Odorous house ants, also called “sugar ants” or “pissants,” are a non-infesting seasonal nuisance. Odorous house ants don’t carry disease, rarely harm humans, and they don’t make their homes in your home except during winter, but it can seem like they live in your home if their population gets out of control.

The Action for these guys usually goes something like this:

ACT ONE – An ant colony seeks shelter in a wall void or attic space during the winter months, usually behind kitchen or bath wall where water and heat is plentiful.

ACT TWO – When the sun comes out during winter and early spring, the ants “wake up” and begin to forage for food and water. These initial encounters in early spring are often dramatic because the colony is hungry and not yet foraging outside. Classic examples of this is the smoke alarm that gets removed to reveal hundreds of ants (which have been there all along), the compost bin that gets swarmed, or The Curse of The Clean House, a classic springtime scene that unfolds when a “lollipop” (or something sugary) is dropping in a clean house and all the colony’s foragers form a line behind it like hungry football fans in a stadium with only one beer and burger stand.

ACT THREE – When temperatures rise above 60 or so for the first long stretch of sun in spring (at least 5 days) the Great Migration happens and the ants leave their winter shelters and they begin to forage outside. Discovering foraging trails around trees, on foundation, or along sidewalks and driveways are signs that the Great Migration has begun! In the weeks that follow, the ants transform from behaving like a big group to operating like little nomadic groups that make their homes near food supplies like berry bushes, bird feeders, trash cans, fruit trees, flowers, and other classic urban wilderness scenes.

ACT FOUR – During late spring and summer the ants forage and thrive! If they meet all their needs outside, you may never see them. Typically, though, the little nomadic groups seek temporary shelter your home during extreme weather like rainstorms and  heatwaves. That’s why you see more ants in your home before it rains! It’s interesting, if you happen to spot a trail of ants carrying their white, oval eggs in their “hands” all moving fast to shelter, look up. Good chance you’ll see a thunderhead.

THE END – As it goes, The End is The Beginning. The ants do it all again to play their tiny but important part of The Action.

Like all forms of pest control, killing earth creatures alone is rarely the best way to reach The End of an infestation. Usually killing earth creatures is seen by the earth creatures we kill as business as normal. Humans are our planet’s apex predators and you are the apex predator of your home. The ants Get That.

Here’s the best way to kill off overpopulated populations of house ants and do it without spraying dangerous neurotoxins in your home:

WHAT TO DO – Used right, bait is best control for house ants and it’s super low toxic. The trick is, ignore the scouts! Wait for it like the hook of a good song. Then place the bait directly on foraging trails or large groupings of scouts. By direct we mean, literally spoon feed drops of bait to them like they were your little pets. For inside trails, we  recommend 10-20 small drops per feeding. For outside trails, stagger the dots along the trail every six inches or so…and feed them as much as possible. You will see them ring around the bait almost immediately. Keep in mind, sugar ants love sugar but they also like grain. Sprinkling granular baits along trails outside can work awesomely. You will know that’s working when you see the ants pick up the granular bait in their mandibles and carry them back to the nest. Pest Predator thinks long trails of ants all carrying granular bait look like an army of night hikers with headlamps.

We recommend any boric-acid based sugar bait you can buy in a bottle. If you can’t find it in a bottle to make the drops, then buy a bait plate full of Tarro and use a q-tip to make the dots and “feed them when you see them.” We usually buy Niban when we buy granular bait, but any boric-acid based granular bait will do the trick.

The brand doesn’t matter. Ant hunting is all about timing!

WHAT NOT TO DO – In spite of what the internet says, using repellants like aerosol “Raid” products, liquid “Home Defense” products, or repellant essential oils will only kill the individual ants you point and shoot the toxins at. The Pest Predator likes to describe this storyline as, “heroically killing individual ants,” which is his kind (sort of autistic) way of saying, “you’re wasting your time.” Not only that, repellant toxins can help the ant population grow. They push the ants from the area you spray, which will give you a false sense of relief or “control” for as long as the chemicals are in your environments, but at the end of the day, using repellants will not kill ants and thin your population. More likely they will cause the ants to “bud” and make more nomadic tribes. Any customer of a “green” pest control company know this story. The “green” in the “green pesticide” is a pyrethrin neurotoxin that has a low enough toxicity to be labeled as “green,” and pyrethrins are always repellants. So the Green, Eco-Barrier Friend of the Wilderness sprays your home with a lot (like power hosing it on) of this green shit neurotoxin and it pushes all the ants out…for as long as you keep paying them to push them out. It’s the best example of selling snake oil we can think of in the modern world, and there’s an entire industry out there getting rich on it. Also, keep in mind, any herbicide you put on your lawn is also a repellant. The Pest Control Industry knows the best way to kill ants is direct applications when they’re active. They also know they can’t rush to your home like heroes rescuing maidens every time ants are active, so they spray highly toxic non non-repellant pesticides on likely active areas (baseboards and foundations), so the government restricted poison chemicals stay present in your home environment long enough to kill ants, all so they don’t have to be present, pay attention, and hunt ants when they’re active.

BEST CONTROL FOR ACT ONE AND TWO – During the winter months, “Feed them when you see them!” They aren’t invading. They’ve been there all along wintering over in your wall voids and attics.

CONTROL FOR ACT THREE – Good ant hunting season kicks off after the Great Migration. When the sun is out (or just before the rain comes), ants will be foraging and that’s the best time to “feed them when you see them.” Only you will likely find a lot more trails and be able to hook them on a lot more bait. Classic places to hunt for foraging trails are: along the foundation, along driveways and sidewalks, street curbs, newly delivered mulch or bark, and flowering/fruiting plants.

CONTROL FOR ACT FOUR – At a certain point in ant hunting season, using baits on the inside become counterproductive. They still kill the ants, but they will also bring the nomadic tribes of house ants closer to your home. The syrup in the bait is crack for ants! Any predatory work you can do to kill off large populations of ants during the ant hunting season is best. That work will payoff in winter and early spring and keep you from having super dramatic displays that make you wish you hunted ants more in spring and summertime.

As we read it, the best ending to House Ants in Springtime is the beginning part where you see the ants cross your countertops and (instead of picking up the phone to call a wand-spraying hero) you smile, and welcome the hunt, because (as house ants go) The Pest Control Industry is the pest that keeps you from feeling in control: feeling at home in your home. It’s not the ants. You’re the best, apex, predatory care provider for house ants in your home, The End.