Have Black Ants in Your House? Don’t Worry, Do THIS…

black-ants

Black house ants are tiny black ants that are among the most common types of insects you can find in homes. Many types of ants can invade homes: carpenter, pharaoh, odorous, sugar, black, leaf cutter ants, and Argentine ants.

Like all ants, black ant colonies have some serious collective intelligence. Because of this, black ants can be very annoying when they infest your house.

People often have a hard time dealing with black ant infestations because these insects do not give up easily once they’ve found a food source.

Along with red ants, black ants are a dominant species of ants in the United States, so many American homeowners or renters have dealt with black ants at least once in their lives but you might not know an effective way to get rid of and deter black ants so we will show you some effective ways to exterminate and deter black ants from your house.

Video explaining how to get rid of little black ants in your house or yard

Identify Black House Ants

The average individual may have difficulties differentiating between different species of ants. The workers are small, having a size of a sixteenth part of an inch and the queens are double the side of the workers.

These insects have two nodes on the petiole and are made of twelve segments, with a club of three segments. Black ants are two to three millimeters long and they usually build their nests underground, in decaying wood or under bark.

They can often build nests in the roof of a house, but also in wall spaces. Their trails can go up to the trunk of the trees as they can also feed honey-dew from certain insects. Black ants have a black shiny appearance.

What Attracts Black Ants into Your Home?

Just like other creatures in this world, black house ants are attracted to your home because they are looking for shelter, food and water. For this reason, the first targets will be your kitchen and your bathroom.

Black ants are attracted to the meats, the vegetables and especially the sweets in your kitchen. When they rest, ants can withdraw in wall spaces and in the roof of the house.

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What Do Black Ants Eat & How Do They Behave?

Black ants enjoy the food spills that you may have in the kitchen, but they mostly feed on sweet foods. Ant queens live longer than workers and they have a period of time that is dedicated to mating and producing offspring.

Once this happens, they do not mate again. Females and males leave the nest when they mate and this can expose them to predators. Black ants are not only very smart, but also very hard-working. Black ants seem to be more docile than red ants. They are social creatures and live in colonies.

Do black ants bite humans?

Black house ants can and will bite humans. If you get bitten by a black ant, it’ll feel like a small pinch. Because the insects are very small, you may not even feel them crawling over you and may not be aware of their presence until they bite. 

Black ant bites do not often leave marks on your skin. It seems that workers gathering food don’t bite, but the ones that do guarding work are. Black ants are not as aggressive as red ants.

How to Deal with a Black Ant Infestation?

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The first thing that you can do is to remove any possible source of food, shelter and water from the areas that are exposed to ants. Black ants often build their nests near food sources. If you want to prevent an infestation, you should always keep your home clean and dry.

You may even have to move the furniture from time to time, for properly cleaning your entire house and minimizing the probability of black ants to establish their colony inside your home.

Sealing your home is needed, because ants can use doors and windows to enter your home. Check your house entrances for cracks and seal them. The house becomes an unfavorable place for black ants as soon as you remove food sources.

Natural Solutions for Black Ant Control

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Before you start to take control measures, make sure that you know exactly where the ants come from, then fill all the cracks and remove all the debris that could be used by ants to take shelter.

A natural and very cheap way to get rid of black ants can be the use of bay leaves. Place bay leaves where you see ants: corners, windows, cabinets and entry points.

Mint is another natural solution and is very effective. You can use live mint (planted strategically), gathered mint or mint oil. A third solution can be red chili pepper in dust form. It can also work if you make a paste from it using water.

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Using Baits Against Black Ants

Black ants have a specific track that they move on when they gather food and store it. Their movement is very predictable, so you can use baits successfully.

Baits are easy to find in stores and they are effective methods of repelling ants. Baits do not eliminate ants instantly, but this can be used to your advantage.

The infected ants return to the colony, where they infect other ants. In the end, the whole colony may die. The baits are used on the scent trails (tracks).

The Use of Ant Sprays

Spray use can be another convenient method of dealing with a black ant infestation. All you need to do is mix the substance, put in a sprayer and spray the insects until they are gone.

You can use the spray directly on colonies and nests, even in your yard. Many of the sprays you get from stores can be good for residual control over the insects once the spraying is over.

Using Poisons for Black Ants

Because black house ant infestations are so common, finding the right type of poison for these insects is easy. You can find poisons in store or online.

Poison can be used in the cracks that black ants use as entry points to your house. There are aerosols and insecticides that can be poisonous to black house ants.

Using Heat and Water for Black Ants Population Control

Did you know that there is a simple method for getting rid of black house ants easily? This method involves heat, but not directly.

If you try to burn the ants, you could end up burning items from the home and you may start a fire. Instead, you can boil water and pour it while it is still very hot inside the colony. Ants are hydrophobic animals, meaning that they are afraid of water and especially of floods.

You will use a deadly combination in this way: heat and water (boiled water). Entire colonies can be eliminated using this method, including the queens.

Using Residential Pest Control Services Against Black House Ants

If you don’t want to deal with a black ant problem on your own, the best approach is to call an ant exterminator. 

This is a company that provides pest control services and ant extermination services for residences with active black ant infestations. Such companies can use more powerful solutions than the ones you a normal person can find in stores. These more powerful solutions can help you to permanently get rid of black house ants.

When you try to deal with the black ant infestations yourself, sometimes you might accidentally achieve the opposite—ant colonies relocating but still finding a way into your home.

What attracts black ants?

Larger black ants you find in your house are often carpenter ants, but there are other black ants too. Black ants are attracted to protein (sometimes other bugs) or sweets (honey, sugar, etc.).

Why are black ants in my house?

Black ants can sneak through tiny cracks into your house when they’re exploring for food. If they find a food source (can be tiny crumbs, trash, or food left in the open), they communicate to other ants from their colony to send more ants to the food location.

How to get rid of black ants in my kitchen?

To get rid of black ants in your kitchen, you need to 1) identify their food source 2) remove their food source 3) seal any obvious cracks or openings they got through (you won’t get all of these because ants can slip through tiny crevices, but aim to seal any major entry points)

Further resources for controlling black ants in your house

  1. Ant Management – Connecticut Department of Energy and Environment Protection
  2. A Guide to House-Invading Ants and Their Control – ncsu.edu
  3. Ant Around the Home and Landscape – University of Nebraska Lincoln
Published
Categorized as Ants

By David Jackson

I enjoy learning about new pest control strategies and sharing what I learn at NeverPest.com. I aim to create a reliable resource for people dealing with all sorts of pest issues.

1 comment

  1. We’ve been left in charge of my brother’s beach house while he’s away and I want to make sure we keep everything just the way he left it. I never knew that bay leaves are a good deterrent to black ants because I’m someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen and so I have a good arrangement of spices and herbs with me, so a solution like this sounds like a good way to make use of the extra herbs I don’t end up using. I’ll be sure to follow your tips after we find an ant control service to do an initial check on the beach house before we settle in. Thank you!

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