Small, harmless-looking insects often live in apartments. One random guest is safe; he will leave the home without any harm. But if an established colony is discovered, you urgently need to address the question: how to get rid of red ants in an apartment. Such a neighborhood will bring nothing but trouble, because ants not only spoil food, but also bite.
Red ants: description of the species
There are many types of ants in nature. And often representatives of different species end up in houses. But only one can live in an apartment permanently - these are tiny red or ginger ants, called house ants. Forest and garden blacks are rare guests. They enter the house by accident and quickly leave it.
Red house ants are very small. They are only 2 mm in size. But they multiply quickly, populate the apartment with lightning speed and quickly move, filling the entire house. They can be seen swarming in the sugar bowl, in cabinets, on dishes, in the trash can. They move in groups along the paths. This makes it easier to fight them.
Only one can live in an apartment permanently - these are red or red tiny ants, called house ants.
Ants live in colonies. The number is scary - in one colony there can be up to 300,000 individuals. They organize them in an inaccessible place - somewhere under baseboards, between floors, under ceilings. It is almost impossible for a person to get to the colony on his own. This makes it very difficult to fight. In addition, communication is always maintained between the colonies. Therefore, small red ants, after they are destroyed in one apartment, quickly appear again. But you can still get rid of them. Moreover, if you consider that these insects can only live in an apartment - they are too heat-loving to live outside.
Ants live in colonies. The number is scary - in one colony there can be up to 300,000 individuals
How do they look?
Red ants are relatively small in size. The average body length of an adult is about 4-5 mm. Color can vary from bright red to dark and almost black. Newly hatched, young insects have a transparent, white skin.
Like all insects of this species, the red ant has a clearly defined division of the body into three sections:
- head
- breast
- abdomen.
They are connected to each other by a narrow segmented jumper, giving them flexibility and mobility.
The head is equipped with powerful jaws-mandibles, which slam shut like a trap when bitten. In addition to protection, ants also use them to carry food and other objects. On the sides of the head there is a pair of eyes of a complex, faceted structure and three simple ones located in the upper region. They distinguish movement and light well, but have low resolution. The sense organs are complemented by sensitive, mobile antennae, which allow the ant to obtain a clear picture of the world through touching and feeling surrounding objects.
The chest bears six strong, muscular legs, ending at the end with a hooked claw. Thanks to this device, insects can easily move along walls and ceilings.
The abdomen has a segmented structure. In size it is much larger than the rest of the body. The abdomen contains the digestive and reproductive organs. In working individuals it is equipped with a sharp sting, which insects use for defense and attack.
Interesting fact! Ants have a fairly developed “language” of communication in relation to other insects. They transmit information using antennae and secreted pheromones.
Ways to enter the apartment
Red ants get into houses in different ways:
- from other apartments;
- from the street;
- with products;
- with things.
The way to the house is opened by scouts from other colonies. If the scouts found food in the house with easy access and a lot of secret crevices, then it will soon be inhabited.
Scout ants from other colonies open the way to the house
Reproduction
Their natural habitat is natural conditions, but this does not prevent them from coming into residential areas and settling into colonies there. Regardless of where they decide to settle, scout ants first explore the territory.
Their task is to check the conditions of the nest and check the food sources; these are the main criteria for finding a habitat. When the territory approaches, the old colony begins to move. The main individuals of the colony are the male and female, who have wings; they fly to the new nest almost first.
This species has a unique ability; reproductive individuals can reproduce offspring independently if necessary to replenish the ranks of worker ants. The uterus is engaged in replenishing offspring; it reproduces female and male individuals. One queen can lay 250 thousand eggs in her lifetime.
Not all representatives of this species spend time arranging their homes and building anthills. For example, in Argentina, goosebumps can choose a reptile's nest for their colony; they drive out the caimans and occupy warm housing.
But they don’t stop there; the offspring of reptiles that remain in the nest are doomed to death. Ants eat the eggs, not giving the slightest chance for development and survival.
Regarding their own offspring, larvae emerge from the eggs, which in appearance resemble worms. Individuals at this stage of development are absolutely helpless; they are not able to feed themselves, develop, and even more so survive without the help of working individuals.
The larva must go through several molts, with each molt its body weight increases and its size increases, then it degenerates into a pupa. She is also looked after by working goosebumps, when the time comes to move to the next stage, they help her get out of their cocoon.
Damage from ants
Little red ants spoil food. They are also carriers of diseases, crawling from the trash can to the sugar bowl. It is believed that insects can carry typhus, intestinal infections, and helminthiasis (they carry eggs of worms and other helminths on their paws).
In addition, in the cracks, small ants begin to create “waste sites” - burying their dead comrades, leaving inedible food. Molds and fleas reproduce well on such a substrate.
The smell of blood and sweat attracts ants. Theoretically, if there are a lot of these insects in the house, then they can begin to bother people, crawling on them during sleep and infecting wounds.
Little red ants spoil food. They are also carriers of diseases, crawling from the trash can to the sugar bowl
Fire ant nutrition
It may seem strange, but these insidious predators have some benefit. They eat crop pests:
- grains and legumes;
- rice;
- sugar cane, etc.
But there is still more harm. from fire ants, which have to change their morphology, behavior and lose eggs.
Insects do not get along with their “relatives”, their own kind, competing for food. They are not only predators, but also herbivores. In the photo, the fire ant is almost always captured carrying something on its back for construction or food:
- shoots, plant stems;
- various bugs, caterpillars;
- larvae;
- reptiles.
Fighting ant colonies
It is difficult to fight these visitors in an apartment, since successful victory requires an integrated approach and, ideally, the cooperation of all residents of the entrance. But you can do something on your own to get rid of insects, at least for a while.
For complex control use:
- thorough cleaning of the premises;
- chemicals;
- folk methods.
Before you start using drugs against ants, you need to wash the apartment, review all things, shake them out and pack them tightly for the duration of treatment.
The fight against red apartment ants should begin with thorough cleaning
It is very important to get rid of ants in the kitchen, as these small insects make food unfit for consumption. Food should also be removed, dishes washed and dried. All discovered cracks in floors and baseboards must be carefully sealed.
Organization of life
Ant Reproduction
The fire ant has a standard life support system. Families consist of three clans:
- Uterus.
- Working individuals.
- Brood.
Unlike other brothers, in the fire family there can be several individuals responsible for laying eggs. This allows them to reproduce at an impressive speed. Working individuals are females who are not capable of reproducing offspring.
The brood group includes all life stages up to the sexually mature individual: eggs, larvae and pupae. Their development is completely dependent on adults. The individuals responsible for the population hide the future cubs as deep as possible in the anthill and carefully monitor their diet.
Fire ants try to arrange their home as close as possible to the food source. This could be agricultural land or human habitation. That is why in countries where representatives of the fiery species are found, active work with the population is carried out. They regularly broadcast photos of the red ant, warning about the danger of its bite and how to detect it. It is also mandatory to carry out chemical treatment of agricultural objects, veterinary control of livestock and first aid training for bites.
Chemical control
Chemicals are used to kill adults and reduce the population. It is worth remembering that many drugs have a strong effect and quickly kill insects - so quickly that they do not have time to return to the nests and infect the queen there. Therefore, there remains a risk of the population resuming after some time. Because of this reason, potent chemical agents must be supplemented with long-acting agents or folk methods that kill ants slowly. This way you can get rid of small pests for sure.
The fight against red ants can be carried out using both chemical and folk remedies.
The most effective means include:
- "Raptor";
- Off;
- Raid;
- "Combat";
- "Dichlorvos";
- "Deta."
They are available in aerosols and are easy to use. With such means you can treat all rooms in the apartment, paying special attention to places under the sink, behind cabinets, and ventilation shafts.
In order to fight as a whole, it is better to simultaneously use pencils or crayons against crawling insects. They should be used to coat baseboards, the back surface of kitchen cabinets, apply stripes above furniture, along the sink, around ventilation shafts and openings. Having walked along such paths, the ants carry poison on their paws to the colony, where mass death soon begins. In this way, you can get rid of queens, which cannot be killed with ordinary aerosols, because it is impossible to reach them.
Features of lifestyle and reasons for the appearance of a house
Ants are social creatures; they never live alone. There are several reasons why red ants appear in an apartment.
"Robbers"
- Availability of food for them - open containers with food, honey and jam in jars on the table, leftover food in pets’ bowls, and so on
- Unsanitary living conditions: scattered garbage, food crumbs, dirt, humidity.
- Sources of water: flowing taps and pipes, puddles near the kitchen sink, under the bathroom, etc.
- A dirty space that gives ants the opportunity to exist unnoticed.
On a note! To prevent red ants from getting into your apartment, do not give them the opportunity to find sources of water and food.
Classic folk remedies
After a chemical attack, it is necessary to consolidate the result and prevent the population from resuming. To do this, you need to use the most effective folk remedy - boric acid.
- Boric acid is a terrible poison for crawling insects. It corrodes the intestines, dehydrates the body, and has a nerve-paralyzing effect. In this case, the insect dies under its influence after a few hours, and, therefore, manages to come to the colony and poison the remaining individuals. The surviving insects begin to lose their ability to reproduce. Fighting ants with boric acid is more beneficial because it does not develop addiction.
- Unrefined sunflower oil, garlic, parsley, lemon peels, anise, and caraway seeds can be used as food deterrents. These products do not kill insects, but do prevent them from getting into food.
After you have managed to get rid of red ants, you should acquire the useful habit of not leaving food in the public domain and always clearing crumbs from the table and not hoarding dirty dishes.
After you have managed to get rid of red ants, you should acquire the useful habit of not leaving food in the open and always clearing crumbs from the table and not hoarding dirty dishes. Then the scouts will return to the colony “empty-handed” and, perhaps, the colony will not want to repopulate such an inhospitable house.
Behavior
They live in anthills, which are most often built in open areas. Anthills are mounds of soil on the surface of the earth. Their diet consists of young succulent plants and seeds.
They also attack insects and small animals, inflicting a bite with a stinger, they easily cope with their victims. They bring their victims to the anthill to feed those individuals that do not leave the territory, as well as to feed the offspring.
Regarding the solenopsin poison, which they secrete during an attack, it is deadly for insects and small animals. If an ant attacks a person, the poison causes very painful sensations, very similar to a burn. The effect on the human body is individual, but sensitive people tolerate its effects very hard, in some cases it can lead to death.
They are among the most aggressive insects, relative to ants of other species, and they easily displace them from territories.
They adapt very well to new conditions and can easily tolerate frosts.
First aid for a “monster” bite
At the first suspicion of a dangerous insect bite, you should quickly move away from the place where the source of fire ants is located. This must be done carefully so as not to cause unrest in the “family.” Usually, sentinel individuals begin to bite first.
You won’t be able to shake off the insects, which means you need to carefully remove them from clothing and parts of the body. They cannot be crushed, because crushed ants emit a smell, through which other members of the family receive a signal of danger and immediately begin a new attack. After this, you need to free the affected area of skin from clothing in order to reduce swelling. Rinse the area, then place a cold compress on it. Be sure to take an antihistamine. Then seek help from a medical facility. Delay can be costly because the venom is a strong allergen that often causes pulmonary edema.
Treatment of bites
Since the poison released by a red ant bite is extremely toxic, the skin in this area will turn red and hurt for some time. The biggest danger in this case is infection. As a rule, the bite site is very itchy, and scratching can quickly introduce pathogens into the wound. When bitten by an ant, the procedure should be as follows:
- The bite site should be thoroughly washed with plenty of soap and water.
- Treat the wound with a disinfectant (hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, cologne).
- If a person is prone to allergies, taking antihistamines would be appropriate.
- You can get rid of burning and pain with the help of special ointments that have an analgesic effect.
If there are more than ten bites on the skin, you should immediately consult a doctor. Ant venom in large quantities can be life-threatening.
Sources
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