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Ants
Acrobat Ants
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White-Footed Ants

 

 

 

 

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White-Footed Ants

 

Characteristics 

Size: About 1/8-inch long.  Color:   Black with pale tarsal segments at the end of all six legs, giving it its name.  The White-footed ant is a serious pest in southern Florida. 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 also be readily established inside homes in walls, beneath carpeting, and in other suitable voids or spaces.

White-footed ants may develop huge colonies containing thousands of workers and numerous queens. A colony of white-footed ants can number up to one million individuals. This species may be difficult to control and does not feed much on ant baits. The keys to control are to find the colonies and subcolonies and treat them directly. Regular inspections and service are necessary to find and treat new colonies as they move from neighboring properties.

Control

The white-footed ant may well be the most difficult to control of all structure-infesting ants. In many situations elimination of ant activity is nearly impossible, especially during mid-summer in areas where this ant occurs. At best, regular treatments hold the ants at bay, keeping as few ants as possible from entering the home or business. Without such efforts, however, the numbers of ants seen inside can rise into the thousands. Regular pest control treatments can help minimize the numbers of ants seen inside. It is especially important to seal as many cracks in the homes exterior as possible to exclude ants and other pests.

Three steps are needed to control this ant: (1) correcting any conditions contributing to the infestation; (2) locating and treating existing colonies with a residual insecticide such as Phantom, Termidor, or  Tempo; (3) targeted treatments with a residual such as Demand to help prevent ants from entering the structure. Colonies living in wall voids or inside wood can be treated by drilling a small hole into the base of the wall where the ants are living and then injecting a dust such as Delta Dust, Drione, or a non-repellent insecticide.

Alpine Ant & Termite FoamNon-repellent insecticides such as Phantom, Alpine Foam, or Premise foam will also work well inside.  These powerful non-repellent ingredients will allow pests to forage right over it and then spread it to other insects hidden behind walls or in their home colony, killing every other pest they come in contact with.  These products are virtually odorless, clear in color and provides superior pest control with a long-lasting residual.

 

For added control on the exterior, use a hand held spreader to apply a pesticide granular product such as Talstar Granular.   Using this product will allow you to get complete coverage to hard to reach ground areas, and in mulch or rock areas that liquids may not reach.  It is a sand-like granular that will filter down into those areas where ants are likely to be harboring.  

 

Note:  Ant baits are not very effective for these ants because of the fact that worker ants do not exchange food directly with queens or larvae.  Most ants offer food they have gathered to the larvae, which digest the food and regurgitate it back to the adult workers.  If the food was a poison bait, the workers would ingest it and be killed.  However, the White Footed Ant has a group of workers that lay sterile eggs, and it is these eggs that are consumed by many adult ants in the colony as well as the larvae.  Thus, they might avoid ant baits that we may use.  However, John Warner, a graduate research assistant with University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has developed a new bait that seems to be attractive to white footed ants.  We will keep you abreast of any new developments.

Regular inspections and service are necessary to find and treat new colonies as they move in from neighboring properties. Be sure to check underneath items lying on the ground as well as under mulch and rock areas.  Check neighboring fence/wall lines to see if ants are coming in from neighboring properties.  These perimeter treatments can keep your home or business pest free. We suggest a regular treatment on the exterior with Demand, Tempo, or Suspend.  For added control use Talstar G.

General tips for limiting ant infestations include:

  • Eliminate piles of lumber, bricks, or other debris that could serve as a nesting site for ants.
  • Keep landscape mulch less than 2 inches thick and at least 12 inches away from foundations.
  • Ensure the sprinkler system does not spray directly onto the foundation.
  • Seal as many cracks in the building's exterior as possible.
  • Keep tree and shrub branches cut away from touching the building.
  • Consider re-landscaping to avoid using plants that are prone to aphids and similar insects. At the very least, treat such plants for aphids regularly.

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