This last summer my wife and I stayed in The Villages for a week or so. One thing we noticed was ants. Specifically these little blackish ants that are hard to see with the human eye.

On day one there was a trail from a hole in the grout to some food source. Set some bait and they were gone in a day.

A few days later I bought some Entamin’s chocolate donuts in a box. I bought these at 8 pm and set them on the counter for breakfast. The following morning, my ant farm science experiment had blossomed. The donuts went in the trash, ant bait deployed and ihop for breakfast.

I started to notice after that, these little savages are everywhere. They’re great for cleanup, but damn, they seem to get into everything. If you put a plate on a cookie sheet and add water to the cookie sheet, then the plate is an ant free island that can store sugar products. Everyone I spoke with seemed to not be bothered by the little ants, or they chalked it up to “Florida Life”.


So how does one store food in a normal (non prepper) home? Lots of Rubbermaid?

Is this ant situation fairly normal for Central Florida?

Check with the local County Agent. Fire ants are the big problem.

Ghost ants. Spray the exterior perimeter of the house with permethrin. You can spray the baseboards inside as well.

I think most folks that have homes down in Florida also have a pest control person on a regular rotation. My family certainly does.
It’s just about controlling them, there’s not a chance of getting rid of them.

We called them sugar ants when I was growing up in Tampa.

The only way to rid yourself of them is to spray often.
Last time I was down visiting my big bro, I found a nest in his attic. I went to Lowe’s and bought a 2 gal sprayer and some Bifen I/T and hosed everything down, inside and out. He’s crippled, but if he makes only one gallon he can manage that.

Ghost ants are a type of sugar ant. The ghost ants have a partially white, clear-ish body, hence the ghost part. Treatment is the same for both.

None of them are fire ants, which are a different ballgame.

Yep. Regular exterminator or regular self spray of the same. Either way you still will spot treat at times. Down here you won't ever get rid of bugs.

If food is left out in the kitchen and you are getting a line of ants then whatever your pest control regime is needs to be beefed up. Now dropping a donut outside is another story.

What the heck is a County Agent? I have lived in Florida for decades and dealt with Florida-esque isues but I have never run across that term.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
These guys know everything.
https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/find-your-local-office/

Ants can be problematic here, best bet is to get both an exterminator for the house on a regular schedule, and let them know about the ant issue, and a regular lawn fertilizer/pest company, sometimes you can get both from the same company, check to see who your neighbors use.

This year has been odd for ants, we saw them quite a bit, due to whatever the reason, the ants are probably outside the home in a colony and have found a way in to the food. You need both indoor and outside barriers against them.

Ants tend to move, and if you have construction going on in the area they are being displaced from the ground prep, and, if you have neighbors who are taking care of the lawns with pest/insect control then the ants will go to the lawn that isn't doing that.

I could give you all the details on diy but iirc you are not here all the time, so check around find out who uses who in the area, and get someone to treat the home and yard on a regular basis.

Oh yes, get rubbermaid or some kind of sealing containers for food, eliminate as much cardboard items as you can, we dump the OEM boxes into sealed containers, cereal, rice, crackers, snacks, anything not sealed.

Hit up Costco they have some good deals, or Wal-Mart, Target etc.

That helps and since you are gone for weeks/months at a time, dump out stuff into the trash before you go that you don't want to go bad.

So these guys are called County Agents?

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
So these guys are called County Agents?

They show up at Lowes, Home Desperate, landscape places from time to time with education, it's an extension of UF and the local county.

For example, you can do a soil test with them to find out what your yard really needs to improve, vs paying the local landscape company to send it to them for you...

https://soilslab.ifas.ufl.edu/...-testing-laboratory/

My kid went to UF, I’ve seen that map before I’ve just never heard the term County Agents before. As in ever. I will look out for these guys at the big box store. Never seen what you are describing. Sounds useful-ish.

Keep sealing up any gaps that bugs can get in and spray the exterior twice a year.

I keep food out on the counters with no issues. You just need to stay on top of things.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
My kid went to UF, I’ve seen that map before I’ve just never heard the term County Agents before. As in ever. I will look out for these guys at the big box store. Never seen what you are describing. Sounds useful-ish.

Same here, never heard the term used, it's listed as County Extension office.

You can contact your county office from the link and they will send you whatever you need, soil bags, forms, info on growing plants, etc.

https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/find-your-local-office/

Just click on your county and get the contact information

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I don’t live there, but it was something I was curious about.

Timely thread as we have seen an increase in them lately. We have a bug guy but I need to have him step it up. Saw some in a ceiling corner so maybe we need that attic checked better?

All this rain has the ants marching and seeking higher ground.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
All this rain has the ants marching and seeking higher ground.

And some normal pest applications won't affect ants as well as others, we use Transport GHP but the ants were getting past it, probably in an area that I didn't get good coverage.

Following the trail out the back down the patio we found where they were coming on the pool deck from the shrubs and voila big ol hill.

Advion ant bait is a good product, you find the track, put some of the gel bait out and they take it back to the nest. To spray outside Navigator is a product similar to Transport but for ants, no smell, ants track into it, take it back and die a slow death.

Ants come from outdoors, so you have to build a defense outside and inside to win.

Link for Ant products

Kids love this tune.

On the bright side, a boy can eat a half-brick of graham crackers that are just full of sugar ants with no ill effects (for the boy; it was pretty hard on the ants).

Yes, it took a half-brick for the boy to notice the ants.

Then, if he's a barbarian, he can shake out all the ants possible, and finish the graham crackers.

I wouldn't recommend this with fire ants.