Get Rid of Tiny House, Carpenter & Fire Ants, Safely! - Plano Pest Control

“Rid the ants inside my house!!!”

The most common insect problem in homes is ants. We receive calls daily asking “How do you get rid of ants?” By looking for problematic areas such as where food or water is located or along edges, we can assess the proper direction to take in order to get rid of tiny house ants. Ants are attracted to edges such as sidewalk edges, damaged door frames, utility boxes, window frames, and fence lines. A natural way to get rid of ants is to remove food sources such as food debris in the kitchen and outdoor pet food. Also removing water sources such as leaky hose bibs/spigots on the outside of the house, and clearing gutters of debris and standing water is helpful. The ways to get rid of ants vary from house to house. Sometimes baits work best and sometimes it is better to use sprays and granules. Treating for Carpenter Ants is much different than treating for Black Ants. Every house is different and must be evaluated on a case by case basis, so give us a call @ 972 423 4764

Fire ants do not bite but they do have a sting that is somewhat similar to that of wasps and bees. Fire ants hold on with their mouthparts and inject venom into skin through a smooth - not barbed - stinger. As the ant holds on to its victim`s skin (by biting the skin) it swings around in a circle, injecting its smooth stinger into the skin numerous times.
Another difference between the sting of the fireant and the sting of other insects lies in the substance injected by its stinger.Yellow jacket,wasp and bees and other stinging insects deliver certain proteins into our skin that cause the painful, burning sensation associated . The fireant sting, however, does not contain this type of material. The venom of fireants contains alkaloids combined with relatively small amounts of protein.

Imported fire ants are 1/8 to 1/4 inch in length and are reddish brown to black. They are social insects and live in colonies which may have up to 200,000 individuals. Fire ant colonies are made up of a queen ant, winged males and females (virgin queens), workers, and brood (which is made up of ant eggs, larvae, and pupae). The queen fire ant lives in a protected nest which may be several feet deep and can be several feet away from the visible mound or mounds. There may be several satellite nests near the main nest and some nests may have more than one queen.
Fire ants usually have two flying swarms each year when winged males and females leave the colony for their reproductive flights. This insures the spread and survival of the species. Swarming usually occurs in late Spring and in Summer but can occur during any time of the year. Over the last few decades, fireants have shown us that they can adapt to different weather patterns, locations and even complicated control measures targeting their extinction. Past attempts at eliminating fireants from certain areas (with the use of massive pesticide treatments from ground and air) have done little to inhibit the tremendous march of these persistent pests. Most of these programs actually helped the Fireant by wiping out other species of ants that competed with the Fireant for food!
So I guess fire ants are here to stay.

Common Name: Pharaoh ant
Scientific Name: Varies
Order: Hymenoptera

Description: Also called the sugar ant or piss ant, these are some of the smallest ants, about 1/12-16 inch long, with a light tan to reddish body.

Over 200 species of ants are known to occur in Texas. A number of other ant species are occasionally encountered in and around the home. The acrobat ant, Crematogaster sp., nests under stones, in stumps or dead wood and occasionally invade the home. These ants have a heart-shaped abdomen that is often held up over their bodies. They feed primarily on honeydew produced by aphids. The Argentine ant, Iridomyrmex humilus (Mayr), workers are light to dark brown and generally nest outdoors. It is not common in areas infested by the red imported fire ant. The bigheaded ant, Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius). Worker ants have relatively large heads compared to their bodies. They have a 12 segmented antenna and three-segmented clubs. Their habits are similar to red imported fire ants, feeding on live and dead insects, seeds and honeydew outdoors and greasy food sources and sweets indoors. Workers of the crazy ant, Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille), are fast-running grayish black ants with long legs and antennae. Although they nest primrily outdoors, they will forage in homes. Although they are omnivorous, they are difficult to attract to ant baits. The little black ant, Monomorium minimum (Buckley), is a slow-moving small and black ant that is generally not a pest indoors. Workers prey on insects and feed on honeydew produced by sucking types of insects such as aphids. Workers of the odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile (Say), look somewhat like a red imported fire ant, but has a pungent "rotten-coconutlike" smell when crushed. Workers of the pavement ant, Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus), also resemble the fire ant, but on close examination the head and thorax are roughened with parallel grooves rather than being smooth.

Life Cycle: Development of worker ants progresses from eggs (5-6 days), to several larval stages (22-24 days), prepupal stage (2 to 3 days), a pupae (9-12 days) and adult ants, thus taking from 38 to 45 days from egg to adult (4 days longer for sexual forms). Colonies consist of one to several hundred queen ants, sterile female worker ants, periodically produced winged male and female reproductive ants (sexuals) and brood (developmental stages). These ants do not swarm. Colonies multiply by "budding", whereby a large part of an existing colony migrates carrying brood to a new nesting site.

Habitat, Food Source(s), Damage: Mouthparts are for chewing. Pharaoh ants are omnivorous, feeding on sweets (jelly, particularly mint apple jelly, sugar, honey, etc.), cakes and breads, and greasy or fatty foods (pies, butter, liver and bacon). Nests can be found outdoors and almost anywhere indoors (light sockets, potted plants, wall voids, attics, in any cracks and crevices) particularly close to sources of warmth and water.

Pest Status: The most commonly occurring indoor ant in Texas; in hospitals, it can be a carrier of more than a dozen pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Pseudomonas and Clostridium; these ants do not sting or and usually do not bite.

A ant species was found around Houston , Texas in 2002, and has begun to spread with our assistance. The ant has yet to be identified to species and is commonly referred to as the Rasberry crazy ant. Currently, little is known regarding the biology of this ant.

Appearance of many (millions) of uniformly-sized 1/8 inch long, reddish-brown ants in the landscape; foraging occurs indoors from outdoor nests.
Ants that form loose foraging trails as well as forage randomly and crawl rapidly and erratically (hence the description "crazy" ant).
Ant colonies occur under landscape objects like rocks, timbers, piles of debris, etc. These ants do not build centralized nests, beds, or mounds, and do not emerge to the surface from nests through central openings.

Crazy Ant:

Another species , may in some cases create massive, but localized numbers. These species look similar, but have marked differences. antennae and legs are significantly longer . Although the use of color as an identification tool is not to be relied upon, the crazy ant is often jet black in color, especially when compared to the typically reddish-brown of the rasberry crazy ant.

What they do :

In infested areas around the Houston area, large numbers of Rasberry crazy ants have caused great annoyance to residents and businesses. In Biting and medical implications to people, livestock and wildlife: Rasberry crazy ants do not have stingers. In place of a stinger, worker ants possess an acidopore on the end of the abdomen, which can excrete chemicals for defense or attack. They are capable of biting, and when bitten, they cause a relatively sharp pain that quickly fades.

Electrical equipment:

Rasberry crazy ants cause short circuits and clogging switching mechanisms causing equipment failure.In some cases the ants have caused several thousand dollars in damage and remedial costs.

Identification:

Size: Worker ants are all similar in size with a body length of 1/8 inch.
Worker ants have long legs and antennae, although not as long as the crazy ants and their bodies have numerous, long, coarse hairs. The antenna have 12-segments with no club.
There is a small circle of hairs (acidopore) present at tip of the abdomen (as opposed to the typical stinger found in most ants), a characteristic of formicine ants found within the Formicinae subfamily.

Colonies:

Rasberry crazy ants have been found in enormous numbers.
Colonies contain many queen ants . worker ants and brood consisting of larval and pupal stages. Pupae are "naked" or without cocoons. They periodically produce winged male and female forms called sexuals or reproductives.
The size of the colony infestations can be large and display supercolony (unicolonial) Rasberry crazy ants foraging trails are quite apparent (≥10 cm) and individuals forage erratically, hence the typical reference to "crazy" ant. Foraging trails will often follow structural guidelines (See image below), however, large trails can be found in open areas.

Nesting and nesting behavior:

Rasberry crazy ant colonies can be found under or within almost any object or void, including stumps, soil, concrete, rocks, potted plants, etc.
Nests primarily occur outdoors, but worker ants will forage indoors, into homes and other structures.
Nesting occurs under almost any object that retains moisture.

Food and feeding behavior:

Rasberry crazy ants eat almost anything;
Worker ants commonly "tend" sucking hemipterous insects such as aphids, scale insects, whiteflies, mealybugs, and others that excrete a sugary liquid called "honeydew" extracted from host plants when stimulated by the ants.
Workers are attracted to sweet parts of plants including nectaries, damaged and over-ripe fruit.
Worker ants also consume other insects and other small vertebrates for protein.

Seasonal abundance:

Few worker ants forage during cooler winter months.
In spring foraging activity begins.
Ant numbers remain high through fall (October-November).

Where they are found:

The Rasberry crazy ant has only been known in the state of Texas since 2002. High numbers of the ants have been found in localized spot infestations in southeast Houston (including Houston, Pasadena, Deer Park, Friendswood, San Jacinto Port, Pearland, Seabrook and La Porte.

Infestations have also been confirmed from areas in Bexar, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Chambers, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Orange, Walker and Wharton counties. New infestations are suspected beyond these areas of infestation. However, sample identifications have not been confirmed. This ant has the potential to spread well beyond the current range in coastal Texas. However, it is a semi-tropical ant and potential northern distribution will be limited by cooler weather conditions.

Management: What can you do for them?

Most of the typical control tactics for other ants do not provide adequate control of the Rasberry crazy ant. Because colonies predominantly nest outdoors, reliance on indoor treatments to control these ants foraging inside structures is not effective.

Rasberry crazy ant workers are not attracted to most bait products .

There are treatments available for this ant that offer temporary "buffer zones" using contact insecticides applied to surfaces, Effective products involved with the treatments are not readily available to the consumer. If you suspect your house or property is infested with these ants, call a professional pest control provider. After treatment, or when making multiple applications over time, piles of dead ants must be swept or moved out of the area in order to treat the surface(s) underneath.

Plano Pest Control Inc. Has many ways to control ants so give us a call 972 423 4764.