Or maybe I just need antxiety meds?
January 15, 2012 4:56 PM Subscribe
Should I be concerned about large numbers of ants in my backyard and small numbers of ants in my house?
Bought a house (in Australia) in April last year. There were a lot of ant baits around the place when we moved in, so clearly there have been some problems with ants in the house in the past.
These are not termites, by the way. At least, I'm pretty sure. I come from NZ where there are no termites, so the whole termite thing is new to me, but as I understand it, termites are white. I have not seen any white ants. Also, the house passed a termite inspection when we bought it.
But there are seemingly huge numbers of the tiny black ants outside under our paved courtyard. Every few paving stones there is a little mound of dirt that has been pushed up between the cracks where I guess there's an entrance to an ant's nest. There are always lots of ants scurrying around too. The same is true of the cracks in the driveway concrete.
Some of these nest entrances are within a metre or two of the house.
We have a huge gum tree a few metres from the house (I know, terrible idea, but it's protected, so we can't remove it even if we wanted to). Recently when it dropped a random branch, as gum trees do, the branch split open and was full of tiny black ants and their eggs. If they are nesting in tree branches, what stops them nesting in the wood of my house?
I kind of have an inexplicable worry that maybe the ground underneath my house is riddled with giant networks of ant tunnels, and that the whole thing will collapse around me one day. Or that ants are eating my house from the inside out.
Finally, over the past week I keep spotting giant red ants (I think they are called bull ants?) in the house. But it's never more than one of them in a room, and they are in strange places, like the bathroom, or the far wall of the lounge, that is a long way away from any entrance into the house. I'm seeing only one or two a day. But I'm worried that maybe there is a big nest of them in the house somewhere that I haven't spotted. I know I could set out baits, but if it IS just a random handful of ants that have wandered inside, I don't want to start attracting all their friends in as well, even if it might ultimately kill them.
So my question is, am I being irrational to worry about this at all? Should I be trying to kill off the outside nests or not? I prefer the approach of live and let live when it comes to ants that aren't actually trying to eat the food in my kitchen or march through my living room, and they aren't doing that, so if I should just chill and ignore them, I'll do that.
Bought a house (in Australia) in April last year. There were a lot of ant baits around the place when we moved in, so clearly there have been some problems with ants in the house in the past.
These are not termites, by the way. At least, I'm pretty sure. I come from NZ where there are no termites, so the whole termite thing is new to me, but as I understand it, termites are white. I have not seen any white ants. Also, the house passed a termite inspection when we bought it.
But there are seemingly huge numbers of the tiny black ants outside under our paved courtyard. Every few paving stones there is a little mound of dirt that has been pushed up between the cracks where I guess there's an entrance to an ant's nest. There are always lots of ants scurrying around too. The same is true of the cracks in the driveway concrete.
Some of these nest entrances are within a metre or two of the house.
We have a huge gum tree a few metres from the house (I know, terrible idea, but it's protected, so we can't remove it even if we wanted to). Recently when it dropped a random branch, as gum trees do, the branch split open and was full of tiny black ants and their eggs. If they are nesting in tree branches, what stops them nesting in the wood of my house?
I kind of have an inexplicable worry that maybe the ground underneath my house is riddled with giant networks of ant tunnels, and that the whole thing will collapse around me one day. Or that ants are eating my house from the inside out.
Finally, over the past week I keep spotting giant red ants (I think they are called bull ants?) in the house. But it's never more than one of them in a room, and they are in strange places, like the bathroom, or the far wall of the lounge, that is a long way away from any entrance into the house. I'm seeing only one or two a day. But I'm worried that maybe there is a big nest of them in the house somewhere that I haven't spotted. I know I could set out baits, but if it IS just a random handful of ants that have wandered inside, I don't want to start attracting all their friends in as well, even if it might ultimately kill them.
So my question is, am I being irrational to worry about this at all? Should I be trying to kill off the outside nests or not? I prefer the approach of live and let live when it comes to ants that aren't actually trying to eat the food in my kitchen or march through my living room, and they aren't doing that, so if I should just chill and ignore them, I'll do that.
Response by poster: When I found the ones in the tree branch, google led me to carpenter ants, but I'm 99% sure these aren't those. These are far too small (like two pin heads put together). And my husband said he thought they might have just moved into a dead and hollow branch, rather than hollowing it out themselves.
I have been thinking about calling an exterminator, but I felt stupid doing that, because who calls an exterminator for ants that are outside?! If I had found any in the house, that would be a different matter. Also, not being Australian, maybe I'm worrying about really innocuous ants that everyone knows are normal here.
I should note that the termite inspection we had in April was for all pests, not just termites, and found nothing to worry about. I guess we could just get another generic pest inspection just in case...
posted by lollusc at 5:23 PM on January 15, 2012
I have been thinking about calling an exterminator, but I felt stupid doing that, because who calls an exterminator for ants that are outside?! If I had found any in the house, that would be a different matter. Also, not being Australian, maybe I'm worrying about really innocuous ants that everyone knows are normal here.
I should note that the termite inspection we had in April was for all pests, not just termites, and found nothing to worry about. I guess we could just get another generic pest inspection just in case...
posted by lollusc at 5:23 PM on January 15, 2012
Best answer: Australia has no native (or, afaik, introduced) ants that attack seasoned timber. Termites, yes, but not ants. Most likely your husband is right, and they moved into an already hollowed branch.
The big reddish ones you saw? Probably one of the native carpenter ants. They'll damage green or damp timber, and live in existing hollows in - but not damage - seasoned timber. Most likely the ones you saw inside are coming from a colony a long way away. They'll travel quite a distance - 100m or more - in search of food.
Most people I know would leave them alone, and only treat the annoying ones. If the ones amongst the pavers are a problem, then the usual ant dusts will (eventually) knock them out. If they start coming inside (which they tend to do in the rainy season), then the easiest thing to do is gently discourage them by identifying where they're coming in, tracking that back to the nest, and spraying the whole path. They'll keep trying new ways of coming in, but eventually they'll get the hint and find a more convenient tree (or neighbour's house ;-) to live in.
posted by Pinback at 6:07 PM on January 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
The big reddish ones you saw? Probably one of the native carpenter ants. They'll damage green or damp timber, and live in existing hollows in - but not damage - seasoned timber. Most likely the ones you saw inside are coming from a colony a long way away. They'll travel quite a distance - 100m or more - in search of food.
Most people I know would leave them alone, and only treat the annoying ones. If the ones amongst the pavers are a problem, then the usual ant dusts will (eventually) knock them out. If they start coming inside (which they tend to do in the rainy season), then the easiest thing to do is gently discourage them by identifying where they're coming in, tracking that back to the nest, and spraying the whole path. They'll keep trying new ways of coming in, but eventually they'll get the hint and find a more convenient tree (or neighbour's house ;-) to live in.
posted by Pinback at 6:07 PM on January 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Ants are a common enough worry where you are that there's a page on the municipal services website, so I don't think you're crazy. I sympathize because I had full-on conniptions the first time I saw a two-inch-long cockroach scuttling along in my house in Australia, and it turned out to be just a passerby, not a sign of the Apocalypse or even infestation.
I think of Australia as a whole continent riddled with networks of ant tunnels, because where I've lived in Adelaide and Melbourne there are amazing ant trails that go on for blocks. Very impressive. I haven't heard of ant-related sinkholes, though, and I'm sure the tabloids would have had a field day. So I think you can relax. Although I've had a few day-long small ant influxes come and go in my kitchen, for the most part the ants seem to have more interest in the outside world than in my house. Much less horrifying than the sugar ants that lived in the walls of my rental apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Ugh, ugh, ugh. They were everywhere. Ugh.)
Mostly if the ants came in, we sprayed the doorjambs and all the sills with some poison we could get at the supermarket and they went where the pickings were easier. We used ant baits but they really didn't seem to do a thing.
I gather termites in yards are not a cause for alarm because they prefer the moisture of rotting wood.
posted by gingerest at 6:13 PM on January 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think of Australia as a whole continent riddled with networks of ant tunnels, because where I've lived in Adelaide and Melbourne there are amazing ant trails that go on for blocks. Very impressive. I haven't heard of ant-related sinkholes, though, and I'm sure the tabloids would have had a field day. So I think you can relax. Although I've had a few day-long small ant influxes come and go in my kitchen, for the most part the ants seem to have more interest in the outside world than in my house. Much less horrifying than the sugar ants that lived in the walls of my rental apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Ugh, ugh, ugh. They were everywhere. Ugh.)
Mostly if the ants came in, we sprayed the doorjambs and all the sills with some poison we could get at the supermarket and they went where the pickings were easier. We used ant baits but they really didn't seem to do a thing.
I gather termites in yards are not a cause for alarm because they prefer the moisture of rotting wood.
posted by gingerest at 6:13 PM on January 15, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks, Pinback and gingerest: those are both reassuring comments, and I get the feeling you know what you are talking about.
I interpret the link about the termites differently from you, though, gingerest. I understand it to be saying that the termites you find in your firewood/rotting wood are different from the termites that eat your house, so not to worry about THOSE termites. But it doesn't mean that there are no termites (in yards or otherwise) that you need to worry about.
posted by lollusc at 6:08 PM on January 16, 2012
I interpret the link about the termites differently from you, though, gingerest. I understand it to be saying that the termites you find in your firewood/rotting wood are different from the termites that eat your house, so not to worry about THOSE termites. But it doesn't mean that there are no termites (in yards or otherwise) that you need to worry about.
posted by lollusc at 6:08 PM on January 16, 2012
I could easily be wrong, because I rent, so my emotional involvement and thus research motivation with termites is low. (As opposed to my emotional involvement with ants in my kitchen, spiders in my bathroom, That Giant Flying Buzzing Thing Oh NO What Is It in the living room.) Maybe have a chat with the people who did your original termite inspection?
Australia is the land of bug spray, though. Seriously, there is more varied insecticide in the average grocer's than I encountered at the home-and-garden store in the US.
posted by gingerest at 6:23 PM on January 16, 2012
Australia is the land of bug spray, though. Seriously, there is more varied insecticide in the average grocer's than I encountered at the home-and-garden store in the US.
posted by gingerest at 6:23 PM on January 16, 2012
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The fact that they're burrowing out the inside of tree branches is definitely not a good sign. I think you should probably call in an exterminator to at least take a look and see what they are.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:16 PM on January 15, 2012 [1 favorite]