Hi Hopper2-ga
I did some research on your ant enigma. Unfortunately, it is very
difficult to tell from the online literature exactly what is going on
in your house ? especially since there are so many species of ants out
there. Here I am posting some possible leads and clues which may help
you to figure out the problem for yourself.
-Some species of ants do prey upon termites, but the opposite appears
to be true as well.
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology/courses/en507/papers_1999/stecco.htm
-It would help if you identified which species of ants were present.
As far as I can tell, carpenter ants and acrobat ants can both inhabit
old termite colonies. Here are some pages that may aid you in
identifying your particular ant with color photos and written
descriptions.
http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/l-2061.html
http://www.epestsupply.com/ants.htm
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1629.pdf
-How can you identify what the ants are depositing on your floor?
Ants clean out their colonies. Refuse includes feces, soil, insect
parts, dead ants, and in the case of carpenter ants, wood shavings.
?Carpenter ants keep occupied galleries clean. They remove wood in the
form of a coarse sawdust-like material, which they push from the nest.
This often results in a cone-shaped pile accumulating just below the
nest entrance hole. This pile may include, in addition to the wood
fragments, other debris from the nest, including bits of soil, dead
ants, parts of insects and remnants of other food they ate.?
http://www.ianr.unl.edu/.../ pest/factsheets/004-97.htm
Your problem does not seem to be related to carpenter ants because of
the lack of a centralized deposition on materials under a hole in
wood. This leads me to consider other possibilities with regard to the
species of ant in your home.
Interestingly, termite feces is described as a football shape with
four concave sides. Maybe you could get a closer look at the specks on
your floor?
-If you can get a close look at the bits of wings that you saw on your
floor, you may be able to tell if they were of termite origin by
comparing the wing venation to that in the diagrams on this .pdf
(winged ant vs winged termite comparison).
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1629.pdf
There are many sites out there that do not recommend spraying. Thus, I
recommend making absolutely certain your target species is actually
present before spraying. The environmental and health risks associated
with pesticides are just not worth it. More than likely the ants in
your house do not indicate the presence of a live termite nest. It the
insect parts on your floor are of termite origin it may indicate that
the ants are cleaning out an old termite nest.
Good luck!
hummer |
