In article , Patty1976
@webtv.net says...
Out in our shed we had lots of little bitty ants. More than I have EVER
seen before. In the past we've had good luck with Terro for these kind
of ants, but this time the Terro didn't even seem to put a dent in them.

Ants diets change for the needs of the colony. One time a sugar bait
works great, the next time if they are feeding on proteins so they
totally ignore it. Another situation depending on the type of ant,
foraging ant trails are just a small percentage of the colony. So when
you have a few dozen ants at a time in the kitchen putting out the bait
can get quick results on a nest of a thousand or so ants. A foraging
trail of a colony with a population of 200,000 can end up being a trail
of "More than I have EVER seen before" and can take quite awhile before
you see a noticeable reduction with the baits.



An exterminator was over at the neighbor's so I got him over to look at
the situation. He showed me where the trail of ants was leading over to
an interior wall of the shed. This is an old shed, and it's divided in
2 parts by a wall that has siding on both sides. He showed me the mud
lines along the seams of the siding. Mud lines from termites inside
that wall. He told me ants are a natural predator of termites, and the
ants were feeding on the termites and then bringing the food outside to
their nest. I could see the ants carrying little bits on their way out.
When I made the guess to him that the ants would take care of the
termite problem, he then said the termites would start multiplying in
force and not be killed off completely.

Some ants are natural predators to termites, the tiny ants will not be.
I have never heard of the ants that do forage on termites,(fire ants,
carpenter ants) being able to eliminate a termite colony.




He gave me a bid of $250. to
take care of the termites and ants. I told him I'd think about it.
A couple of days later the ants were all gone. I had given up on the
Terro much earlier so I don't think it was the Terro that did it.
Do you think the exterminator was telling me fibs, and the ants did kill
off all of the termites and then quit coming in to the wall because
there was no food there for them anymore?

Possibly the Terro worked after more time but I would guess what you
were seeing was the colony in transit moving from one nest site to
another and what you thought was "food particles" may of been
eggs/pupa/larvae the ants were carrying to the new nest site. Really
impossible to say for sure.

--
Lar

It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.