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Photo Gallery - Reproductive superstars
Dumping out those potted plants? Odorous house ants living
inside happily toddle over to the compost pile. Having many
queens in the nest helps them split up without too many tearful
goodbyes.
Roll Up the Welcome Mat
While I see odorous house ants in my kitchen as a happy
surprise, I’m aware that not everybody (OK, probably most
people) shares my sentiment. It can be disconcerting to see eager
sugarbears trundling across your Wheaties. After I conduct my
wizardly diagnosis, the response never seems to be: “What FUN!”
It’s almost always: “How can I get rid of them?”
Odorous house ants can have multiple egg-laying queens in the same
colony. - © Alex Wild
In the country, as conditions around their nests change, such as
when a new, more dominant species comes to town or a big
storm floods the area, odorous house ants move out. They
generally move their nests around every two weeks or so. This
ability to pack up and move willy-nilly in the woods helps them
big-time in ever-shifting, human-made environments. Garbage
day? Dumpster-living ants can saunter over to the grassy area.
Store shelves are packed with poisons designed to extinguish
these ladies. However, knowing what we know now about
odorous house ants, most of us can outsmart them. Be a
gumshoe like Columbo. Stake them out. Follow them home to
see how they sneak into your house. Then, eliminate the source.
We know that odorous house ants like to hang out in tree
canopies and bushes, slurping up honeydew. Walk around the
house and see if you have any bushes touching your walls and
windows. Branches bridge the ants from their outdoor lifestyles to
apartment living. Cut back those branches. Snoop out other ways
they enter the house. For example, they sometimes sneak in
through cracks and crevices. Seal those with caulk.
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