Odorous House Ants, aka. Sugar Ants – The Same Pest

Over the past 15 years, the Odorous House Ant (OHA) has settled into the Pacific NW and taken over most neighborhoods.

We believe they hitched a ride from the Southeast in some landscaping material and decided to make this their new home. To most, this has become a huge headache, as when these ants move in, they plan on staying.

These ants get their name from the strange odor they emit when crushed. Some say it smells like rotten coconuts? Either way, there are many; they are black and small.

The FACTS:

• The ants in Washington State all have one queen except for OHA. They have 30+ queens and they can quickly move when disrupted.
• The queens and the reproductives live outside and move back and forth between homes and take over the neighborhood. They are living in wood chips, mulch, a wood-rot stump, or nearby debris.
• The workers are who you mostly see. Once they move into your home, they settle down inside the walls and insulation.
• They are called sugar ants, but they LOVE MOISTURE!! You will find them in plant soil, coffee grinds, dishwashers, and kitchens, especially near the windows and sinks. They are also in your bathrooms and laundry rooms. If you have leaks, they are there.
• Cracks in your walls, tiles, baseboards, etc., are where you find them coming out of the walls. It is key to use a silicone caulk to close off these entry points and reduce the ways they will get into the home.
• Vents – they are not coming up inside but are usually crawling along the outside and coming up through the gaps.
• They can be inside the crawlspace. Often, we will find them in between the insulation and the metal ducts, where the heat and moisture are.
• Vegetation – they love the moist soil. Keeping your plants from touching the home will help avoid the bridge for them to travel.
• Most people buy Terro or other over-the-counter products as a quick relief. Usually, they are not designed for these ants and are messy and short-lived. We use a mix of products and treat both inside and outside the home. These products are designed for these specific ants and are meant to be taken back to the colony to knock them out.
• Windex is your temporary friend. Regular Windex helps kill the workers, but will not resolve your problem. It just gives you some mental relief.
• If you can find a colony outside, you have resolved a big part of your problem and can get relief once it is treated and knocked out. This is the most important part of resolving the issue with these ants.
• We use a variety of products, these are traps, gel-bait, sprays, and granular bait. These are designed to be used with these ants. Most are low-toxin and take a bit longer to work; however, they are safe around children and pets. They are mostly designed in the sprays as micro-beads which burst once the ant steps on it, and then as they groom, they ingest the product and either die or, as they socialize, they rub it off on each other, which goes back to the colony and knocks it out.
• Once your home has been treated you can see a spike in activity as the ants react to the product. This will die down as it starts to work.
• Weather affects the ants and as you see a lot of rain or sudden changes in the weather you will see activity.

Long Term Programs do work

We can’t promise you won’t see another ant again. However, realistically, you can get back your home and have peace of mind. We treat monthly to be preventive rather than reactive. This often allows us to reduce the amount of product we are using on your property. In our own way, allowing ourselves to be better stewards of the environment.

We live to be sensitive to your kids and pets in what we do, and most of our products act like a coating on your home, like a protective seasoning on the outside that often lasts for 30-60 days.

Our goal is to treat your home as we would our own home.

Call Us Today: 425.318.8551