Ants are small but fascinating creatures that are capable of camaraderie and intelligence when it comes to building and defending their colonies.
They are also an important part of the ecosystem, where they serve as either prey or predator in the wild.
However, urbanization or the expansion of human settlements also allowed ants to have a new home in the form of concrete made of metal and brick.
Despite their role in terrestrial ecosystems, ants have become a nuisance in the urban jungle, where they infest different locations. These places of infestation range from homes, and gardens, to buildings, and even commercial establishments like restaurants, where rats and mice are the most dominant, common pests.
This month in the United Kingdom, an ant infestation forced a British family to eat “takeaways” only in their home in Cardiff, Wales.
The infested house saw countless of ants reportedly swarming in the kitchen and the living room.
Related cases have also been reported in other parts of the U.K. and even Ireland in recent years.
Cardiff Home Ant Infestation
(Photo : Photo by MAURICIO VALENZUELA/AFP via Getty Images)
Panamanian researcher Dumas Galvez handles ants at the bathroom of his house in Panama City, on May 12, 2020. – 38-year-old researcher Dumas Galvez, a Smithsonian post-doctorate laureate, had to take all his research material, including thousands of ants, to the bathroom of his house due to the mobility restrictions imposed amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Dumas researches on behavior changes and analyzes how different fungae affect ants.
Ant infestation has been reported in a Cardiff home where a woman named Ella Mason has been living with her two children.
However, Mason claimed she had spent enormous time fixing cracks and plastering her walls for over the past two years, the local news outlet Carmarthenshire News Online reported on Saturday, May 20.
In addition to the cracks on the wall, there is a hole in the mother of two’s home.
It is believed that the ants are coming from these openings, which could be linked to a vast underground tunnel systems made by ants just under their lot.
Also Read: Indian Village Declares War on Fire Ants After Invading Houses, Roads, and Trees
Property Repair
The Cardiff Council stated plastering works were already conducted at Mason’s property in April 2023 and additional work has been scheduled in June 2023.
The Cardiff government body also said repair works were completed on the property on Thursday, May 18.
However, the woman was not satisfied with the service and had enough of living in the house, according to the local news outlet.
Due to the overwhelming ant infestation, the British family has been forced to live and eat takeaways or takeout food from a restaurant or other establishments, the report said.
The mother and her kids reportedly had no choice but only to buy food from outside since ants are everywhere, even on their food in the kitchen.
UK Ant Infestation Problem
The Cardiff home reported to be having an ant infestation is just one of the many households in the U.K. experiencing the annoyance caused by ants.
According to 24/7 Pest Control UK, there are four types of ant species dwelling and invading homes across the country in search of food: the black Garden ant, Pharaoh ant, Ghost ant, and Roger’s ant.
The pest control authorities said the ant species in the UK typically nest inside homes but these ant nests are hard to spot.
Nevertheless, they are usually found inside an old wooden pillar or crack in a wall.
A national survey of the British Pest Control Association for the period 2015 to 2016 reported that the North East, Northwest, and West Midlands region of the U.K. surpassed England’s the national ratio of pest call-outs per 1,000 people.
Related Article: Dublin at Risk of Ant Infestation This Summer After 80% Increase in Ant Reports Nationwide
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