Description:
There are two types of ants that are most commonly found within households. The first is the odorous house ant (Tapinoma sessile), which is also known as a sugar ant, piss ant or coconut ant. It can be clearly identified by the rotten odor it makes when crushed. Odorous house ants are approximately 1/8 of an inch long and dark brown to black in color. The second type of house ant is the pavement ant (Tetramorium immigrans), named from its common nesting site between pavement cracks and edges. Pavement ants are around 1/10 of an inch long and dark brown in color.
Behavior:
Both of these ant species are attracted to the indoors by food, trash and moisture. House ants like to nest in mulch beds, beneath rocks or concrete. Odorous house ants will sometimes nest indoors; they enjoy the moist warm areas near insulation or damp wood.
Life cycle:
House ants are active all day and form trails that lead from their nests to a food source. Ants have four major life stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Odorous house ant colonies make an interconnected web of multiple nests that consist of thousands of worker ants and multiple queens. Pavement ants have one nest with a single queen and her workers. This makes odorous house ants much harder to control than pavement ants. In early summer, swarms of winged females and males fly to mate. After mating has occurred, the males die and the females seek a moist warm place to start their own nest. Once the ants reach adulthood, they can live for several years. Four to five generations of both species of house ants can occur in a year.
Diet and damage:
House ants are generalist feeders; they love sugary and greasy foods but will also feed on dead insects or pet food. Their diet can change throughout the year. Damage to the home from house ants is minimal, but they will feed on the base of houseplant seedlings or roots, which can kill your plants.
Monitoring:
Before treating a house ant problem, it is important to correctly identify the type of ant so you can apply the proper control method. Help in identifying house ants is available by contacting your local Extension office. Once the type of ant has been identified, you can follow their trails to find their nest or point of entry to the home.
Cultural and mechanical control:
It is unrealistic to be able to remove all ant habitats, as they are capable of living in so many areas. However, these environments can be made less favorable by reducing moisture, pruning any plants that might be growing close to or touching your home, and filling in holes and cracks with caulk that the ants might use to access your home. Use a vacuum to suck up the trail of ants, and wash the trail with soap and water to remove the pheromones the ants use to track their food source.
Chemical control:
Baits are the most effective control method for house ants. The ants enter the bait station seeking a tasty treat and then carry the insecticide-laced or organic bait material back to the nest, where it will eliminate the colony. Baits are effective, but they take time; they must exploit the ants’ foraging ability to get insecticide to the nest, without immediately killing the foraging workers. Look for their names on the packaging to make sure that they will work correctly. Control using baits takes days to weeks. There are also barrier foundation sprays that can be used to prevent house ants from entering the home. You can do these sprays yourself or you can reach out to a licensed professional. When applying a pesticide, read the entire product label thoroughly before application.
