Why You Keep Seeing Ants in Your Home in Brevard County (And How to Stop the Colony)

If you keep seeing ants in your home in Brevard County, the ants you see are only the workers. The colony is somewhere else, often outside in the yard or inside a wall, and it keeps sending more. Wiping the trail or spraying the line stops that day's ants, not the nest.

TL;DR

• Ants on your counter are workers from a hidden colony. Killing the visible ones does not touch the queens.
• Ghost ants, white footed ants and crazy ants all have many queens in one colony.
• Repellent sprays can scatter a many-queen colony into more spots, so bait is the usual tool.
• Fire ants are different. They nest in mounds in the soil and come inside mostly when the ground floods.
• Wet wood, leaks and plants against the house keep the trail coming back.

Why do ants keep coming back to my kitchen?

Ants want three things: sugar or protein, water, and a dry place to nest. A Florida house offers all three all year. We do not have a winter that shuts ants down, so a colony that finds your kitchen keeps visiting.

Scouts find a crumb, go home, and leave a scent trail. Then the line forms. The trail is the only part you see. The nest can be out in a flower bed, in a potted plant, or in a wall void behind the sink.

Which Florida ants am I looking at?

The kind of ant decides what works. These are the ones people in Melbourne and Palm Bay describe most.

Ghost ants. Tiny, about 1.3 to 1.5 millimeters, with a dark head and a milky white rear and legs. They are hard to see. UF/IFAS says colonies have many queens, nest in wall voids, cracks and potted plants, and start new colonies by budding, when queens leave with workers.

White footed ants. About 3 millimeters, black bodies, pale feet. UF/IFAS lists them as a major household pest in Florida, and they live mostly in trees and shrubs. They love sweets and honeydew.

Caribbean crazy ants. Fast, erratic, reddish brown, under an eighth of an inch. UF/IFAS says crazy ant colonies have many queens, make no mounds, and nest under leaf litter, stones, pots and debris. They can short out electrical equipment.

Fire ants. They build soil mounds, often near slabs, driveways and foundations. UF/IFAS says a pustule usually shows up the day after a sting, and that they may move indoors when soil is soaked.

Why spraying the trail can make it worse

A colony with one queen is simple. Kill the queen and it ends. Ghost ants, white footed ants and crazy ants do not work that way. They have many queens spread over many nests, and parts of the colony swap workers.

When you spray a repellent on a trail, the ants do not all die. Some flee. A group with a queen can set up a new nest somewhere else. That is how one kitchen line turns into a line in the kitchen and another in the bathroom. UF/IFAS describes budding as the way ghost ant colonies start new nests, and for crazy ants says a single spray lasts only two to three days.

That is why ant control leans on slow bait. Workers carry bait home and feed it to the colony. A fast spray kills the workers first, so nothing gets carried home.

What we see in Brevard

Ghost ants are the small pale ants in Melbourne kitchens and bathrooms, often near a leak or a potted plant by a window. White footed ants follow the palms, oaks and shrubs that touch the roof and walls. Crazy ants are the ones that show up in huge numbers around lanais, meter boxes and outdoor outlets. Fire ants are in the lawn and along the driveway, and they come in after a heavy rain.

Busy ant trails can look worse for a few days after a treatment. We explain why in why you see more bugs after pest control treatment.

What to do now

1. Follow the trail and note where it comes in and where it starts. Do not smear it away. That is the only map you have.
2. Wipe up sweets, grease and pet food at night, and seal food in containers.
3. Fix drips and wet spots. Moisture brings ants and wood damage with it.
4. Trim shrubs, palm fronds and branches off the roof and walls, and pull mulch back from the slab.
5. Do not spray the trail. Take a photo of the ant, or catch a few in a bag, so a technician can name the species.

When to call somebody

Call if the trail returns after a couple of weeks, if you see ants in several rooms, or if they are in outlets or switches. Bring the photo. The species decides the plan, and a many-queen colony is hard to beat from the kitchen side. Our general pest control page explains what a visit covers, and the estimate is free. If you also see winged ants or sawdust near wood, check termite warning signs.

Sources

• UF/IFAS Extension: Ghost Ant
• UF/IFAS Extension: White-Footed Ant
• UF/IFAS Extension: Tawny Crazy Ant, formerly Caribbean crazy ant
• UF/IFAS Extension: Red Imported Fire Ant

Frequently Asked Questions