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Ant Control Services
Miche Pest Control is a family owned and operated, full service pest control company that provides residential and commercial pest control services for ants in Washington DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Our expert ant exterminators get rid of ants fast, and use preventative methods to help keep ants from coming back after they've been eliminated. Miche Pest Control has a 4.9 star rating and over 1,000 reviews online - click on the button below to get started, or give us a call today!
Small Honey Ants: Nuisance Home Invaders
Small honey ants, also known as sugar ants, are a type of ant that is commonly found in households. They get their name from their love of sweet foods, and are often attracted to kitchen pantries and trash cans in search of sugary treats. These ants are small, typically only growing to be about 1/8 of an inch long, and are a brown or black color.
While small honey ants may be a nuisance, they do serve a purpose in the ecosystem. They are pollinators and help to spread plant seeds, which helps to promote plant growth. They are also a food source for other animals.
If you are having a problem with small honey ants in your home, there are a few steps you can take to get rid of them. One method is to use ant bait, which contains a chemical that the ants will carry back to their nest and share with the rest of the colony. This can help to kill off the entire colony, rather than just the ants that you see.
Another option is to use a natural repellent, such as peppermint or vinegar. These scents can help to keep the ants away from your home. You can also try to eliminate the sources of food that the ants are attracted to, such as by sealing up any open containers of sugar or cleaning up crumbs and spills.
Overall, small honey ants may be a nuisance, but they do serve a purpose in the ecosystem. By following the steps above, you can effectively get rid of these ants and keep them from returning to your home.
Small (False) Honey Ants
The small honey ant, also known as the false honey ant or the winter ant, can be found throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC, as well as the rest of the United States, southern Canada, and parts of Mexico. These ants are active in cool temperatures, foraging even at temperatures just a few degrees above freezing. Their mating flights take place early in the spring, usually March to April. Newly mated queens establish nests individually, and mature colonies rarely exceed a few thousand individuals in the northern states, though in the southern states there can be as many as 10,000 individuals, and average more than 4 queens per nest.
Small honey ant workers forage during the cooler months of the winter and early spring, feeding newly emerged adults whose gasters become distended with fat reserves (corpulent workers). Foraging ceases during the warm months, and queens within a colony do not lay eggs until late summer. Larvae that hatch from these eggs are fed with the stored fat from the corpulent workers. When above ground foraging resumes in the winter, the formerly corpulent workers become foragers and the new adults become the next set of fat storing workers.
Small honey ants nest in damp soil in shady places, seldom under stones or other objects, and build a crater of small soil pellets surrounding a single entrance. Workers commonly invade houses to forage, and occasionally to nest. They will also nest beneath slab foundations and enter buildings through expansion joints or cracks.
Small honey ant workers feed upon various sorts of sugary liquids derived directly from plant sources or from aphids. They also feed on the juices of dead earthworms. They frequently assume a semi-replete condition because of the amount of liquid taken into the crop. As household pests, they feed on all varieties of sweets, but also on bread and meat.
Small honey ant workers are monomorphic, and 2 to 4 mm long. Their body color varies from light to dark brown, appears shiny, and their bodies are covered with lots of short, stout hairs. They have a one-segmented pedicel. Their antennae are 12-segmented, without a club. When viewed from above, the thorax is shaped like an hourglass, and the gaster is triangular, wider than the head.
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