Get rid of Sugar Ants  - fast and easy!

Sugar Ants are, by far, the most common little black ant found indoors in our area.  There are at least two species.  They both appear to be dark brown to black.  One species is about an 1/8th of an inch and one is about half that size, or a little longer than a single penny is thick. Definitely a 'Tiny' black ant.

Each nest of Sugar Ants may contain multiple queens and the nests in your house and yard may be related to the nests in your neighbors. In fact, they may be part of a super colony that covers large residential areas, several city blocks and more.

Sugar Ants are usually in a home for a long time before being noticed.  When they finally do get noticed, they are usually spotted in the early spring. 

Interior activity usually stops a few weeks later when their preferred food sources emerge on the exterior: aphids, other insects, and various other sources.

After treatments, they usually come back again, having followed the 'scent' trails they established earlier, soon after the control materials start breaking down - they just aren't showing up where you can see them.

While Odorous House Ants are also often referred to as Sugar Ants, they are sometimes referred to as:  Grease Ants, House Ants, Kitchen Ants, Piss Ants, Sweet Ants, Odorous Ants,  and Odiferous Ants.

These are the ants that seem to appear out of nowhere when you leave out a slurpee cup, or a few cake crumbs are scattered on the floor.  Their fondness for sweets gives them their most common nickname.  They will sometimes switch off of sweets if the colony needs more protein. Sometimes they only seem to be after water from your dishwasher.

Sugar Ants are not thought of as a wood destroying ant, although they will sometimes mine moisture damaged or rotten wood.  If your ants seem to walk around close to or at the top of walls, you may have Velvety Tree Ants which are about the same size and color but they do cause damage. There is also a species of Carpenter Ant that is quite small and Carpenter Ants are known for the damage they are capable of.

Many people try to get rid of sugar ants with over the counter baits and sprays prior to calling us.  The problem is that over the counter baits are usually too strong, causing a large initial die off - which signals a stop feeding behavior in these ants.

Over the counter sprays are worse, the chemical compounds in over the counter sprays are repellent.  They get rid of Sugar Ants, killing some, but chasing the rest away and splintering the nest.  Instead of having 3 to 20 queens nesting together you could very well have 3 to 20 separate nests in different areas of your home.

In both instances, you may seem to get rid of Sugar Ants, but that does not mean they are no longer in your home.

We use slow acting baits with no fumes or odors.  We place them in cracks and crevices the ants can get to, but that are safe from children and pets.  Foraging ants pass these materials back into the colony killing other workers and egg layers.

We combine these very effective professinal baits with super low toxicity, no odor, no fume, non-repellent sprays that the ants cannot sense applied to the exterior. Together these really get rid of Sugar Ants.

Due to their habit of re-infesting, and the fact that your ants may be part of a much larger super colony, we often recommend follow-up services to get rid of Sugar Ants for good and to prevent your home from being re-infested from this pest.