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So the other night we walk into our kitchen and there are about 2 dozen of these little black ants with wings...they seem to be mostly near the ceiling close to a recessed light. Found some on the outside of cupboards (none of the cupboards had food in them). I checked the pantry, near the fridge, etc. to see if any where near food. None. So we kill those and the next night I find another group of them in the office on the other side of the house, near a lamp that was on. They are definitely not termites and they didn't seem to be doing too much flying considering they had wings. Any ideas what these little buggers are? And can I treat them myself without calling in an exterminator?
A few years ago, my husband had a bag of raw peanuts that someone had given him.
It sat on the pantry shelf for a few months.
One night, he decided he was going to cook some and when he opened the bad, there were these little insects that looked like what you are describing. YUCK! We threw the entire bag of peanuts away. He found out what they were but I can't remember!!!
I think they might indeed be carpenter ants. About 30 min ago I found a few around an electrical outlet in the main hallway. I removed the outlet cover and DOZENS of them came crawling out! Felt like I was in a Stephen King movie!! So husband is under the house right now trying to locate the "nest".
I mentioned this post to my husband who used to do pest control. He said without seeing them he can't say exactly what they are but that you should definitely get someone to come check them out b/c it sounds like you might have an infestation on your hands. Hopefully that's not the case, but better safe than sorry. I think Orkin does free inspections--you might call your local branch.
I remember seeing the same thing at my house in VA when I was a teenager.
The OP mentioned seeing ants with wings; it's springtime and the ants are swarming. Though they're a nuisance now, they'll most likely be gone soon, or at least much less prominently visible.
Hubby went under the house yesterday...didn't find any nests or colonies but did see a conga-line of ants coming in from under the foundation, marching along the electrical lines, where they eventually came into the house from the electrical outlet in the wall. We found thier marching line outside and followed it to the grass in the front yard. We got some ant killer (label said that includes carpenter ants) so we covered the grass really well yesterday and all the way up to the foundation. No sign of any since. I hope that's the end of the story!
Most likely is carpenter ants. Is this fixture near a door or window? If so possible rotting from water. We had this happen to us and found out our whole back bottom door was rotted. We fixed and replaced this and no more carpenter ants.
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