Ants

Acrobat ants typically feed on honeydew, a sugary waste excreted by aphids and mealybugs, but they also eat live and dead insects including termite swarmers. When disturbed, these ants commonly raise their abdomen above their thorax and head, like an acrobat.

Usually found in wet environments near a food source, Argentine ants prefer eating sweets such as honeydew but will eat almost anything including meats, eggs, oils and fats. When seeking shelter indoors they are often found near water pipes, sinks or potted plants. These colonies can grow to huge sizes, growing to cover several miles.

Needing a constant water source to survive, carpenter ants typically attack wood that is or has been wet. They typically enter buildings through cracks around doors and windows, holes in a structure meant for wires, or through wet, damaged wood. Carpenter ants get their name because they excavate wood in order to build their nests. Their excavation results in smooth tunnels inside the wood.

Crazy ants feed primarily on live and dead insects, seeds, fruits and honeydew. They enter homes in the autumn or after rainfall because both conditions reduce their supply of honeydew. Inside, these ants nest underneath floors or carpeting, in potted plants and in wall voids. Outdoors, their shallow nests are commonly found in soil under objects or next to foundations. Crazy ants can nest in both dry and moist habitats. Crazy ants get their common name from the workers' habit of running in an erratic, jerky manner when searching for food.

Odorous house ants like to eat sweets, especially honeydew. When inside your home, they are likely to nest near moisture sources, such as in wall voids near hot water pipes, beneath leaky fixtures in bathrooms, under kitchen or bathroom sinks, and also in wood damaged by termites. Outside, they are often found in exposed soil or under stacks of firewood, lumber or bricks. The odorous house ant gets its name from the strong, rotten coconut-like smell it gives off when crushed.

Pavement ants will eat almost anything, including other insects. Indoors, they are likely to be found in ground-level masonry walls of foundations. They enter building through cracks in the slab and walls. Outside, Pavement ants typically nest under stones, pavement cracks and next to buildings.

Colonies of Pharaoh ants tend to be large, with workers numbering in the thousands. If disturbed, members of the colony will migrate to new locations to establish several new colonies through a process called budding. Pharaoh ants feed on a variety of food sources including sweets, oils and proteins. They will also eat other dead insects.

They nest in warm, humid areas near food and water sources. Nests are usually located in inaccessible areas such as wall voids, behind baseboards, in furniture and under floors. These ants often use electrical and telephone wires as a highway system to travel through walls and between floorboards.

Red imported fire ants typically nest in soil near structural foundations or in landscaping. These ants build large mound nests that are flattened and irregular in shape, and are between two and four square feet in size. While usually nesting outdoors, these ants can gain access to buildings through HVAC systems and AC units. They also are attracted to nesting in electrical junction boxes and gas and water meters. In some cases, they can short out the electrical boxes.