Size: Tiny, usually less than 1/16-inch in length. Color: Pale, with a
dark head and abdomen. These ants are very difficult to see unless one
looks closely.
Habitat and Behavior
Ghost ants may develop huge colonies containing thousands of workers and
numerous queens. This ant is now a major pest throughout most of Florida and
several of the Hawaiian Islands. It occasionally is found in apartments and
greenhouses in northern states. These ants nest outdoors under items on the
ground, within landscape mulch, beneath loose bark on trees, under ground cover,
in potted plants, and within piles of items such as lumber, firewood, or bricks.
Nests may be readily established inside homes in walls, beneath carpeting, and
in other suitable voids or spaces.
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Control
Management of Ghost Ants is best accomplished by locating and
eliminating the colonies found in or around the structure. Colonies living in
the soil or under items such as stones or logs should be treated by drenching
mound or colony with a residual insecticide using
Termidor, Tempo,
Demand, or Suspend.
Termidor SC
Since it has been around, Termidor has been
proven to be the most effective and fastest at completely
eliminating problem ant populations. It is really changing
the way pest management professionals are
approaching ant control. Chances are that the ants in your
house actually have their nest outside, in a wall, or under a slab or sidewalk.
They
travel back and forth for food and water. Termidor Ant Control is
applied to the exterior foundation walls of your house,
creating a treated area of protection. In the past several years, the professional pest control
industry has been revolutionized by new control
technologies, especially in the area of non-repellents
or 'undetectable' liquid treatments. Unlike older
insecticides, un-detectables can't be smelled,
tasted, or even felt by pests. So they crawl through
the treated area, not knowing that by ingesting treated materials or merely contacting the
insecticide, they'll die.
Termidor is unique because ants not directly
exposed to the Termidor-treated area will be controlled
as they come into contact with affected ants.
This 'Transfer Effect' means you'll see its effects
on ants in one to three days, and most species will be
controlled within the first week following the treatment.
Sold in a convenient 20 oz. container. A .06% solution will yield 24
finish gallons of Termidor mixture. A little more expensive, but totally
worth it. To order your Termidor, Click Here!
If you know with some certainty where the colony is living inside wood, then
you can treat it directly by drilling into the wood where the galleries are
located, and dusting the galleries and wood with a dust such as
Delta Dust, Drione, or
Borid Turbo.
The same thing holds with colonies living in wall voids. If you know
with some certainty where they are, then you can treat them directly by drilling
a small hole into the wall void at the base of the void (directly above the
baseboard) and injecting a dust such as Delta Dust,
Drione, or Borid Turbo.
If you are not sure where they are in the wall, or if you
think that they may just be coming in from the outside, then a bait would be
advised!
If the colony cannot be located, sweet baits such as,
Maxforce Gel,
Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait Stations or
Gourmet Ant Bait Gel can be applied to
areas where ants are foraging. Other granual baits such as
Maxforce Granual, or
Advance Carpenter Ant Bait may be considered. When baiting for ghost ants, eliminating
competing food sources such as crumbs and spills is very important.

Ghost Ants taking Advance
Carpenter Ant Bait
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