Signs You Have Ants in Your Long Island Home
You have ants in your Long Island home if you see steady trails across kitchen counters, small dark ants around pet bowls or trash cans, or tiny piles of loose sand at concrete cracks and driveway seams. Older Nassau County kitchens with worn caulking around counters and windows are hot spots for odorous house ants, while newer Suffolk County construction on wooded lots often sees pavement ants push in from patios and slabs. Multiple entry points across different rooms typically means a satellite colony structure, not a single nest. Trails that appear within an hour of rain often trace back to a soil colony against the foundation.
How Bobby Bugs Treats Ants
Bobby Bugs treats ants on Long Island at the colony level using non-repellent products and slow-acting bait that foragers carry back to the queen. Expect exterior perimeter treatment, interior spot work at active trails, and a 90-day written guarantee.
- 1Free phone triage confirming species, likely nest location, and pricing.
- 2Inspection of exterior perimeter, foundation, patio, and interior trail entry points.
- 3Non-repellent exterior perimeter treatment plus targeted colony bait.
- 4Interior spot treatment at active trails, focusing on cracks, voids, and behind kitchen kick plates.
- 5Written 90-day guarantee with a return visit if activity resumes.
How Long Does It Take to Get Rid of Ants?
Most Long Island ant jobs show a dramatic drop in visible activity within 3 to 7 days, with the colony collapsing over the following 2 to 4 weeks as foragers return bait to the queen. Very large mature colonies in wooded areas can take up to 6 weeks to go fully silent. The 90-day guarantee window covers the full colony-collapse period plus a comfortable buffer. Spraying over the bait is the fastest way to stall this process.
How to Keep Ants From Coming Back
To keep pavement ants and odorous house ants out of a Long Island kitchen, remove what draws them and stop spraying the trails. Both species come indoors for food, garbage and moisture, so wipe up crumbs and spills, keep sugar, honey and pet food sealed, fix dripping faucets and leaks, and clear standing water. Seal cracks at the foundation, around windows and where pipes come through the slab, and trim shrubs and branches so nothing touches the house, since Utah State University entomologists note odorous house ants follow vegetation and moisture straight to wall voids around heated pipes. Don't reach for a repellent spray: odorous house ants have many queens and split into new colonies when sprayed, so the spray makes the problem bigger, and pavement ant colonies under a slab are never reached by a surface spray at all. Baits that workers carry back to the colony are what end an ant problem, and that's what our treatment is built on.
Where we see ants most on Long Island
- Selden
Pavement ants nesting in the sandy soil under slabs, walkways and foundations across the hamlet.
- Mineola
Sandy Hempstead Plains ground under the village, easy digging for pavement ants.
- Levittown
Slab capes where ants come up through the expansion joints and under toilets and showers.
- Westbury
Postwar capes and splits with sixty-year-old slabs and foundation cracks.
- East Meadow
Flat, sandy Hempstead Plains lots with early 1950s slab foundations.
- Centereach
1950s and 1960s developments on sandy soil, ants under every walkway.
- Massapequa
Split-levels and capes where spring ant calls start the first warm week of April.
- Hicksville
Dense postwar blocks with concrete patios and walkways on every lot.
Related reading
More resources
- Visit our full services list.
- See every area we serve across Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and The Bronx.
- See our carpenter ant treatment page.
- See our general insect treatment page.
- Guide: Why Do Ants Keep Coming Back After You Spray?.
How Much Does an Ant Exterminator Cost on Long Island?
Ant extermination cost on Long Island depends on the species and where the colony sits. Odorous house ants trailing through a Hicksville kitchen are usually a straightforward treatment, while pavement ants nesting under a Bay Shore patio slab take more product and more time. Correct species identification matters because the wrong bait can make some colonies split and spread, which is why guessing gets expensive. Interior-only problems cost less than jobs that need a full exterior perimeter treatment. Bobby Bugs gives you a free written quote before any work begins, and the number on the invoice matches the quote. Every ant treatment includes the 90-day written guarantee.
What customers say
So let’s start with this.I was out of town, and my daughter called me in a frenzy that she saw a roach. 10 years in that house never had roaches. Here I am out of state trying to figure out the fastest way to help my daughter. Saw the name BOBBY BUGS and the reviews and figured I would call them up.I called spoke to Anthony not only did he go above and beyond for us but the service was fantastic. William who showed up at the house was simply incredible and made my daughter feel at ease. Thank you for helping our little Italian Family out in such a pinch. Grazie Mille Adriana
Fast, friendly service. I called in the morning and Will came to my house that evening. Will was great. I would definitely use Bobby's Bugs again and recommend them.
Response was super quick to my inquiry and someone was able to be sent out out quickly. Will came and explained the process, walked me through and showed me what he had done, and reviewed the service order to make sure none of my requests were missed. It was a great experience overall and truck wasn't announcing itself to the neighborhood either which was a plus.
Reviewed October 2026
Frequently asked questions
Why do ants keep coming back after I spray?
Ants keep coming back because spraying only kills the foragers you can see, not the queen or the colony hidden in the wall void, siding, or lawn. Bobby Bugs uses non-repellent products and slow-acting baits that foragers carry back into the colony, which is what actually collapses the nest.
What kind of ants are in my kitchen?
Small dark ants trailing across a Long Island kitchen counter are usually odorous house ants or pavement ants, both very common in Nassau and Suffolk homes. Larger black ants around window frames, especially in wooded Suffolk yards, are more often carpenter ants and mean a separate, more urgent treatment.
When is ant season on Long Island?
Ant activity on Long Island peaks from late April through September, with the heaviest kitchen calls in May and June as colonies mature. Warm winter thaws can pull odorous house ants indoors even in February. Exterior perimeter work in spring dramatically reduces the number of ants that reach the interior all summer.
Does vinegar get rid of ants?
Vinegar erases the pheromone trail temporarily, so the visible line of ants disappears for a few hours. It does nothing to the colony, so the ants return along a new trail within a day or two. Real elimination requires products that reach the queen, which is what a professional treatment provides.
Why did the ants get worse after I sprayed?
Because odorous house ants respond to repellent sprays by splitting the colony, a behavior called budding, so one nest becomes several and the ants inside the walls lose their route back outside. Spraying the trail on the counter kills a few dozen workers and leaves the queens untouched. Our treatment uses baits the workers carry to the colony and non-repellent products that don't scatter them, with a 90-day written guarantee.
How do I tell pavement ants from carpenter ants?
Size. Pavement ants and odorous house ants are tiny, about an eighth of an inch, and show up in trails in the kitchen or bathroom. Carpenter ants are big, black, up to half an inch, and show up a few at a time, often in winter or early spring, which means a nest in the house. Small ants get our 90-day ant treatment; big black ants get a carpenter ant inspection and a 6-month written guarantee.
I have piles of dirt on my sidewalk and ants fighting in the driveway. What is that?
Pavement ants. The little volcano-shaped mounds of sand along a sidewalk, driveway or patio edge are their nest entrances, and the swarming clusters of ants on the pavement in spring are two colonies fighting over territory. Both mean nests under the slab close to the house, which is where kitchen trails come from.