Crazy Ants! We are getting a lot of them here too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crazy Ants

In that link, looks like crazy ants are brown - if they're black, it may be acrobat ants….

These ants are black and make trails on the house, plants, sidewalk... they're in our cars and in the house and just everywhere. They don't seem to bite. Does anyone know if they "farm" and if they're what might be helping kill/disease my plants?

Close-up. The ants are definitely black and a bit smaller than a fire ant, though larger than "sugar ants" or "piss ants."

This looks like the white footed ant! I have them too. Here is an article on them in google.

Here is a link that might be useful: White Footed Ant

Great article!

I had a bathroom overrun by these guys. They were coming in for liquid. The plants outside the bath were infested with aphids and producing plenty of honeydew. Once that was treated and cleaned up, I had no more ants. My Terminix man said WF ants are great farmers.

I did use Terro liquid bait in the bath before I could figure out where they were coming from. It helped. Good luck!

Hi Bridget
We had an infestation of these guys at some of our old houses (and one of them was brand new), so Larry bought stuff called Uncle Albert's Super Smart Ant Bait.
We used it diligently on the ant trails and after awhile, we noticed it greatly reduced the ant population.
We always keep this stuff in eye droppers where we can get to it whenever we see any kind of ants in the house. It works if you keep at 'em.

I can give ya some if you ever come over my house!

Susie

I wouldn't know where to begin to treat them... And yes, they sound like the WAFs. They're literally everywhere. I mean, I'm overwhelmed.

Susieqsie, where did you get the ant bait? Sounds like a good product to have.

Bait is not the answer. The domestic ants are easy to control. They eat bait, bring it to the queen and the colony is dead. The invasives don't eat that way. I never had a bug service until the white footed asians came. They require contact killing. You must seek out each nest. If you find them dust with boric acid. That is what the pros do. At the state of the science now, you can only control them, never get rid of them.
If you hire a service, ask them what to expect in terms of how quick their response will be. The first one I had would only come at most during a problem once a week. My current service will come daily, not weekends, until the problem is resolved. They feel that my monthly fee that they get when all is good averages it all out. And the fee is competitive.

The ants are thick in the neighborhood. So my entire yard is sprayed monthly. Compost and edibles are not sprayed. If they stop. I'd be overwhelmed crazy ants included.

This problem is the results of the world shrinking and globalization. These invasives are hitchhikers on cargo ships. When they arrive there is minimal natural resistance.

Now in southern Florida we are under attack by spiral white fly. Another hitchhiker.

Good luck...

I went and looked, and they're climbing up my house to the very topmost peak of my two story house. There's no crawl space or area for us to access them once they disappear under the eaves. I'm pretty sure I've got a nest every ten feet or so, based on the amount of activity I'm seeing. What specifically can I spray to kill the honeydew producers that attract these ants?

Here's the White-Footed-Ant page from my favorite pest control supplier:

""Let Reduction & Management Be Your Goal

White-footed ants are extremely difficult to eliminate completely from a structure once they have inhabited it.
The reasons are:

1) Toxic baits may eliminate individual ants, but won't wipe out entire colonies since they don't take food back to the colony and regurgitate it like most other ant species;

2) Sterile workers lay unfertilized eggs which are fed to the adults in the colony, so even if you successfully eliminate food sources they may still thrive;

3) White-footed ants reproduce at phenomenal rates, and satellite colonies may be established over a wide area as part of one super colony.

However, using the following methods over time and with a concentrated effort, you can keep an existing infestation under tight control, or prevent un-infested buildings from new invasion.

Step 1) Keep Them Out

It is easy for white-footed ants and other small insects to gain access to homes and buildings through tiny cracks or gaps in the foundation (most often around doors and windows.) These areas should be thoroughly inspected and potential entry points sealed up by caulk or other exclusion material.

Step 2) Treat Outdoor Ant Mounds

All outdoor mounds visible upon a thorough inspection can be eliminating by drenching the mound by the same Talstar concentrate used on door and window frames. This is best done using a gallon sprayer. Drenching simply means applying enough of the liquid insecticide to drown all ants in the nest and surrounding area. Always read the product label for specific directions on mound treatments. Pets and children should be kept away from the treated area until the solution has dried.

Broadcasting the entire outdoor property at least 3 times a year with Talstar Granules will also help to manage outdoor mounds. Read more information on how to treat ant nests outdoors and indoors.

Step 3) Spray & Dust Treatments

Spray Treatments : In addition to treating the colony, do a thorough inspection inside and outside for any additional trails, entry points, and hiding places. Each location where White-footed Ant activity is sighted or suspected should be treated with Talstar to kill any existing ants while preventing new colonies from budding.

For outdoor spraying: Spray a good barrier around the home using a one gallon sprayer. A fan spray that is at least 3 feet high on the side of the building and 3 to 6 feet out on the ground will provide excellent protection.

Dust Treatments: White-footed are known to respond very weakly to baits, so indoor colonies should instead be treated with a residual dust pesticide. Dust underneath baseboards, and inside cracks, crevices, and voids where activity is suspected, including all areas that cannot be sprayed with Delta Dust Insecticide. This is easy to apply using a professional Hand Duster.

Step 4) Baits

As stated earlier, toxic baits can only eliminate half of a white-footed ant colony at best, with only half of its workers foraging on food sources outside the nest. White-footed ants will not bait-share so the half of the colony that "stays home" will never be exposed to the poison. If you wish to bait indoors to reduce colony size, try either Advance Liquid Ant Bait or Advance 360A Dual Choice Ant Bait Stations

Additional Methods for Ant Prevention & Control

After you have applied the appropriate pesticide chemicals, these additional non chemical methods will help you to maintain control and prevent future ant infestations:

* Practice good sanitation.
* Limit food preparation and consumption to one or two areas of the home that are cleaned daily. Ants will be less likely to invade if food sources (like crumbs and spills) are not available.
* Eliminate gaps and cracks in the foundation, baseboards, window frames, and door frames with caulk or other appropriate material to eliminate ant entryways.
* Materials such as stacked or piled lumber, stones, bricks, leaf litter, heavy mulch, and other debris that serve as potential ant harborages should be removed as far from the structure as possible.
* Trim the branches of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation that may serve as ant highways so they do not touch the structure.
* Repair leaky pipes and faucets.""

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Pest Control

Wanda
My husband bought the gallon jug on-line and only remembers that it was from Texas. And apparently it's not available anymore.

Sorry.

This post was edited by susieqsie on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 15:02