Have you ever left the smallest delicious crumb or dribble of syrup on a tabletop or ground, only to return a short time later to discover a swarm of tiny ants eating on it? The ants even have a name: sugar ants. It is not surprising if you have these pests nesting in your home. Because ants have remarkable odor-sensing skills, sugar in almost any form particularly appeals to many ant species. You can click here to learn how to get rid of them.
What are sugar ants?
The term “sugar ant” refers to ants that infiltrate houses searching for carbohydrate-rich items like sugar. The bugs are tiny and usually brown or black. They have no reservations about entering your home and rummaging around for leftovers. Often, you will witness only one or two ants at first before being overrun by these little criminals.
The first group of ants are scout ants, looking for food. When they find a good supply of carbohydrates (or fats or proteins, depending on the season), these scouts leave a chemical trail that leads the foragers of their colony directly to your cupboard. They will clear away your crumbs and the contents of any open products they can reach.
Why do sugar ants infiltrate houses?
Sugar ants do not usually enter yards since they already dwell there. Ant colonies may be massive depending on where you are, with ants like the Argentine ant establishing colonies that can include hundreds of thousands of workers and spread for kilometers. A yard devoid of ants would be rather remarkable.
Ants that emerge on landscape plants are most likely farming aphids, small sap-sucking insects emitting a sticky, sweet fluid known as honeydew. Sugar ants treat these insects like cattle, changing their feeding places for maximum output and sometimes risking their lives to defend the aphids.
Sugar ants in the house, on the other hand, are a different issue. Ants often invade dwellings near their nests for food, especially when supplies are short outside. During wet and dry seasons, they may be drawn to dwellings’ safety. They are there for the same reason you go to the market: the food is plentiful and a relatively safe environment for predation.
How to get rid of sugar ants
The key to long-term sugar ant management is keeping appealing food out of reach of hungry ants. They do not need to walk about your house if there is nothing to eat. However, this is not an easy task because ants are tiny, cunning, and determined when they realize you are holding out on them. The best way to get rid of them is to get the help of professional exterminators.