These are one of the more common types of ants that can invade your home.
Are Odorous Ants Dangerous?
Odorous ants are one of the three most common types of ants found inside and outside homes in Pennsylvania. Like stink bugs, these ants are known to release a foul smell when you step on them, smush them, or when they sense danger.
Unlike their cousins, Pavement ants, Odorous house ants will set up colonies just about anywhere they can, preferring damp spaces like mulched flower beds and under rotting logs. Inside the home, they will take advantage of leaks and condensation to create prime nesting spots in walls or moist insulation. These ants also forage night and day vs the primarily nocturnal Pavement and Carpenter ants. One way to confirm the Odorous ants are indeed odorous is by smashing them to release their scent which smells vaguely like blue cheese.
Why is it important to know the difference between Pavement ants and Odorous house ants?
This distinction is important because Odorous ants nest differently than their Pavement ant cousins. Pavement ants generally nest as one large colony, whereas Odorous ants colonize in smaller groups throughout a series of interconnected tunnels and nests with a queen in each nest.
Controlling Odorous Ants
As with most opportunistic insect species, prevention is key to controlling pavement ants that may invade your home.
- Block Their Entrance: Sealing off gaps in and around the foundation, underneath doors, and around pipes and wires will help to keep your home pest free.
- Create a Dry Zone: Because these ants prefer dampness and because their nests are interconnected, they are less likely to investigate your home if they have to burrow through dry earth. By creating a ‘dry zone’ approximately 8-12 inches wide near your home’s foundation, their nests are less likely to extend into your house.
- Clean up Spills and Leaks: Areas in your home that tend to remain damp, are the perfect welcome mat for Odorous Ants to set up housekeeping and forage for food indoors.
Where You’ll Find Them
Odorous ants can live indoors and outdoors and prefer to build their nests near a source of water or moisture. Their nests can be found outside in areas where the ground tends to remain damp and inside near leaky or sweating pipes and fixtures or other damp areas.
What Attracts Odorous Ants?
Moisture is the primary attractant for these ants, but like many other ants, they are also drawn to sweet foods. If you suspect you have odorous ants, look for leaky plumbing near the area where you are seeing ant activity and have it repaired if you find it. It’s also important to clean up food messes after meals and put food away after eating, so you are not providing a convenient food source.
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Getting Rid of Odorous Ants
What can you do if they are already inside?
- Ant Spray: Most of the common ant sprays are effective at getting rid of the ants you can see, however, they can be harmful to kids and pets, so use with caution.
- Set Up Bait Stations: Unlike sprays, ant bait stations can destroy the colony but they are also often toxic to curious pets and small children which makes them dangerous in many homes.
- Call in the Pros: The safest and most effective way to rid your home of these unwanted pests is professional treatment. Technicians use a combinations of safe sprays and bait stations to get rid of the pests in and around your home as well as identifying where they are getting in and suggesting fixes.
How We Treat for Odorous Ants
If you’ve already tried ant spray or bait stations and they haven’t worked, or if you’re hesitant to use these forms of pest control because of children or pets, contact us to learn about our safer approach to pest control.
Our Technicians will inspect your property to identify possible points of entry and suggest fixes in addition to treating the problem.