Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-21-2009, 09:20 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,399,779 times
Reputation: 5176

Advertisements





They're tiny, shiny black, roughly 3mm in length (very, very small) and they are all of a sudden in my pantry. I am cleaning it out now to find the source of their frenzy. They're after something! They look like a speck of coffee grounds, but then they start moving. WTH is this crap? I keep my sugar, cookies, etc in containers, but I am wondering if something has a hole...ugh!

Has anyone seen these and know what they are and how to get rid of them? They are just everywhere in my pantry. It is freaking me the heck out.

Thanks in advance!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-21-2009, 09:33 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,399,779 times
Reputation: 5176
I think I found out what they are, dogGONE it! Just what we need--a friggin' new species comin' in on the banana boat.

Rover Ants (Brachymyrmex patagonicus), an emerging pest species « Myrmecos Blog

Quote:
Brachymyrmex patagonicus, also called the “dark rover ant”, does occur in Denton, Texas. I collected specimens of this ant two weeks ago at a gas station on I-35 in Denton.

I live and work in Houston where this ant has become the number one pest species that pest control companies encounter. Complete control of this ant has proven challenging. They are very mobile and appear to move nesting sites with little provocation. Dark rover ants are primarily an outdoor species and this is where most efforts at control should be focused. However, outdoor perimeter treatment must be extremely through. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it sounds and is not the norm for many pest control service companies.

Interestingly, ten years ago this ant was not even on the pest radar in and around Houston. While it could be collected easily outdoors it was rarely if ever encountered indoors. Ten years later…..it’s everywhere, in huge numbers and defying most efforts to control it’s abundance. Good luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2009, 09:39 PM
 
Location: Universal City, Texas
3,109 posts, read 9,836,023 times
Reputation: 1826
You may have crazy ants. They have begun to infest the Houston area over the last two years or maybe three or four. They are in about 5 counties in the Houston area. they came into the area by way of a cargo ship. Google them. They love electrical outlets and if the ants do not march in a straight line but go all over the place they are definetly crazy ants. That is their signature.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2009, 09:42 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,399,779 times
Reputation: 5176
No, these aren't the Raspberry ants. These are different. These are definitely the Rover Ants.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2009, 11:22 PM
 
3,106 posts, read 9,121,577 times
Reputation: 2278
Yuck!

All I know is that my skin crawled when I saw the first photo.

Good luck getting rid of them!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2009, 07:40 AM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
1,668 posts, read 4,705,568 times
Reputation: 3037
I think it's time for you guys to move to that house in Katy! ASAP! OMG, I feel so bad for you........
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2009, 08:41 AM
 
809 posts, read 3,568,565 times
Reputation: 574
I don't know that I had that kind of ant, but every year around this time, ants find there way into my pantry which is near the back door.

I tried a couple of different kinds of ant killer with little luck. Then I did some internet research and read about this: http://www.terro.com/products.php?pr...uid_ant_killer

I put a few drops of this (on cardboard) and placed it in 2 different spots in the pantry where I saw ants and the ants were gone in less than two days. And they haven’t been back.

I know Home Depot sells this stuff. Good luck.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2009, 01:23 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,399,779 times
Reputation: 5176
Well, I talked to a few of my neighbors. Seems the general consensus is: they're looking for water (or any type of food that might have water in it). That makes sense, since the carpenter ants we were seeing in our bathroom several months ago were visiting during a bit of a dry spell as well. The people downstairs and next door both have them. Others have speculated we're getting the insects that ran from the building nearby that was recently tented for termites. Gads. I gotta tell ya...I'm just about done with it.

I put Terro bait out in the pantry, since we still had some leftover. We'll see if it works.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2009, 01:25 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,399,779 times
Reputation: 5176
Quote:
Originally Posted by LizzySWW View Post
I think it's time for you guys to move to that house in Katy! ASAP! OMG, I feel so bad for you........
Right!!! I know! You know that house in Katy is gonna have its share of bugs that we'd have to clean out. *shiver* I get the heebies just thinking about it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2009, 01:37 PM
 
2 posts, read 25,617 times
Reputation: 11
Anybody dealing with a spider invasion in their homes. I live in a brand new subdivision near Pearland. Brunswick Place--a DR Horton build.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top