There is a folk sign: ants in the house - to wealth and harmony. And it is not without reason, because these insects settle in the house where they have something to profit from. In search of food, they move hundreds of meters away from the nest or anthill, choose a new home with comfortable conditions and tasty morsels, and multiply very quickly.
A colony of ants can be called one large organism, their way of life is so clearly planned. While the queens are engaged in breeding their offspring without leaving the secluded area, the working ants scurry around in search of food, leaving behind a special trail of pheromones, along which not only they themselves find their way back, but also their brothers can easily find their way and lead the entire colony to a new place .
House ants can bring an entire colony into your home in search of food.
In nature and in a summer cottage, ants bring tangible benefits: in particular, they protect plants from harmful insects (caterpillars, slugs, fly larvae, etc.). However, once they get into the room, they themselves turn from protectors into pests. Why does this happen and how serious is the harm that they can cause to a person?
Meet the enemy
Fire-colored forest and house ants are called red. The latter are much smaller - body length is about 3 mm. They have three transverse stripes on the back of their body.
Three transverse stripes on the back are a distinctive feature of the domestic variety of red ants
These ants also differ in their origin: forest ants inhabit the forests of Russia, while domestic ones were brought from India in the 16th century. Now red house ants inhabit almost the entire globe (no wonder there are about 10 thousand species!), except for Antarctica, Greenland and Iceland. From which we can conclude that insects need warmth to live comfortably.
Red ants are called pharaohs. This name was given by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, mistakenly believing that Egypt was the birthplace of insects. He was misled by the fact that they were discovered during excavations of tombs.
Lifestyle Features
Red ants are social insects. They live in large colonies, the number of which can number up to tens of thousands of individuals. All residents are clearly subordinated to the hierarchy of three castes: females, males and workers. Representatives of the latter are the most numerous; they provide food for the elite.
The female red ant is larger than the workers and has a more massive rear part of the body.
From this social division we can conclude: by destroying a couple of dozen ants that have encroached on the crumbs in the kitchen, we will not get rid of insects. The female needs only five days to restore the population size.
Having discovered and destroyed a couple of dozen individuals, you should not count on successful removal of pests
What do red ants eat?
They love to eat delicious food and are not picky when choosing food. They are attracted to:
- food products (this is why insects are also called meat or sugar);
- leftover food from a trash can that was not taken out on time;
- pests, the extermination of which has a beneficial effect on human life - aphids, fleas, moths and other insects.
Humans provide a complete diet for ants
Ant behavior
House ants are organized insects. Each individual is assigned certain responsibilities. Worker ants bring food for the queen (queen) and her larvae. In search of food and water, working ants can completely master the kitchen within a day.
If they find a food source, they lay out a path for other individuals to reach it, marking it with a specific smell. If the food found is large, the ant secretes special saliva, which helps soften the large product. The ant then bites off a small piece of food and takes it to the nest. An ant's saliva consists of mucus that resembles a cobweb, and when it processes a product with it, it cannot be consumed afterwards.
Members of the colony follow a daily routine. During the day, each ant does its own job. At dusk, the insects return to the nest, all entrances of which are sealed at night. Therefore, you can only detect ants in an apartment during daylight hours.
How can you detect a colony of ants in an apartment?
- Working ants appear on the left piece of sugar after 2-3 hours.
- Thread-like traces of a white hue (ant saliva) are left on food products.
- Ants crawl in tightly closed bags and jars.
The colony is growing rapidly. Then a small part of the ants, along with the queen, separates to form a new colony in another place. The reproduction of insects in geometric progression gives them the opportunity to develop new territories of human habitation. After a few months, you can already find fresh anthills in all rooms of the apartment, which are very difficult to get rid of at the same time.
What do house ants eat?
Ants are omnivores. They survive in the presence of microscopic food crumbs and can consume any spices and even synthetic products.
More often, the diet of insects follows the table of its human neighbor. The best food is consumed by older individuals. The queen loves protein foods of animal origin, the larvae love carbohydrate foods. In apartments, ants feast on dishes containing sugar and honey.
Reasons for appearance in human habitation zone
A person owes his uncleanliness to the invasion of red ants - leftover food accumulating in the trash can, crumbs on the floor and on the table, dust. But they are not stationed only in the kitchen. Closets with clothes, children's toys, bookshelves - under favorable conditions, pests will be everywhere. And in multi-story buildings, ants can place a nest in the ceilings between concrete structures, under floor tiles, in ventilation ducts and other secluded and hard-to-reach corners.
If you notice a couple of ants in the kitchen, this does not mean that a colony has settled in the house. First, scouts enter it and find out whether the dwelling is suitable for habitation. Therefore, start fighting insects immediately.
Ants live not only in the kitchen, but in other rooms
How insects get into the house
Red ants have several ways into a human home:
- through the garbage chute;
- from neighbors;
- from nearby grocery stores;
- from the street on a person’s shoes and clothes;
Insects crawl from one house to another, from one apartment to another - with food or things brought from infected places.
If you accidentally brought red forest ants into your house, there is nothing to fear: they do not live with humans, so they will very quickly leave the room or die.
How pests appear on a personal plot
For gardeners, the invasion of red ants is also unpleasant. The land and the plantings on it suffer not so much because insects feed on the grown fruits, but because of the creation of nests in the root systems of plants and trees. A strong colony of ants can destroy a mature tree in just 2–3 years. If the nest appears in the ground, then nothing will grow around this place.
How to get rid of ants in an apartment using odorous folk remedies
Folk remedies will help get rid of pests only in the initial stages of the spread of ants. If you only find a few scouts in your kitchen, then you can make do with herbs or products that have a repellent aroma. House ants are afraid of five powerful odors.
- Garlic. “Decorate” the kitchen with cleaned teeth. To enhance the effect, prepare garlic paste and place it on plates or paper. If you have noticed insect trails more than once, then rub such paths with fresh garlic juice.
- Chili pepper. This is another component whose aroma repels pests. But even people cannot stand such a smell without sneezing and watery eyes. So don't get carried away with red pepper.
- Cinnamon. If you manage to find a nest, you can safely fill it with a few pinches of ground spice. Or place cinnamon sticks around the house. The substance, harmless to humans and animals, will gradually do its job, completely driving out the uninvited guests.
- Herbal. You can easily combine business with pleasure. Collect armfuls of wormwood, anise, chamomile, and elderberry in the forest or meadows. Tie them into bouquets, weave wreaths. Decorate your kitchen with this decor. Herbs have a specific smell that pests do not like, so they will have no choice but to leave the apartment of their own free will.
- Disinfectants. Thoroughly rinse tiles, door frames, handles, and furniture with vinegar solution. Ammonia is no less effective. Such smells will instantly drive ants out of your home. But they are also very unpleasant for humans.
Why are red ants dangerous?
In addition to the described examples of harm caused by the pharaohs, there are other consequences of human proximity to insects:
- On their paws, ants carry dangerous microbes that can cause various diseases - diphtheria, dysentery, typhoid, salmonellosis, cholera.
Ants carry dangerous bacteria on their feet - They are also dangerous for domestic animals, because they are carriers of canine distemper. But the list of consequences of proximity to ants for humans does not end there.
- Insects damage wooden furniture by digging tunnels in it to reach their nests.
- They can cause short circuits in household appliances, because they like to inhabit microwave ovens, televisions, and washing machines.
Unlike their forest counterparts, house ants, due to their modest size, do not have strong mandibles (jaws) capable of opening to such a size as to capture a piece of skin. But there are known cases where they have bitten newborn children, causing itching, pain and allergic reactions.
Ants can bite small children, causing allergic reactions and itching
What to do if there are ants in indoor flowers
House flowers are another unusual place where ants like to settle. To get rid of them, you can use the following methods:
- put coffee grounds on the soil - as we remember, ants really don’t like strong odors;
- treat plants with soapy water;
- use sweet but poisonous baits;
- treat the soil with permethrin;
- add diatomaceous earth to the soil.
There are also midges that look like ants with wings. Sweet bait is also useful for destroying them.
Varieties
The following types of ants may end up in your home.
Red pharaohs
The most common. They are characterized by a red or yellow color and a size of up to 3 millimeters. Since these insects came to the Russian Federation from the warm regions of Asia, they cannot survive on the street, but in houses they can even get to the upper floors.
Like other species, these ants are winged when they reproduce.
They can be recognized by their yellow color. They usually go up to the third floor at most.
They very rarely get into houses, but they feel great in greenhouses.
Red forest
They have dimensions of 7–14 mm and also rarely find their way into living spaces. You can recognize such ants by their brown or reddish tint (the belly and head are slightly black).
They are even larger and can reach 15–20 mm. These are pests that can pose a danger.
Calling an exterminator
The problem is that ants are also getting smarter and adapting to different conditions, and now they can survive even after some industrial poisons. In addition, they hide their nests so well that it can be difficult to reach even with a spray.
If folk recipes and remedies from stores fail to remove parasites, then you will have to call a professional, namely, an exterminator.
You also need to prepare for his arrival:
- carry out general wet cleaning of the premises;
- put all food and utensils in cellophane, film or plastic bags;
- take out pets.
After this, the residents themselves must leave. After the exterminator’s work, it is necessary to thoroughly ventilate the room and once again carry out a general wet cleaning.
Prevention
When the ants are defeated, you should take care not to encounter them in your apartment or house again. To do this, it is better to familiarize yourself with the measures to prevent such meetings:
- After a meal, all food should be put in the refrigerator or at least covered. Crumbs from the table are wiped off immediately, just like the dishes are washed.
- Garbage must be taken out daily and the trash can must have a lid.
- If any liquid is spilled, especially sweet liquid, it should be immediately wiped dry, preferably with soapy water.
- All sweets and bulk products should be in sealed packages that ants cannot get into.
- Wet cleaning is carried out once a week.
- Check if the tap is leaking. Water is the basis of life for ants, so access to it must be limited.
These measures will help you avoid meeting or meeting red ants on your property.
