Regardless of their name, sugar ants consume not just sugar and sweets, but other scraps of meals also. In fact, the term sugar ant is but a misnomer. The genuine sugar ant is usually a native on the Australian continent, and exclusive to that part of the world. Pavement ants and Pharaoh ants are most generally mistakenly referred to as sugar ants, and they take place to become essentially the most abundant ants on the North American continent.

For the purposes of maintaining simplicity within this article, each Pharaoh and Pavement ants will likely be known as sugar ants.

II. Sugar Ants as Pests

Throughout early spring, colonies attempt to conquer new regions and normally attack nearby enemy colonies. These lead to huge sidewalk battles, sometimes leaving a huge number of ants dead. Due to the sugar ants' aggressive nature, they generally invade and colonize seemingly impenetrable locations. In summertime, the ants dig out the sand in amongst pavement to vent the nests.

Sugar ants will eat nearly anything, including insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, nuts and cheese. The species does not pose a public well being threat, but can contaminate food and should really be avoided.

Nests might be quite compact; by way of example, they can be situated involving sheets of paper, in clothes or laundry, inside furniture, within food, and so on. Nests generally occur in wall voids, below floors, behind baseboards, in trash containers, beneath stones, in cement or stone wall voids, in linens, in light fixtures, and so on.

They prefer dark, warm places close to hot water pipes and heating tapes, in bathrooms, kitchens, intensive care units, operating rooms, and so on. They are "trail-making" ants and often are located foraging in drains, toilets, washbasins, bedpans and also other unsanitary web pages, too as in sealed packs of sterile dressing, intravenous drip systems, surgical wounds, and medical equipment.

III. Standard Sugar Ant Handle

Sugar ant manage is quite much a matter of everyday routine during the months when sugar ants are an issue (March by means of September), especially in the kitchen. Beneath is really a list of points you are able to do to manage sugar ants and stop a sugar ant infestation inside your home.

* Clean and Dry Kitchen Sink: If you need to manage sugar ants, you'll want to keep your kitchen sink clean and dry. Sugar ants enjoy dirty sinks and also the water you leave them to assist wash down the leftovers.

Make sure to rinse out any dishes you happen to be going to leave inside the sink more than night. Any time you do clean the dishes, ensure you rinse and wipe down the complete sink to make confident you haven't left residual sweets, meals, or moisture behind.

If you're definitely picky about cleaning, you might even desire to attempt pouring a little bit bleach down the drain to create sure the smell of rotting meals doesn't attract extra ants for your kitchen. Dish drains also have to be emptied and wiped down ahead of the end from the day.

* "Bleached" Counter Tops: Wipe down kitchen counter tops with bleach every evening to have rid of sugar ants. They enjoy a dirty countertop almost as considerably as they like a dirty sink. Wiping your countertops with bleach not only aids sanitize your kitchen, but in addition breaks down the pheromones that ants use to follow one another to sources of meals.

* Mop Your Floor: Sweep and mop your kitchen floor with bleach each and every night through the summer time to control sugar ants. It is within your finest interest to sweep and mop your kitchen floor immediately after each meal, or at the very least as soon as within the evening to produce sure any pheromone trails a scout sugar ant has created are not left for other sugar ants to follow. Scraps of meals and residual sugars are easily swept away having a bucket of warm water and bleach.

* Vacuum Floors: Vacuum the floors of spaces exactly where meals is on a regular basis consumed to prevent inviting sugar ants into your house. Sugar ants also eat bread crumbs, certain types of vegetables and meat, and also the remains of other pests that might be hiding within your carpet. Make sure that you get all of these things off your carpet if you need to get rid of sugar ants.

* Taking out the Trash: Use powerful garbage bags and take the trash out consistently to prevent sugar ant infestations. It is generally the case that a garbage bag gets punctured, dripping fruit juice or some other kind of liquid onto the floor when you're taking out the trash.

Be certain to make use of durable garbage bags, even garbage bags that use Arm & Hammer baking soda to deodorize themselves. It goes without saying that taking out the trash on regular basis will reduce the chances of sugar ants finding their way into your kitchen.