of the interior foundation in the crawl space underneath the ground floor. (We live in a tri-level style home.) He treated areas inside the house, including the furnace room. He walked around the exterior of the house after he was finished and explained he not only applied 7 times the normal amount of ant bait in the backyard (which was very evident), but heavily baited the sandy area along the chain link fence separating our flower garden from our neighbor's garden, as they, too, have LOTS of these little black invaders. He explained he also baited along the back fence that separates our yard from our neighbor's yard, both sides of our fence along the sidewalk, and spread bait along the entire low retaining wall that runs along the south side of our yard as well as the entire sidewalk (We have a corner lot.) Within FOUR days ALL the bait he had placed in our back yard area was gone. (Orkin's policy is to avoid placing bait in the lawn itself to avoid poisoning pets and children) There was still plenty of bait visible in some of the areas out front at that time. He advised me to contact him should the ant activity increase within the next 2 or 3 weeks as he is in the area the first Tuesday of every month. We are aware that because of the severity of the ant infestation, and the fact that, to the best of our knowledge, no one in our neighborhood uses professional pest control (with the exception of termites), it will take several months to see a real improvement in the ant infestation. We are also aware that we will NOT be able to completely eliminate the ants, obviously because of the afore-mentioned neighborhood issues. At best, we hope to significantly reduce the ant activity on our property and minimize the amount of ant activity. But we are VERY pleased with their services. Even though they are a little pricier than Terminex and officially treat quarterly rather than every other month, they provide any necessary treatments during the quarter at no extra charge. Our technician was very professional, courteous, and answered all my questions satisfactorily. We are extremely pleased with the service, and intend to continue to use them. (One of the BEST 'side affects' was the almost complete absence of Miller Moths during their migratory time. As we are along their migration 'route,' it was GREAT not having to deal with them, as they are rather nasty and more than a little dirty. (I really hate cleaning their 'droppings' and 'drools' from the windows, curtains, etc., after they move through each year!) No evidence of mice either. YEAH!!! In fact, to make a VERY long story short, we are extremely pleased with every aspect of the service we have received from Orkin, and consider it money VERY well spent! read less
Amy O.
