Pesticides are generally considered safe when applied according to label directions. Additionally, the treatment area should be vacant from children, pets and the elderly until sprays have dried. Usually an hour is sufficient. The area should be vacated for 45 minutes when dusts and aerosols are used.
While product use varies, we would like to share the following information. Our ant extermination uses different products than retail stores sell. Store bought bug sprays are fast acting. Professional products kill them slower. This allows the product to be carried back where it effects the colony.
Ant bait is a good example of this. When you see our exterminators applying ant bait, you might imagine your dog licking it up. Think of how tiny ants are. The product has to be dilute. Otherwise, it would drop the ant dead on the spot. Any ant bait that we use is applied in bait stations, or injected into crevices.
There really is no need to spray bug killer inside where occupants can come into contact with it. What our ant exterminators do is track them back to the hole they are entering the living space from. Then a localized crack and crevice treatment is performed. That way nothing is left exposed inside for anybody to come into contact with. Reduced exposure reduces health risks.
Outside we use a few different products. We apply a granular bait at every ant job. in most cases, it will be a borate bait. Borates are heated boric acid. Once a pest ingests it, they cannot absorb nutrients from their food. Borate baits are approved for use in organic pest control. Boric acid is used as a laundry booster, in slime activator, and in contact lens solution. We scatter this bait enough so animals cannot practically consume more than a scant amount.
The most used professional ant control sprays have the same active ingredients as popular pet flea medication. These flea medications are applied monthly to pets’ necks. The FDA allows this since pets do not live long enough to be effected from chronic exposure.
At certain times we utilize products with Indoxacarb as the active ingredient. This has a Meta active effect. In other words, the ant’s digestive enzymes is what turns it into a toxin. This differentiates between target and non-target organisms. At Lakewood Exterminating, we love low risk products that are highly effective. Our exterminators also take the time to apply them in ways that reduce exposure risks.