Ants and their Control

There are many ant species common to the Dallas / Fort Worth area (and to all of Texas). But a few species account for the bulk of ant control calls received by exterminators.

Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are rather large ants of the genus Campontus, usually ranging from half an inch to an inch in length. Carpenter ants usually are black in color, although a few species are black and red or black and yellow.

In nature, carpenter ants usually make their nests in dead trees, rotten stumps, and similar natural voids. They don't actually eat the wood; they just escavate galleries in it as a place to build their nests.

When they infest homes, carpenter ants usually nest in void areas such as crawl spaces, roof soffits, and in the spaces around window and door frames. Occasionally they'll also infest non-wooden voids such as electrical conduit, curtain rods, and the carboard tubes of old-fashioned window shades.

Over time, large colonies of carpenter ants can do serious damage to homes and other wooden structures. Ideally, control is best accomplished by finding the nest and treating it directly. When this is not possible, however, baits and non-repellent residual insecticides are usually effective.

Fire Ants

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is already an important public health pest in Texas and throughout the Southern United States; and some experts predict that fire ants will spread to even more areas.

Fire ants usually nest in the soil in in mounds that can grow quite large, and the number of ants in a colony can number many thousands. Occasionally, fire ants also nest in void areas such as utility chaseways and electrical boxes.

Fire ants are extremely aggressive and often attack any person or animal who disturbs them or comes close to their nests. Because of the large size of their colonies, hundreds or possibly even thousands of ants can attack at once, making them important public health pests. Children, sportsmen, gardeners, agricultural laborers, and others who work or play outside are particularly at risk.

The stings of fire ants are very painful and usually cause swelling, redness, and white pustules. They also make the victim more susceptible to infection and may cause permanent scarring.

Sensitive individuals and those who have been stung repeatedly can also suffer systemic reactions including chest pain, nausea, difficulty breathing, and sometimes death.

Treatment of fire ants usually involves direct treatment of their nests or the use of specialized baits. Because of the difficulty of treatment and the risk involved, fire ant treatment is best left to professionals.

Acrobat Ants

Acrobat ants are small (about 1/8 inch) ants who usually are yellowish to dark brown in color, although some are nearly black.

Acrobat ants get their name from their odd habit of lifting their gasters (the ants' abdomen or "tail end") into a raised position that is believed to be a defensive posture whenever they are threatened or agitated.

In nature, acrobat ants usually live outdoors in damp areas that are rich in decaying organic matter, such as rotting trees or logs, woodpiles, leaf mulch, and sometimes under rocks. Occasionally, however, they invade homes and buildings, where they usually live in wood that has been moisture damaged or in structural voids.

Pharaoh Ants

Pharaoh ants are very tiny ants (usually about 1/16 of an inch). They can be from yellow to red in color, but most often are amber. They are among the most difficult of all insects to control due to their small size, their large colonies (often numbering in the tens of thousands, and sometimes even hundreds of thousands, with multiple queens), and the peculiar ability of pharoah ant workers to select a new queen if a group of workers get separated from the main colony.

This last characteristic, known as budding, can result in "fracturing" a colony when insecticed such as dusts or sprays are used. A small number of ants who actually contact the insecticides will die, but the rest will scatter and elect new queens, often making the problem worse than it was before the treatment.

Treatment is best accomplished using specialized baits or non-repellent insecticides.