Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they have
materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any clusters -
just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an "advance party"
searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they just stragglers -
or could they indicate a serious problem looming?

"John" wrote in message
...
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?

naaah, they're just teenage ants being antisocial

Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they have
materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any clusters -
just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an "advance party"
searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they just stragglers -
or could they indicate a serious problem looming?

We recently bought a new house, and there were a similar number of
"stragglers" near the bay window.

I put some ant bait down, and overnight it became an ant highway (they
seem to get friskier at dusk)...

I've since baited along the outside wall of the house instead,
removing the bait inside, and i'm back to the occasional stragger
again (possibly just scouting for food sources)

John explained :
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they have
materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any clusters -
just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an "advance party"
searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they just stragglers - or
could they indicate a serious problem looming?

That saved me from asking the same question. We have seen about a
couple of dozen in total in the house, in the past two weeks. About as
many in the front room as the the kitchen at the back, which is nearest
the garden.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?


Almost certainly an advance foraging party. If you can find the entry point
put bait down there rather than inside.

Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote:
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?


Almost certainly an advance foraging party. If you can find the entry point
put bait down there rather than inside.

Peter Crosland



You just need to be scrupulously clean. No chance if you have pets :-)

Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?


Almost certainly an advance foraging party. If you can find the entry
point put bait down there rather than inside.

Peter Crosland

You just need to be scrupulously clean. No chance if you have pets

Ants are not parasitic on domestic pets so the presence of cats or dogs, or
their absence, makes no difference. Ants foraging as the OP has seen them
are looking for food. Most ants are omnivorous and will eat dead insects,
plant matter, seeds etc. and they are particularly fond of sweet things.

Peter Crosland

"Peter Crosland" wrote in message
et...
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are
they just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem
looming?


Almost certainly an advance foraging party. If you can find the entry
point put bait down there rather than inside.

Peter Crosland

You just need to be scrupulously clean. No chance if you have pets

Ants are not parasitic on domestic pets so the presence of cats or dogs,
or their absence, makes no difference. Ants foraging as the OP has seen
them are looking for food. Most ants are omnivorous and will eat dead
insects, plant matter, seeds etc. and they are particularly fond of sweet
things.

Peter Crosland


OP - no pets - but found some spilt sugar today. Been cleaning and gap
filling.

Peter Crosland wrote:
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?

Almost certainly an advance foraging party. If you can find the entry
point put bait down there rather than inside.

Peter Crosland
You just need to be scrupulously clean. No chance if you have pets

Ants are not parasitic on domestic pets so the presence of cats or dogs, or
their absence, makes no difference.

Except that pets tend to be messy eaters

On Mon, 04 May 2009 13:37:25 +0000, Stuart Noble wrote:
You just need to be scrupulously clean. No chance if you have pets

Ants are not parasitic on domestic pets so the presence of cats or dogs, or
their absence, makes no difference.

Except that pets tend to be messy eaters

In our case the kids are the messy eaters, and the pets clean up the bits
that get dropped around the dining room table :-)

"John" wrote in message
...
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?

Wilkinsons sells fipronil based ant traps where the ants take the bait back
to the nest where it is spread around the rest of the colony.

As it's also very effective against bees and wasps it's probably best to
keep it in the kitchen where its lethal effects should be limited to ants.

£3 for a couple of bait stations - you'll probably only need 1, and keep the
other for next year.

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 4 May 2009 18:27:42 +0100, "OG"
wrote:

"John" wrote in message
...
Most days I find a few ants in the kitchen. It is almost as though they
have materialised form nowhere - I can't see a trail of ants - or any
clusters - just the odd one somewhere when I go in. Could they be an
"advance party" searching for a suitable place for their mates? Are they
just stragglers - or could they indicate a serious problem looming?
Wilkinsons sells fipronil based ant traps where the ants take the bait back
to the nest where it is spread around the rest of the colony.

As it's also very effective against bees and wasps it's probably best to
keep it in the kitchen where its lethal effects should be limited to ants.

£3 for a couple of bait stations - you'll probably only need 1, and keep the
other for next year.

Borax and sugar made to a paste is good. It's what they use in Nippon
ant killer. The ants carry it back to the nest as you describe above.


Borax can be used as insecticide, but Nippon liquid contains a related
compound, boric acid.

Nippon Ant Killer Liquid is a sugary liquid with 3.2% w/w boric acid as
insecticide.

Nippon Ant Killer Powder (and their other insecticides) comprise talcum
powder (talc) with 0.5% w/w permethrin (and sometimes tetramethrin) as
insecticide. No mention of sugar.

http://vitax.co.uk select "home and garden" then "pest control"

http://www.vitax.co.uk/home-cat/safety/pdf/5NITBA.pdf

http://www.vitax.co.uk/home-cat/safety/pdf/5NIKP.pdf