Thief Ants

For the mere fact that thief ants very tiny coupled with their prospects of nesting in almost unreachable places eliminating them could be a nightmare. Undoubtedly, virtually all pesticides will destroy these unwanted visitors provided they have physical contact with them. The truth is that until your house if fully invaded and infested, you may never be aware of their presence.

If you are not careful enough, you may be mistaken thief ants with pharaoh ants because of their similarities. White the thief ant is brownish or golden yellow as per colour it has a unique antennae with 10 segments and 2 segmented club. It is such a tiny ant which can be measured in the range of 1/32 of an inch to 1/16 of an inch. The major difference between thief ant and ant pharaoh ants can be spotted in their antennae and to discover this you required a functional microscope. Meanwhile, pharaoh ants have 2-segmented antennae having 3 segmented clubs.

Ideally, thief ant queens usually lay eggs on consistent basis. On daily basis, these queens lay average of 100 eggs. Between 15 to 30 days, the eggs become larvae and in high temperature periods, it takes around 21 days to pupate. Be informed that thief ants are so unique that always curl into ball shape after their death, no other ant is known for this attribute.

The behavior being displayed during the search of food is what actually brought thief ant its name. It has the habit of stealing food even in the nest of contemporary ant species. As if that is not enough, it goes as far as stealing ant larvae from the nest it finds no food. In addition, thief ants take pleasure in eating other varieties of food such as greasy foods, dead insects, diary products, highly rich food as well as honeydew. They make do with sweet foods in case they cannot find any other food. Their love for foods made up of high grease composition makes them be nicknamed as grease ants.

Their laziness to work or search for their own food makes them construct their nest very close to other species of ants so that they can easily steal food from them. Some of these places include below the bricks and stones, inside rotting wood, in the tree cavities and also within crevices of home foundations. Occasionally, they can build their nest inside house. Finding them could be very tasking if not impossible. All the same, you can search for them by be on the look out for the trail of food dropped by the thief ant to enable them find their way back to their nest.
Ideally, you can find thief ants inside cabinets, woodwork, closets, trash bags, closets as well as over the windowsills. Often, they build their nest inside the hollows of windows sills as well as door frames or being electrical wall exits.

Best Way to Keep Off Thief Ant Infestation
Maintain consistent cleanliness in your house. All ants including thief ants love dirty areas to hide and find food.
Fix all the wear screens in the windows and doors without further delay
Repair all wall openings or cracks in the foundation or around your home
Do not leave behind any spills or leftover foods or drink. These include your patio where some grease from your hamburger can fall on the ground. Ensure that you clean it with paper towel. Failure to do this may be an open invitation to ant infestation or invasion.
Always trim down the shrubs or branches of all trees with direct link to your house.

Method of Handling Thief Ant Infestation
Scoop all the sighted thief ants wondering around your home using soapy sponge.
Cover up every holes through the doors and windows to prevent the entrance of many more thief ants
Ensure that you plug up the drains in your sinks and bathtubs and night fall.
In case it goes out of hand, you may spray insecticide such as suspend Sc for rapid growth.
If you notice that the thief ants are speaking in from the hollow walls, make a little hole inside the walls and insert a Tempo 1% insecticide inside the wall.
MaxForce Fe Ant Bait is very rich in protein; hence you can apply it as bait.

In the final analysis, you must take a drastic step to identify their nest and subsequently destroy them. Unless you do this, killing one or two ant per time can best be described as temporal solution. If for any reason you are unable to discover their nest, why not invite the professional ant killers to help you out.