Black Ants in Winter?

It may sound strange to many but little black ants have been appearing on many kitchen and bathroom walls, window sills, and counters recently. These may be, believe it or not, “little black ants” or they may be a more common indoor ant pest “odorous house ants”.

An interesting fact odorous house ants smell like rotten coconut if you crush them between your fingers.

These ants are appearing because something has disturbed the nest, possibly the very cold weather or water from the melting snow. But more than the fact that they are annoying and not something you want crawling on your counters, they are telling you that there is a nest somewhere in your home because they are not trailing in from outside this time of year.

Here are some interesting facts to consider before you buy the over the counter spray and and attempt to control the ant infestation yourself:

• The ants you are seeing are foragers, a small segment of the population nesting in your home and they are easily replaced.
• The nest or colony may contain as many as 10,000 ants so eliminating a couple dozen foraging on the counter doesn’t even put a dent in the infestation.

The best way to eliminate the ant infestation is to follow the foraging ants back to the nest and destroy the colony. This takes patience and you must fight the urge to squash them where you see them but it does pay off in the long run.