Biting ants in San Francisco? (apartment, hotel, house)

[bmw335xi]

I just got back from a long trip only to find a lot of these tiny black and brown ants crawling around my apartment. I didn't think much of it and thought I'd buy some ant traps when my jet lag is over, but yesterday morning I woke up and felt two bites on my finger that hurt more than itched. Hours later I counted over 30 bites on one hand. As the day progressed I had welts on both hands and feet. I can't think of anything else that would have caused this. I googled biting ants in California and came across Argentine Ants. They look similar.

Has anyone else ever been bitten by these tiny house ants? I even booked a hotel for the next two nights so I can lay traps everywhere without risking my dog getting a hold of one of them. These little buggers are painful!

[justmeinca]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I just got back from a long trip only to find a lot of these tiny black and brown ants crawling around my apartment. I didn't think much of it and thought I'd buy some ant traps when my jet lag is over, but yesterday morning I woke up and felt two bites on my finger that hurt more than itched. Hours later I counted over 30 bites on one hand. As the day progressed I had welts on both hands and feet. I can't think of anything else that would have caused this. I googled biting ants in California and came across Argentine Ants. They look similar.

Has anyone else ever been bitten by these tiny house ants? I even booked a hotel for the next two nights so I can lay traps everywhere without risking my dog getting a hold of one of them. These little buggers are painful!

I think it is in the theater near you

[clongirl]

I remember reading something about them a while ago. I was never bitten thank goodness, but whenever it rained in the City, they'd infest my kitchen cabinets crawling over, in, around, through my sugar, flour, pasta...it was horrible! I found this tidbit about them...

Argentine ants difficult to control - SFGate

[bmw335xi]

lol I'll be rooting for the enemy now when i watch Ant Man.

Thanks for the link too.

I'm shocked these little guys pack such a big punch. I was almost in tears driving because of the bites on my feet. I've had bee stings, wasp stings, spider bites... but these are by far the worst. I'd post a picture of my hands, but I don't want to ruin anyone's lunch lol. Just using the toothbrush takes a couple minutes for me to build up the pain tolerance needed to grasp and apply pressure. I read the bites last anywhere from 3-8 days, today will be the 3rd day, so hopefully it won't take 8 days. I've had ants occasionally before in San Francisco, but they never seemed to bother me. Maybe they were a different type

[Scott456]

You have too much sugar in your body.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Great, yet another invasive species to deal with. They should up the penalties for sneaking in banned items (both overland and via other means). And as much as I would resent it at times, maybe those inspection stations on routes into the state need to randomly select vehicles for a more extensive inspection. And bring more Beagles into the airports.

[rah]

I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life (mostly in SF) and have never been bit or heard of Argentine ants biting people....and I've seen a lot of ants. Weird. I always thought the only biting ants in CA were fire ants, which I've never seen in SF.

[3rdGen SFan]

Originally Posted by rah

I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life (mostly in SF) and have never been bit or heard of Argentine ants biting people....and I've seen a lot of ants. Weird. I always thought the only biting ants in CA were fire ants, which I've never seen in SF.

Same here, but maybe bmw is allergic to the stings.

I haven't ever heard of those small ants around here attacking people. They're drawn to food, crumbs and carcasses of dead rodents & animals.

My guess is bmw shouldn't be dropping crumbs and should clean up his place.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Great, yet another invasive species to deal with. They should up the penalties for sneaking in banned items (both overland and via other means). And as much as I would resent it at times, maybe those inspection stations on routes into the state need to randomly select vehicles for a more extensive inspection. And bring more Beagles into the airports.

These ants seem to have spread quite far. They are a big problem in New Zealand.

Originally Posted by rah

I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life (mostly in SF) and have never been bit or heard of Argentine ants biting people....and I've seen a lot of ants. Weird. I always thought the only biting ants in CA were fire ants, which I've never seen in SF.

This is the start of my 7th year in San Francisco and its the first time I've been bit by ants too. I have seen ants in my place before, maybe 3 times within those 6-7 years, but they never bothered me. This time though, the ants looked different. When the sun light hits them, they look light brown where as the other ones were solid black. It's now day 5 and the pain and itching is going away, but the bite marks are now blood red, quite ugly looking and feels like rough patches of skin. If you ever see those things, don't think they are peaceful... 7 years and this is a first for me lol.

Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan

Same here, but maybe bmw is allergic to the stings.

I haven't ever heard of those small ants around here attacking people. They're drawn to food, crumbs and carcasses of dead rodents & animals.

My guess is bmw shouldn't be dropping crumbs and should clean up his place.

I'm definitely allergic to the bites because I can't imagine those little ants being non-venomous could cause such pain and irritation. However, I counted over 50 bites just on one hand after the inflammation went down. I'm kind of a clean freak, don't even allow people to wear shoes in the entrance of my home, so crumbs wouldn't have drawn them in. I did a complete cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and even high temperature steam mop before my vacation. The ants weren't there when I left, but were when I got back. I read they are drawn indoors during really wet seasons or really dry seasons. There are some water leakage problems in my building, so maybe they were drawn by the water.