Ant control that kills the colony, not just the trail.

Because spraying only kills the workers you can see, which are a small fraction of the colony. The queen and brood stay safe in the nest and simply replace them. Worse, repellent sprays make some species multiply: a pharaoh ant colony under chemical stress fragments through a process called budding, splitting into several new colonies in new locations. Professional control uses non-repellent gel baits that foraging workers carry back and share with the queen and brood, so the colony itself is eliminated rather than scattered.

Yes, when placed professionally. We use registered gel baits applied in tiny quantities directly into cracks, voids and along ant trails, out of sight and out of reach, and tamper-resistant bait stations in open or accessible areas. This keeps the active ingredient away from little hands, paws and food-contact surfaces, and it uses far less chemical than blanket spraying a kitchen or garden. All products are registered under Act 36 of 1947 and applied by registered pest control operators.

Expect a visible reduction within days and colony collapse over one to three weeks, depending on the species and the size of the infestation. Baiting is deliberately slow-acting: workers must live long enough to carry the bait back to the queen and brood. Large multi-queen networks, such as established Argentine ant super-colonies or pharaoh ants in a big building, need a sustained baiting programme with follow-up visits and monitoring until trend counts fall to zero and stay there.

Yes, a serious one. Pharaoh ants are tiny enough to enter sealed packaging, sterile stores and wound dressings, and they mechanically carry pathogens such as Salmonella, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas between drains, waste and clean areas. In hospitals and food facilities they are treated as a critical contamination hazard, and an active infestation is an audit finding under HACCP-based schemes and a breach of Regulation R638 of 2018. They must never be sprayed with repellent insecticide, which fragments the colony; a managed non-repellent baiting programme is the only reliable route to elimination.

Cost depends on the species involved, how far the infestation has spread, and whether it is a single kitchen trail or a multi-queen Argentine ant network across a garden or building perimeter. Pharaoh ant work in a hospital or food facility is priced differently again, since it requires a managed, monitored baiting programme rather than a once-off visit. We quote after inspecting the site and identifying the species.

Wiping the visible trail and sealing food removes the attraction but not the colony. Permanent control means identifying the species, placing non-repellent gel bait directly on the trail so foraging workers carry it back to the queen, and sealing the entry points ants are using. This is why professional baiting, given time to work through the colony, outperforms repeated spraying.

Repellent sprays kill the workers you can see but do not reach the queen, so the colony simply produces more. With species such as the pharaoh ant, the chemical stress from spraying can trigger budding, where the colony splits into several smaller colonies in new locations, turning one problem into three or four. This is why non-repellent baiting, not spraying, is the professional standard.

Carpenter ants excavate galleries in damp or decaying timber but do not eat the wood, leaving smooth tunnels and piles of fine wood shavings pushed out of the nest. Termites eat the wood itself, leaving a honeycombed, mud-lined interior and, for subterranean species, mud tubes on foundations. Carpenter ants also have a narrow, pinched waist and elbowed antennae, unlike a termite's straight antennae and broad waist. Correct identification decides the treatment, so an inspection is worth booking before assuming either one.