There's a small black dot on the counter that, at first, looks like a crumb. But then it moves. And there's another. And another. Then comes that sinking feeling.
Ants.
Outside, they're the bane of picnics. Inside, they seem a more menacing annoyance -- whole armies of tiny little invaders marching their unsightly way through kitchens and bathrooms.
Ants coming into a home are looking for the same things: moisture and food. They're fairly inactive in winter, but in spring, when the colony is growing and needs more food, and during the dry summers, foraging ants fan out from the colony and enter houses when they don't find what they need outside.
Once a forager finds a source, say a plate of cookies on a kitchen counter, it recruits other worker ants to join in getting the food back to the colony, laying a pheromone trail between the nest and the source. That's when a homeowner will start to notice the stream of ants in the kitchen.
Ant control requires several steps:
• Eliminate or treat habitats. Knowing what type of ants have invaded the home is one of the first steps. Carpenter ants target water-damaged wood, and so repairing those spots in the home is important to eliminating nests or preventing the ants from settling in.
As for odorous house ants, they love leaf litter, thick mulch, vegetation and gutters -- one spot people often don't think about, according to Christian Wilcox, a pest control expert who is technical director with McCauley Services. So keep the gutters and the area around the home clean. Eliminating those habitats makes it less likely the ants will find their way inside.
Don't forget to look up. If there are tree limbs touching the roof or side of the house, any ants crawling around on that tree have a natural bridge straight to the structure.
• Make it harder for them to get inside. John Hopkins, an entomologist with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service says, "Make sure your house doesn't have any inviting entryways."
That means fixing cracks in the foundations and walls and sealing holes around utility lines.
Wilcox says, "Realistically, with ants, it's very difficult to exclude them. Those guys can get through some really tiny cracks."
But making entry more difficult can discourage them.
• Be tidy and clean. Make sure the house doesn't have any tempting treats lying around. That means making sure food is properly stored and any crumbs or spills are cleaned up. Also watch out for leaks and water damage.
• Do some detective work. If it's not just a lone forager but an army of ants in the kitchen, it may be tempting to grab a can of ant spray, but the wisest thing is to do some sleuthing.
"You need to locate their colony," Wilcox says. "You're not really [affecting] them if you don't try to get back to where the point of origin is."
The truth is, the ants marching through the house represent about 3 percent of the entire colony. A spray might kill a few hundred, but the rest of the colony will be intact and will keep coming.
Instead, follow the trail to find that colony. But even then, Hopkins says, "We normally don't recommend going around and spraying with a sprayer."
Spraying the colony is just like triggering an alarm to the Secret Service. Workers will immediately pick up the queens and move them out -- merely moving the colony. Stealth operations work better.
• Be patient. The best long-term solution is to use bait. Baits contain boric acid or some other compound that's slow-acting so the workers pick up the insecticide-laced bait, carry it back home to feed the queens and other ants and thus kill or severely weaken the colony.
There are commercial baits on the market and recipes for homemade solutions. Hopkins recommends a solution of one part boric acid to 100 parts bait, or try a one to 50 ratio.
Hopkins says, "Don't make it too strong to start with."
If the boric acid is too strong,
ants will stay away. It's better to start with the weaker concentration and, if the ants take the bait
but their numbers don't reduce, increase the boric acid a bit.
For the bait, use either a sweet- or grease-based lure, depending on what food the ants seem most interested in.
So the trick is finding the right bait, which can change depending on the weather and can even be different from hour to hour. Odorous house ants love sweets, but during cooler weather, they tend to prefer carbohydrates and fats. Watching what food seems to be tempting the ants can give a clue, but trial and error will be involved.
"When we have warm days and cool nights, you may try a bait in the morning when it's cool and the ants won't touch it," Wilcox warns. "But if you were to try that same bait when it warmed up, they'd be all over it."
Hopkins says one easy way to set out the bait -- which should be monitored and kept fresh -- is to put it inside a straw. The ants can get inside, the bait stays fresher longer and it's easy for people to pick up the bait trap and move it wherever they want. Set the bait in the path of the ant trails and near the colony.
There are also perimeter treatments that can be applied around the outside of the house after trees and shrubs have been trimmed back.
There are commercial baits for carpenter ants as well, although finding their nests might involve some late-night snooping.
Hopkins says, "They're mainly active at night, so you may have to get your flashlight out and do a little night work. But if you can find where they're nesting in a tree beside your house or whatnot, you can inject a little insecticide into the nest area and pretty well take care of the problem."
Taking care of any leaks and bad wood will also help keep the problem from recurring.
When it comes to fire ants, if colonies have taken up residence in the yard, Hopkins recommends a two-pronged attack:
First, do a broad application of fire ant bait (there are many commercial varieties) in the affected area. Some larger mounds might survive, so wait a week or two before a second application.
And just like with other ants, do not disturb the colony before applying the bait or the problem won't go away. It will just relocate and may, in fact, multiply.
Regardless of the ants, getting rid of them requires patience. Wilcox says that even for professionals who have studied ants and taken courses in pest control, "It can really be frustrating. We get a ton of calls from people saying, 'I've just had enough!'"
For more information, call the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service at (501) 671-2000 or visit uaex.edu.
HomeStyle on 04/09/2016