Pests We Treat - Odorous House Ants Found & Exterminated in Hazlet, NJ
My final dispatch of the day was to one of our residential customers in Hazlet, NJ. The homeowner needed to check his generator by the garage. When he lifted the cover, there was a big, unwelcome surprise waiting for him. There was a mature, thriving colony of odorous house ants in and around the generator. These ants, also called stink ants, received their insulting name because, when crushed, they emit a foul odor that some describe as a rotten coconut odor.
These ants are tiny, but fast. They often enter homes after heavy rains when attempting to escape their shallow nest. These ants don’t bite, but they are a nuisance, especially because of their sheer numbers. Odorous ants can have very large colonies. Also, like all ants, they can contaminate food. While these ants feed on many different items found in and outside homes, they have a distinct preference for sugars inside and honeydew and nectar from flowers and plants. You’ll often find odorous ant nests indoors near sources of moisture and also in warm cavities. I’ve found ant infestations inside light switch panels and home electrical equipment and in appliances like DVD players and dishwashers. Outdoors, ants routinely infest air-conditioning units, and now that I’ve seen this infestation, even generators! When ants get inside electrical equipment, they can short them out by forming bridges between electrical contacts.
When I arrived, I carefully lifted the generator cover to see what I was dealing with. Even though I’ve been a pest control technician for a long time, the size of this colony surprised me. Also, once the ants perceived a threat (me!), the workers started scurrying in all different directions carrying eggs as a last-ditch effort to save them. Ants are social insects and it is no exaggeration to say that an colony behaves like a single organism. The welfare of the colony is more important than the welfare of an individual, expendable ant, and ants will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the colony.
To resolve this infestation, I placed several liquid ant gel bait placements around the generator. The foraging ants were drawn right to the bait, which they would soon share with other ants in the colony, slowly killing all of them. I also applied a residual liquid application formulated specifically for ants in the grass and soil around the base of the generator.
The homeowners were quite surprised at the size of the colony, and how quickly they reacted to being disturbed by an outside threat. I scheduled a follow-up appointment to make sure the colony was completely eradicated. The homeowners were correctly concerned that these ants could find their way into the home and they wanted to make sure that the infestation was resolved quickly and correctly. They were appreciative that I took care of the problem, and thanked me before I left.