Just think of the number of times someone in your household made that statement. For most folks, ants just seem to show up almost any time and in every room of the house, and of course making it possible for everyone to have a great ant story to relate, and I’m no exception.
Although the Easter Holiday is several months away, ants can show up at any time. Like most American families on Easter Eve, we celebrate this family tradition by assembling with great pride and care, large colorful baskets lined with equally colored cellophane bedding upon which will lay the prettiest colored hardboiled eggs, all prepared by members of our family prior to Easter Sunday. In addition to colorful eggs, we spend ample time shopping for assorted Easter candy and chocolates, which will be centerpieces scattered throughout these illuminating baskets of treasure. Now the real fun started in our home one Easter Eve some years ago.
While everyone was asleep, one of the adults carefully hid all of these baskets in readiness for the great Easter basket hunt, just hours away on Easter morning. Each basket carefully labeled and bear in mind in order for children to find their baskets readily, they were strategically placed somewhere closer to the floor area for ease of discovery. Once our hunt got underway the following morning, instead of sounds of joy and delight, what we heard was disappointment as multiple baskets were overrun with thousands of little brown and red tile ants. Fortunately for most of the baskets, its contents would be salvaged as many items were in sealed packages.
So what are these tile ants, commonly called pavement ants and odorous ants, where do they come from, and are they the only ants that are troublesome here in Connecticut? Let us begin our ant story by stating there are some 14,000 different species of ants known to science, and several thousand more yet to be discovered. At home, here in Connecticut, we have almost 100 different species of ants with only a few that may be problematic for the homeowner. Let’s begin by looking at the first problematic species that most of us are concerned with.
The first of these are commonly referred to as the “tile ant” or “pavement ant” simply because we most often associate them with our outside sidewalks and pathways, either of concrete or paving stones. They are small ants generally 1/8th of an inch in size. The other small ant species of similar size and appearance is the “odorous house ant” which generally can be found in areas beneath the floorboards, especially in older structures as well as near areas of moisture around pipes in bathroom walls. Outside the home odorous ants also live within organic leaf litter, as well as under stones. While the pavement ants are more visible as they push up from beneath the ground surface, generating mounds of fine silt marking their tunnel points of passage. If you’re trying to determine which species you have in your home, a word of caution here. The surefire way without having to inspect the body of the ant, is to simply crush it and smell it. Odorous ants will emit a strong offensive odor similar to rotted coconuts. Here is where caution is advised. For when you crush any ant, the pheromones that are released will sound the alarm to other ants and the next thing you know you just opened pandora’s box, as they all come to investigate and defend.
To avoid all of these issues and the expense of your friendly pest control guy, you can purchase slow acting sweet gel baits at the local hardware store and place the bait trays where you witness ant activity. Never use an insect spray, as you will only make the situation worse. The ants will panic from the spray and form new multiple colonies in a process referred to as budding.
Indoxacarb and Thiamethoxam are effective slow acting gel baits that are readily consumed by the worker ants and transported back to the main nesting colonies where the toxins are fed to the queen and larvae, assuring they will all perish within days.
Our last culprit ant will be the large black carpenter ant. These little fellas are fairly large, generally, 3-5/8th inches in length, with the queen with as much as an inch. This species is the one that can do structural damage to your home. Contrary to popular belief, the carpenter ant does not actually eat the structure framing, but rather mines a series of smooth bore tunnels where they fashion sizeable galleries to store larvae and food.
If you’re attempting to control a carpenter ant invasion, the best way to approach this issue would be to first remove any wood stored near the house, as well as any plants or vines directly coming in contact around with the walls or roof. Carpenter ants generally gravitate to areas where there may be moisture, especially the windowsills and gutter areas on the north side of the structure. If you witness a number of carpenter ants active near your home, you can put out some tuna fish on a paper towel and watch to see where they bring it. Any openings you discover you can take measures to seal these permanently. In addition to sealing openings, I recommend you watch the weather and wait for as few days without rain and sprinkle granulated bait around the foundation. This granulated bait will be brought directly to the nest.
Keeping in mind only 25% of the ants venture out of the nest, it is important you enable these to bring toxins directly into the nest to feed the queen. At American Bio-Tech we realize dealing with ants can be a daunting task. Most folks do not want to get involved as they do not have the time or expertise, or are unsure they will get the desired results they are looking for, so if you feel you need assistance with this please do not hesitate to call our office and we will be happy to walk you through it.
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