<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nBelow is a quick guide to help you identify the seven most common ants that you will come across around your property.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Fire Ants <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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-The red imported fire ant is a common ant found in the Southeastern seaboard and parts of California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Fire ants have an exoskeleton and six legs, and their head is typically copper brown in color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Worker ants have mandibles, and they use their stinger to inject venom into their prey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-The result of being stung by a fire ant is a burning sensation and red welts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-They build a single mound nest in unshaded locations roughly 18 cm tall and 61 cm wide<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Odorous House Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– OHA are small, dark brown to black ants that lack a sting or acidopore and have a slit-like opening on the ventral side of the gaster one segment from the tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Odorous house ants can be found in many places, indoors and outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– They nest in pre-existing spaces, often near water or food sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– OHAs are polygynous, with many queens per colony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Argentine Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– Argentine ants are typically light to dark brown in color and range between 2.2 to 2.8 mm long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– They are wingless with a 12-segmented antenna and emit a musty odor when crushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Queens are slightly larger than workers, measuring between 4 to 6 mm long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Reproductives queens and males may have wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– The most common sign of an Argentine ant infestation is witnessing the trails of ants, often traveling up buildings, trees, and into homes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Pharaoh Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– Pharaoh ants are a small (.2 mm), light yellow to red species of ant that lives in large colonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Pharaoh ants nest in warm, humid areas near food sources like behind baseboards, in walls voids, underneath floors, or behind large appliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Pharaoh ants feed on a wide variety of foods including other insects, sweets, oils, and proteins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Pharaoh ants can carry and transmit serious diseases to people including salmonella and Streptococcus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Pharaoh ants are difficult to control because they live in large colonies and can “bud” when the colony senses danger meaning the queen will escape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Thief Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– tiny, yellowish ants that are often confused with Pharaoh ants, but have 2 segments in the club-like structure at the end of the antenna (Pharoah ants has 3 segments)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– lives among other ants and acts as a predator of their brood<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– omnivorous and prefer grease or high protein foods over sweets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– often invade houses and may nest indoors in cracks and cupboards<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Pavement Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– They often construct their nests under the foundation of buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Small dark brown to black ants (>3mm) that occur in all 50 states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-There are striations on the head and dorsal surface of their thorax and their 12-segmented antennae end in a 3-segmented club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Food can be termites, other insects, sugar or protein based ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Pavement ants use a chemical trail to recruit nestmates to a food source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Foraging ants are usually active on the floor and along the edge of the walls near door frames at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-The workers live for several years and the largest colonies can exceed 10,000 workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Carpenter Ants<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
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– 24 species of carpenter Ant are recorded in the USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carpenter Ants a waist with one node (petiole) and a thorax that is evenly rounded when viewed from the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Workers are usually black or red and black in color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Workers usually range in size from 10 – 13 mm in length; one species is just 5mm long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Carpenter ant workers of the same species vary in size (major and minor workers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Queens and males are larger than workers and have wings. Queens will lose their wings once they start a new nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Queens may be as large as one 2.5 cm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you’ve been seeing more carpenter ants around your home, it’s time to take action and get rid of them….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homelesspests.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}