Odorous House Ants - How to Get Rid of Ants

Females in the odorous house ants nest lays one egg daily. It takes an average of 24 days
for the young to reach adulthood. The nest colonies range from 100 to 10,000 ants,
but can be driven away by invading Argentine ants.

ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS - INSPECTION:

Odorous house ants forage day and night The nests can occur in a great variety of situations.
Inside, odorous house ants usually construct their nests in wall voids
especially around hot water pipes and heaters, in crevices in sinks,
cupboards, etc. Outside, they are found in exposed soil, usually shallow,
often located beneath a board, brick, stone walk, etc.
Odorous house ants are most likely to enter buildings when their honeydew supply or
sweet supply of food is reduced such as during rainy weather
or with leaf fall in the autumn.

ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS - DIET:

Odorous house ants can feed on anything...insects, honeydew, seeds,
plant secretions, but they do prefer sweets. Odorous house ants are extremely fond of honeydew and attend such honeydew-excreting insects
as plntlice(aphids), scale insects, mealybugs, etc.

ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS - ANT TRAILS:

An excellent article (click on the PDF button-the top right corner
of the document) by Univ. of Florida Extension Service can be found at
Ant Trails:Baiting..
It gives an overview of management of odorous house ants with ant baits.

ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS - WHY ANT BAIT?

The use of residual sprays or dusts will cause stress on the colonies,
causing them to split into sub-colonies that scatter to other areas in the structure.
This is also called budding.

After spraying, your problem can be worse than at the beginning.

When you ant bait, you will want a slow acting bait. Quick kill insecticides
and ant baits will only kill the foraging ants, not allowing the foraging ants
to take the bait back home to feed the queen, nest workers and brood.

If the current ant bait that you are using is not acceptable to the odorous house ants,
if they are not visiting the bait, it is recommended that you change the baits.
Odorous house ants require carbohydrates - sugars, proteins and greases.
They find a variety of these sources in nature. Examples are: other insects(proteins and greases), nectar, aphid honeydew,
plant products (sugar and carbohydrates)

Choosing an ant bait would require knowing what they are currently feeding off of,
according to the nutritional needs of the colony.
To be sure that you have all the baiting needs met, you may want to be ready
with a sugar-carbohydrate bait, a grease-fat bait, and a protein based bait.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMOVE ANY OTHER FOOD COMPETITION WHEN BAITING
AND LEAVE THE BAIT ALONE ONCE THE ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS START FEEDING ON IT.

Ant Control Products On Line

ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS - RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS AND TREATMENT

Ant baiting is the preferred treatment over typical residual spraying,
so you can eliminate the entire colony.

The recommended products for the protein/grease eating cycle would be:

The recommended products for the sugar eating cycle would be:

is an excellent choice for the outside, feeding all their dietary needs.

Ant bait stations such as : ANT BAIT STATIONS
that keep the gel or dry granulated bait inside, may serve to keep the ant baits intact.

FOR SMALL SIZED ANTS (feeds all the dietary needs: protein, grease and sugar)

Complete Ant Bait Kits: Small

Perimeter treatment with a good residual sprays such as:

SUSPEND
or
DEMON WP can at times prevent these ants from entering the structures.