Ants Preparedness
February 2025 Edition:
Ants Preparedness
by Brian Beidle, BCE
The ants of the Midwest have been largely sleeping the cold days away, and if you have forgotten about them in most of your food accounts, you are not alone.
Both pavement ants and odorous house ants will enter into a condition called torpor and remain immobile until warm conditions return.
These ants then become active as the soil, slabs, mulch beds, and other substrate at ground level becomes warm.
Daylength also lengthens which gives ants and other insects cues to become active.
Greenup – the first plant life to send up sprouts, is another strong indicator that temperature and day length are now going to allow ants to emerge and torpor to end.
So be ready and observe your accounts to spot these conditions.
The first emerging ants are often ready to get things started and will attack foods they find near the colony; therefore, bait can be very effective. Use gel baits and granular baits according to approved lists.
Pro tip – give trailing ants both baits and then return after 10 minutes. The ants typically will prefer one bait over the other, so add more bait based on that observation.
Once ants are baited, an approved sealant is great to apply as ants die off over the next couple of days. Sealant may also be used 1st if ants must be locked out of a highly visible area or sensitive area. Ants will reemerge from another spot nearby if not killed or weakened by an insecticide.
Trailing ants will return to a nest entry point when they obtain food. Liquid or gel is carried in a swollen abdomen, to use a hand lens and see which ones are laden. A liquid residual on an approved list, applied to the exterior, can be useful at such times. Non repellent residuals are extra effective for this type of application. Use a clean, dedicated sprayer.
While inspecting and treating ants, be aware of the following:
- A client may spray aerosol to kill ants and disrupt your control or ability to detect ants. Advise them to leave it to you, just report ants, not spray them.
- Odorous house ants and pavement ants are both dark colored and about 1/8” long.
- Pharoah ants and thief ants are about 1/16” and golden-yellow. Pharoah ants can be very difficult to control so get specimens, ID them, and then speak to your supervisor for help.