Odorous Ants: Are They Good Or Bad Ants?
Odorous ants can contaminate food, leave your yard with unsightly mounds, and cause damage to the structure of your home by hollowing out the wood in the walls.
On top of those things, they can be just plain downright pests that are seemingly impossible to get rid of because of their reproductive abilities and tendencies to abandon an area when threatened.
The odorous house ant has become one of the most common of the problem ants in the country today. The ant itself is dark in color; around 1/8 inches long, and forms a very distinct and original path on the outdoor and indoor walls and other surfaces of the house.
When you look at the odorous house ant, you may be fooled as to what type of ant it is; many people around the country identify the ant as the pavement ant. The problem with this identification is that the pavement ant is easily eradicated and the odorous house ant is not.
The best way to avoid this problem is to squish the ant under your finger and then see if there is the odor of bad coconut or pine; this simple test will tell you if you are dealing with odorous house ants or pavement ants.
The odorous house ant will nest just about anywhere, both outdoors and in. You can find these locations under sidewalks, in flowerpots, in the walls of your home, and they have even been found in potted plants that are inside the home.
These ants are quite mobile and move from place to place quite easily; they will move if disturbed or do not have enough moisture nearby. Another challenge with the odorous house ants is that the colonies have more than one queen.
Most of the time when they move from place to place, the colony will split up, making the nests and the root of the infestation that much harder to locate.
When you realize that you have a problem with this type of ant, it is time to take quick action if any chance of destroying the colony without professional intervention is expected. The first thing that you should do is remove the available food supplies on the inside of the home.
Make sure that the kitchen counter is clean before you retire for the night, and make sure you leave no dirty dishes in the sink since this also attracts them in large numbers. consequences.
Next, you will want to get some bait that you can place both on the inside and outside of your house, preferably in high traffic areas so there is a chance of the poisons being passed back to the queens.
If none of these measures seem to do the trick, it is time to call a professional exterminator. Pest control experts see this species of an ant as a real challenge, but their experience is usually more than enough to tip the odds in their favor.
