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How to Get Rid of Sugar Ants

Learn From The Pros

Sugar ants prefer moist areas to build nests within walls and rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms. To prevent infestations you need to seal entry points while securing food storage and keeping areas clean. Essential oils and diatomaceous earth serve as natural deterrents against ants but severe cases necessitate professional extermination services.

How to Get Rid of Sugar Ants

Dealing with an ant problem is no picnic. An invasion of sugar ants in your kitchen equals a never-ending feast for sugar ants. Preventing sugar ants from becoming a problem is found in the knowledge you obtain about them. A colony of sugar ants can reach up to 300,000 and that is a hassle to deal with in your home. So, exactly what are the ways of how to get rid of sugar ants?

Understanding the Sugar Ant

Sugar ants have gained the nickname of banded sugar ants and these little guys aren’t an issue when they stay outdoors. Sugar ants crave and live off of nectar and become an issue in homes when they find other sweet food inside. Since they are very social creatures, there are thousands more you don’t see when you see one. Time is of the essence when dealing with an insect that multiplies so quickly.

Bodies

Ants are complex, tiny insects that are hard to distinguish between their other species of the same color. Sugar ants are just one type of over 10,000 ant species and are about 2-15 millimeters in length.

Sugar ants fall into the insect category because of the three body parts that identify insects: head, thorax, and abdomen. They have 3 jointed legs on each side of the thorax for a total of six legs and sugar ants have soft bodies that are protected by their exoskeleton.

Identifying which gender these tiny creatures are depends on the sugar ants color, shade, and size. Most of the sugar ant colonies are female workers, and they are usually orange. Breeding males are identified by their solid black hue and wings. Also, the females tend to be a bit larger than the males, as is the case in most insects.

The largest ant in the colony is the queen. You can identify her from female workers because her thorax is more prominent, as she once had wings. Her abdomen may be a bit more puffed out before she mates and lays her eggs. If you have a sugar ant infestation, you will typically see more female workers than males or the queen.

Behaviors

During the day, you’re more apt to see signs of a sugar ant infestation than seeing the minuscule culprits. Sugar ants are nocturnal and sneak through your kitchen and pantry goodies while you and your family are asleep. They march in a single-file line from their hidden nest to their food sources.

If you do spot some of these bitsy burglars during a night-time heist, they usually will scatter toward the safety of their nest. When they’re cornered or their colony is being threatened, sugar ants will bite humans or pets. Fortunately, their tiny bites are insignificant unless you or your pet have an allergic reaction. They may also secrete a smelly substance, which is also harmless. Nonetheless, figuring out how to get rid of sugar ants will have you worrying less about their bites.

Even when your food supplies are wrapped or in cardboard, a swarm of sugar ants can efficiently gnaw through to get what they want. The female workers have instinctual habits of gathering as much food as possible to carry back to their colony. This fascinating ant habit is called warehousing, and sugar ants are quite proficient in the technique.

It is a fascinating fact that ants can carry anywhere from 10 to 50 times their tiny body weight. An example of this would be a human weighing 150 pounds carrying 7,500 pounds with ease on their back. That is about the same as carrying an SUV on your back. No wonder the ant is revered for its strength and work ethic.

Diet

They call this ant species sugar ants for a reason. They tend to have a sweet tooth and are drawn to any sugary or starchy treat in your pantry or kitchen. Outdoors, they thrive on the sweet secretions of aphids and some caterpillars. Sugar ants act as ranchers for these creatures and protect them while the aphids and bugs give them nectar.

These militant bugs will also dine on other small insects, small animals, and the sweet secretions of some plants. If their natural food sources become scarce or they’re not keen on the weather, they often make their way into people’s homes.

Life Cycle of the Sugar Ant

Sugar ants mate in the spring and autumn when you’ll often see the winged ones swarming in the air. Both males and fertile females (queens) will mate while flying. After mating, the males will soon die, and the female will return to a colony as queen.

Queen sugar ants quickly shed their temporary wings and moved into the queen’s chamber toward the center of the next. She can lay hundreds of thousands of eggs, which are carefully guarded by nursery workers. They will care for the plethora of eggs until they hatch in about 7-14 days.

The new hatchlings are tiny larvae at this point. They have microscopic hairs that easily attach to their nurses, who carry them about and feed them regurgitated juices. Ant larvae have no legs or eyes and are solely dependent on their nurses.

Over 30 days, the larvae will molt their skins as they continue to feed and grow. They have developed antennae and legs, but they can’t use them yet. You will notice them like little maggots on the backs of their nursery workers.

By 6-10 weeks, the pupae have developed into adult ants and will instinctively take their role within the colony. Male ants develop from unfertilized eggs, and they will soon fly off to mate and die. Infertile females become workers, and they defend their nest, tend to the queen, care for the nursery, and warehouse the food. New queens go abroad to establish new colonies.

A sugar ant queen can live up to ten years among her doting subjects. They feed, protect, and see to her every need. Without the queen, the colony would soon die because reproduction would be impossible. Male sugar ants only live about 20 days, mate, then die. Worker ants can live up to 7 years, and the queen can live for up to 15 years. It’s a sure thing that you wouldn’t want a queen and her colony hanging out in your home for 15 years so let’s find out how to get rid of sugar ants so that is not the case.

Habitat

Sugar ants are native to Australia, even though they have traveled to the United States and other parts of the world. These ants love humidity and wooded areas, often making their nest in hollow wood. They also love to develop their familiar mounded nests in leafy debris in forests or yards. After a hard rainstorm, the worker ants will quickly rebuild the damaged nest for the colony.

Queen sugar ants have been known to look for ways to access homes and places where humans eat. If these ants do invade your home, they will build their nest between the walls, and since they like humid areas, they will likely be found in your kitchen or bathroom.

Sugar ants make their way indoors through tiny cracks in doors, windows, or foundations.

They will also march right through the smallest tears in the door or window screens. Noticing these access areas will help you in your venture in how to get rid of sugar ants. Sugar ants have a keen radar for anything sweet, so your kitchen and pantry are prime real estate.

Damage

A sugar ant colony forming inside the walls of your home can cause damage to the wood beams. Sugar ants also carry bacteria on their bodies and are likely to contaminate anything they touch. They are used to tracking through garbage and feces outside and can bring it right into your home.

Since they are attracted to blood, they can cause dangerous infections to an open wound. Some of the hazardous microbes attached to their feet can include streptococcus, staphylococcus, and even dysentery. Allergic reactions and respiratory issues are another risk to humans due to mold and fungi growing in the nest.

Spiders and centipedes are predators for the sugar ant and that attraction can lead to more pest invasions in your home. Even though they will aid in how to get rid of sugar ants, spiders and centipedes can create more problems.

Get Rid of Sugar Ants the Right Way

Preventive methods are the best way to get rid of sugar ants. Sugar ants have a purpose and vital role in the ecosystem as long as they stay outdoors. The following are tips for how to get rid of sugar ants who have made their way inside:

Block off Accesses: Completely seal off any cracks in the foundation of your home that could be a potential entry. This includes doors and windows since sugar ants can climb easily. Repair or replace torn screens.
Check Food Storage Areas: Sugar ants look for a place that provides easy access to food. Using glass jars to store food instead of cardboard or plastic will prevent them from being able to chew through it.
Clean Up Leftovers: At the end of the day, do not leave dirty dishes in the sink or crumbs and spills on the counters overnight. Cleaning up spills in your kitchen and pantry will not offer sugar ants the opportunity to find food and stay.
Empty Garbage: Trash containers that have a secure lid to cover them as you are filling prevent sugar ants from being able to catch the scent of sweets. As well as taking the trash outside regularly instead of letting it overflow. Sugar ants are also attracted to pet food so emptying any leftover pet food in the trash is how to get rid of sugar ants.
Herbal Distractions: Ants have a highly developed sense of smell and depend on it for survival and finding food. The sugar ant’s body produces hormones that allow their fellow ants to follow tracks to food sources and back to the safety of the nest. They can also create a scent that signals danger for the others.

So, if you want to confuse them, you can bring in natural smells that overwhelm their tracking system. Natural essential oils like peppermint and cinnamon are pleasant to you but repulsive to invading ants. Just add a few drops of your preferred oil onto cotton balls and leave them around vulnerable entrances.

You might also consider diatomaceous earth, which is a natural substance. It’s powdered clay that has microscopic fossil bones in it. If ants or other insects get any diatomaceous earth on them, it dries and cracks their exoskeletons, killing them.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants Inside?

These are possible remedies for prevention, but they usually won’t help if you already have a sugar ant infestation. You’ll know your house is infested if you see live ants at night, little trails of food along the wall or floor, or you hear a hollow sound when you tap a space on your wall. At this point, your best option is to have professional extermination.

Professional Pest Control

You may believe that ants are a common issue to have in a home but it is one that can get out of control quickly. The potential damage these ants can do to wooden beams in your home and the illness they can spread may warrant professional pest control services. Kapture Pest Control is trained to deal with ants, knowing exactly how to get rid of sugar ants in your home. Save time, money, and stress by calling the experts today.