Ants that invade our homes are called by various names: kitchen ants, nuisance ants, sweet ants, sugar ants, and some names that I can't repeat here. These should not be confused with carpenter ants. Nuisance ants generally nest in the soil and enter houses in search of food or water. Carpenter ants nest in cavities that are sometimes carved out of our homes. Carpenter ants forage outside for food whereas nuisance ants sometimes forage inside our homes. Nuisance ants generally do little or no structural damage whereas carpenter ants can do substantial damage over time. Finally, carpenter ants are generally larger and more robust than their soil-nesting cousins.
The scouts of nuisance ants enter houses in search of food and water. When found, the scouts return to the nest and lead nestmates to the resource using chemical trails. Ants enter through cracks and other openings that may be very small. Sealing a house against ants is almost impossible. Management is generally aimed at elimination of the nest through poison baiting. I do not suggest using aerosol sprays as these are messy, and will kill only the visible ants which are only a small percentage of all the ants in the colony.
Poison baits come in many forms. The trick is to find a bait that your particular ant will accept and then to be patient. Baiting may take up to 3 weeks to be effective. Try several different commercial baits and observe whether or not the ants are attracted to the bait stations. If your stations are being ignored try another type of bait. If ants are entering the bait stations and carrying bait away chances are it will eventually be effective in eliminating the colony. With liquid baits you won't be able to see bait being carried off. In this case, station visitation should be used to judge bait attractiveness. |
