How Ant Activity Is Affected By Weather

Ants are very organized insects and this helps them survive many of the vicissitudes of nature. However, they are still affected by the ebbs and flows of the environment, especially in extreme conditions. Let’s take a closer look at how ant activity is affected by weather.

Cold

One of the main reasons pest infestations start is a drop in temperatures. Rat and mouse infestations, for example, are much more common in autumn and winter than they are during warmer seasons. Ants, however, are fairly resilient to cold due to their underground colonies, which offer some protection against lower temperatures. That being said, temperatures can get very low, forcing ants to relocate to somewhere warmer, which could mean that they will start a colony in your home, garage or other buildings on your property.

Warmth

Warmth increases the metabolism and activity levels of organisms, including ants. During warmer seasons, ant workers will be more active when foraging, and ant swarmers (reproductive members of the colony) will fly out to start their own nest. This means you are more likely to deal with an ant infestation during warmer seasons than colder ones.

Drought

Drought is another weather condition that affects most pest species, but ants can weather the storm due to the natural humidity found inside the ground where their colonies are. Of course, severe droughts will trigger ants to move their colonies, and if there are water sources on your property, they may attempt to move in. Some of the water sources can include leaky pipes or clogged gutters, which will draw ants inside the wall voids of the building.

Heavy rains

Heavy rains have quite an impact on ants. During heavy rains, the risk that the colony floods is high, so ants may attempt to relocate the queen or the brood to higher ground, which could be somewhere on your property. Some ant species have a different approach – they build rafts by linking their own bodies together. These rafts float on the surface of the water, and they carry the queen and the brood until it’s safe to return to the colony or start a new one.

For more information on how weather impacts ant activity levels, or if you suspect that you have an ant infestation in your home, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us today and one of our team members will gladly help you out.