Control of Odorous House Ants

Product Recommendations at the bottom of this page
Odorous House Ants
Tapinoma sessile

Color: brown or black
Legs: 6
Shape: Segmented; oval
Size: 1/16” to 1/8”
Antennae: yes
Flight: swarms in early summer

Habitat

They usually nest in shallow soil surfaces and can be found in mulch, debris, and logs outside your home. Also, they nest under stones, wood, or anything else that can provide cover. Indoors, they can nest in walls, around hot-water pipes, and under carpet. This makes getting rid of tiny house ants a problem. A colony can become so large that it buds, splitting the parent colony into satellite colonies. The satellite colonies remain connected to the parent colony through foraging trails. The trails provide for the exchange of workers, food, and larvae.

Health Risk

They don’t bite or sting, but are a nuisance once they forage indoors in large colonies.

Property Damage

Odorous house ants cause minimal property damage, it can be difficult to locate and eliminate the colonies.

Prevention

Remove potential food sources inside your home by wiping up spills, keeping counter tops clean, and store food, especially sweets, in sealed containers.

Eradication

Workers are good at finding sweets in the structure so a sweet ant bait would work. The most effective control is accomplished when,

• Ant trails are followed to the nest and treated with a residual insecticide.
• Exterior nest should be drenched with a liquid pesticide.
• Nest in wall voids are more easily treated by aerosol injection or application of a dust formulation.
• Can't locate the nest? Then use a microencapsulated or wetable powder applied to:
  • foundations
  • plants
  • soil adjacent to the building
    

Gourmet Ant Gel Bait (A0055) Sweet Ant Bait for use inside.

Onslaught Microencapsulated Liquid Insecticide (A0165) Apply to foundations, plants and soil adjacent to the building.

CB 80 Aerosol (A0008) for wall voids

Tempo 1% Insecticide Dust (A0161) for wall voids

Delta Guard Granules (A0082) for use on yard outside.

SEE ALL ANT PRODUCTS HERE

See other ant species

Argentine Ants    |    Carpenter Ants    |    Fire Ants    |   Odorous House Ants    |    Pavement Ants