How much is the cost of an ant exterminator? What are the various ways to get rid of ants, as well as rates for these treatment options? Read more.

When it comes to ridding your home of pests, two things come to mind. These include choosing the extermination methods as well as the cost factor.

This article will focus on ant exterminator costs to provide you with the needed information that will enable you to make informed decisions.

In the course of our discussion, we will also cover other relevant areas that will prove helpful as well.

  • Making the Decision on Removing Ants

After identifying an ant infestation, the next critical step is choosing the most suitable control method to use. You are left with two options to choose from.

These include calling an exterminator or handling the job yourself. Different factors come into play when choosing your preferred extermination method.

One of such is the cost implication.

While comparing ant treatment costs, it is also necessary to consider which method offers a lasting solution.

  • Signs of Ant Infestation

This is as important as finding the best method of exterminating these pests. It is necessary because if they are not quickly identified, the property damage can be severe.

Hence one of the easiest ways to find out if you are faced with this problem is to observe your walls as well as a lookout for wood shavings. Ants congregate close to areas with an abundance of food supply.

Therefore your dining and kitchen area should be inspected.

  • Type of Ants Involved

It is important to have an understanding of the type of pest problem you have at hand. There are ant species that pose more harm than others.

However, no matter the type of ants around or within your home, they are not fun to be around.

Some of the most common types include Fire ants, grease ants, carpenter ants, odorous ants, sugar ants, etc.

If you have no idea of the ant species, an ant exterminator can easily identify them for you. Inspection of your property and extermination comes at a cost (extermination costs will be discussed shortly).

However, some ant exterminators offer free property inspections to clients. You can choose to take advantage of such a service with no cost incurred.

Professional Ant Exterminator Costs

The determination of exterminator costs depends on multiple factors. However, the average cost of hiring an exterminator will be within the range of $250 to $1,400.

Treatment costs will also depend on the extermination method used. Extermination costs will also depend on the type of contract entered into with the exterminator (that is, one-time visits or continuous or periodic treatments).

An ant exterminator will recommend the most effective method based on the severity of infestation. Each method varies from the next.

Some extermination methods include general treatments, mounds, poisoned baits, and scheduled treatments. To explain this further, let’s consider a few of these methods;

  • General Treatment Cost

This type of extermination is all-inclusive. In other words, a generalized type of treatment is applied to not only exterminate ants but also other common types of pests. This is mostly used when the exterminator identifies the presence of other pests apart from ants. This type of treatment will exterminate most ant species, However, it comes with no guarantee of the ants not returning.

If an exterminator recommends using this pest elimination method, it will cost you around $260.

However, there are other considerations like the size and severity of the infestation, etc.

  • Mounds

This ant extermination method mostly targets sub-surface ants. Here, the exterminator will identify an ant mound and drill into it with chemicals in the form of powder poured into the drilled hole. This seeks to eliminate the problem from its source.

This control measure works best on fire ants and will cost you $2 for each mound.

Although this method can take a significant amount of time, it is worth it as the results are far-reaching.

  • Poisoned Baits

This extermination method takes advantage of the food-gathering nature of ants.

Poisoned baits are inserted below the ground surface close to a major ant pathway. These are ingested and taken back to the colony where it takes its toll on the ant population. It is designed to be slow-acting to enhance its kill rate.

Poisoned baits will cost around $150.

  • Scheduled Treatments

If you need a cost-effective method of ant extermination, scheduled treatments offer the most benefit. Compared to other extermination methods, this costs much less and gives you a better deal.

Specific scheduled treatments are chosen based on your preferences, how prone your area is to ant infestation, convenience as well as an allowable period before ants populations resurface.

In light of this, you can either arrange monthly or quarterly scheduled visits. An ant exterminator will recommend the most suitable frequency.

Ant removal costs under this method will cost from $80 for initial treatment to $30 per month.

  • What More?  

It is necessary to state that a combination of any of the above pest control methods is possible. The aim is to achieve the desired results. Therefore an exterminator may choose to use the most suitable treatment based on the reality at hand.

Factors that Affect Ant Extermination Cost

We mentioned earlier that several factors impact overall extermination costs. Let’s briefly mention some of these factors to help give you a better perspective of what it will cost you.

  • Distance

This is true for all types of pest infestation issues including ants. Most ant exterminators take their business to where their services are in most demand.

Such locations are cities and large towns. Hence if your home is within such areas, you are likely to pay less than someone that lives in the outskirts of the city or town.

Ant exterminators will factor in their transportation costs as well as manpower when giving a cost estimate.

  • The Size of your Property

When an ant exterminator is called in to handle an infestation problem, the size of your property will impact the cost. Exterminators are usually interested in finding the root cause or the source of the infestation.

Therefore, the ant colony will become the target. An ant extermination method such as the mound control system will mean that there will be an increase in cost with more mounds found.

A sizeable property with heavy ant infestation will attract higher extermination fees. To find out about what it will cost you, simply schedule an inspection with a reliable pest control service.

Luckily most pest control services offer free inspection and quotes.

DIY Carpenter Ant Extermination Cost

For a lot of people, getting rid of an ant infestation starts by handling the job themselves. By this, we mean purchasing over-the-counter pest control methods.

In the short term, this may seem okay but experience has shown that this method does not always bring a lasting solution. The average cost of these extermination products makes them preferable at first until the problem persists.

With most DIY extermination strategies, the infestation problem is not tackled from its source. Treatment is only applied to ants we see around, leaving the source unattended.

Some of these products include a can of Raid which ranges from $4.00 to $7.00, Ortho Home Defense $15.00 to $20.00, and more.

 Reputable Ant Pest Control Extermination Services

It is important after noticing an ant infestation to call reputable exterminators.

There is never a short supply of these services as some of them operate internationally, nationally as well as those restricted within certain regions. Whatever the case, you are interested only in having the best ant exterminator handle your pest problem.

We will provide you with a shortlist of some of the most reliable exterminators you can choose from;

The advantage of having multiple options is that you get to compare them based on their list of services as well as their service costs.

These ant extermination companies include Terminix, Truly Nolen, Orkin, Eco-Wise, and Rentokil Steritech Presto-X. Others are Dodson, Massey, Moxie, Bulwark, and Cook pest control services.

  • Ant Treatment Cost

All of the above-mentioned pest control services offer comprehensive ant extermination.

However, what you will not find is the cost of such a service. This is because you will need to provide further personal information that enables them to contact you.

Many of these businesses offer you free inspection and quotes. It is necessary to review each of these and choose the one that fits your needs.

Other Advantages of Calling an Ant Exterminator

Ant exterminators have the required training in pest behavior (ants inclusive).

When they come around to inspect, they look out for common signs and can easily trace their colonies. This process can be painstakingly slow and thorough. Exterminators also use specialized equipment that enhances accuracy.

With such equipment, locating ant colonies is much easier and the best remedy applied to the source.

Ant exterminator cost has been our focus as we have discussed the major factors affecting fees charged by pest control services. We have also compared DIY methods to the use of an exterminator and provided the merits as well as demerits.

The cost implications for DIY methods are much lower compared to calling an exterminator.

However, ant exterminators offer better and long-lasting solutions as they focus on the source.

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