Getting antsy: Ants in the house

The total ant population in the world is estimated at one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000), “one million billion” -- Farmers Almanac

Ants are a truly fascinating insect. From lifting 100 times their body weight to having the longest life expectancy of any insect, these critters are capable of some incredible things.

Ants are among the most successful insects, out-numbering all other individual animals combined. Their presence in nature is essential to the well-being of the garden and environment. But they are not welcome in our house.

My wife and I willingly bring natural items into our home, such as plants, Christmas trees and pinecones, which is fine ... but when the outdoors comes inside uninvited there is a problem. There are the semi-tolerable stink bugs, houseflies and an occasional wasp, but there is nothing pleasant about an ant invasion-especially over the holidays.

The ants in our house were marching in more than one by one: it is more like platoons of them. Unfortunately, I found out from an ant exterminator that I was not the only one with ant problems in the area.

People don’t willingly allow ants into their homes, but instead unknowingly invite them in. Do you have any shrubbery or tree limbs touching your house along the base or roof? These are like a highway between your house and their food source. One food source is honeydew secreted by aphids or certain caterpillars when they feed on plant sap. The shorter the distance between the ant’s nest and the food source, the more likely the ants will keep nesting there.

A well-sealed home is one way to prevent invasion. Any cracks should be caulked around the base of the house and firewood stored away from walls. Ants also love moisture as demonstrated by the ants swarming our faucet. To deter ants, make sure gutters are clean, downspouts drain away from the house and that bathroom and kitchens are well caulked.

Only one ant has to find the food or water source in a house to bring in the rest of the colony. Certain ants in a colony are designated foragers, usually wingless females. Once a foraging ant finds food, it will leave a scent trail from the food source back to the nest. Then other foragers will follow the trail and lay down their scent also, which reinforces the trail. The number of ants following the trail can quickly multiply depending on the size of the colony.

The best way to eliminate an ant colony is with slow-killing bait. Some baits kill the foraging ants before they return to the nest. The slow-killing baits are ideal because they allow the ants to return to their nest and feed the other ants, including the queen.

Since foraging ants are the only ones obtaining the food, they also feed the remainder of the colony, including the larvae. They do this by regurgitating the liquid they have obtained (a process known as trophallaxis) and feeding it to other ants. Therefore, when they regurgitate the slow-killing bait they are spreading it throughout the colony.

A colony can only be eliminated if the queen is killed since the queen is the sole reproducer of the nest. Queen ants can live up to 28 years while worker ants only live one to three years. Some colonies even have multiple queens, which makes controlling the ant invasion harder since the colony multiplies faster.

The key to controlling an ant invasion is to act quickly once ants are noticed —the longer you wait to handle the problem, the longer it will take to eliminate the problem. So, when the ants come marching into your home, don’t get antsy, take notice and take action.