How to effectively get rig of flying ants (vacuum, sink, kitchen)

[nwman2830]

I live in Northern California and they have just started swarming in my apartment. I live in old wooden apartment complex built in sixties managed by a large property company.



They like light, every evening couple of them hit on my lamps. I may vacuum and kill 10. A few minutes later 1 or 2 start coming again. It is frustrating and it looks like they have established somewhere colony. I will let my landlord know but probably all they will do is just have maintenance spray perimeters and not hire an actual exterminator. I purchased RAID spray and RAID baits.

I found yesterday, a big swarm of big mix of winged and wingless ants under my kitchen sink, they were coming from water or sewer pipes. They were feeding on the bait I put but there was so many of them I had to get spray and wipe it.

I messaged my landlord about this problem and after 24 hours I have not gotten response yet. I do not think the ants are going to go away on their own.

[Nonesuch]

Winged ants are a symptom of a much bigger problem.

I've never had great results with the consumer spray/bait you find at the hardware store; If you're comfortable dealing with concentrated toxins, you can buy higher grade baits and sprays online, but better to just hire a pro.

[Izzie1213]

Could they be termites? I was doing some yard work at my in laws in Arkansas one summer and disturbed a nest in some wooden landscape timbers. Hundreds of flying ant looking insects came flying out. I brought some to a garden store to identify to get something to treat them. They told me that they were termites. They have wings at a certain point in their life cycle to spread, then loose wings.
I found this :

https://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/diff.htm
And this

https://www.orkin.com/termites/flying-termites/

I ended up buying a termite bait things that were refillable. I had to place them about every 8-10 feet, maybe less, all around the house and landscaped area. But you can take some to a garden store then tell your landlord what they are. You shouldn't be treating it, your landlord should. Show them the bugs you caught too.