Do you have ants with wings in your house? These ants with wings in the house are signs that an infestation is happening, and it needs to be dealt with. In this guide, we will discuss how to get rid of ants with wings in your house quickly and effectively. Let’s get started!
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Why Do There Even Have To Be Flying Ants?
Flying ants aren’t caused by a change in their genes. “Alates” are ants that can fly or have wings. They become sexually mature. The queen ant makes them, and the worker ants in a colony feed them. The winged ants are ready to take the stage when the colony is ready to grow on its own.
Like their wingless cousins, flying ants live in complex societies and communicate with each other in many different ways.
The Queen Ant
Queen ants lose their wings after mating and live the rest of their lives in their colonies. Males die after mating.
Ant species can live for a long time and lay a lot of eggs every year. When the eggs hatch, most of them turn into wingless female ants who look for food, protect the colony, and take care of the queen’s young.
When they are big enough, the worker or carpenter ant feed some of the young with special food that helps them grow wings and reach sexual maturity.
Why Do Ant Colonies Need Ants That Can Fly?
If you’ve ever seen a swarm of ants in your home, you may have noticed that some of them have wings. Though it may seem strange, ants that can fly play an important role in the colony. Here’s what you need to know about these winged ants and why they’re essential for the colony’s survival.
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The Alates
Winged ants, also known as Alates, are usually only produced during mating season. Once they’ve mated, the Alates will settle down and create new colonies of their own. This helps to ensure that the ant species continues to thrive and doesn’t become extinct.
Why Do You Sometimes See Flying Ant In Your House?
If you live in an area where there are a lot of flying ant colonies, it’s not unusual for Alates to end up in your home by accident. They may become separated from their swarm during a storm. In most cases, the carpenter ants you see in your house won’t be able to start a new colony and will eventually die off.
When Do Ants That Can Fly Come Out?
Winged pests are most active during the spring and summer months. This is because that’s when worker ants colonies are typically looking to mate and produce new Alates. If you see flying insects with wings in your house, it’s likely that they’re stragglers from a nearby swarm that got lost while searching for a new home.
Why Do You See More Than One Swarm At Once?
While it may seem like there are a lot of flying ants swarming all of a sudden, it’s actually not that unusual. Since winged ants are only produced during mating season, you’re likely to see multiple swarms in a given year.
Why Do Flying Ants Fly Around Your House?
Through Window Openings
You have swarming ants and termites in your house for two reasons. If you see a few of them, they probably came in through a door or window looking for the rest of their group. Just vacuum them up, throw away the bag, and seal any holes or cracks in your screens or windows that could let more flying ants in.
- Not effective on house flies. Is effective in killing fruit flies, gnats, and mosquitos.
- Triple trapping power: a UV light, powerful fan, and sticky glue board combines to be an effective way for how to get rid of fruit flies, gnats, and...
- Use the fruit fly trap for indoors close to insect-ridden fruit, plants or trash bin. Turn off the lights for best results.
Ants And Termites Infestation
If you see a big group of flying ants in your house and these happen frequently, it’s likely that you already have it in your walls or under the foundation. Getting rid of the swarm of it isn’t enough. You have to find it and then kill it with the right treatment to solve pest problems.
Differences To Note: Flying Ants And Termites
Termites
Swarming termites are pale in color.
a. Termites and ants both have two sets of wings, but termite wings are equal in size.
b. Termites have three segments as well, but they do not have the thin waist of the ant.
c. Termites have straight antennae, beaded antennae.
d. Unlike flying ants Termites have wider waist
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Flying Ants
a. Flying ants will be black, brown, red or a mixture of these colors.
b. Carpenter Ant have the recognizable body shape of an ant, with three distinguishable body segments.
c. Flying ants have three segments as well, and thin waist
d. For one, flying ants are usually smaller than termites.
e. You can also usually see a difference in the wings. who has two longer wings while termites have two wings that are the same size.
f. Flying ants have bent elbowed antennae.
Get Rid Of Flying Ants: 3 Options
Take Care Of The Problem Right Now.
Use Handheld Vacuum
You can use a handheld vacuum or a full-sized vacuum with a hose attachment to get rid of obvious swarms and other insects. Remove the vacuum bag right away and take it outside so the ants can’t get back inside.
Spray Insecticide
Sprays of pesticides in crawl spaces will also kill crawling and flying ants that you can see. But these won’t do anything to the entire colony, which will keep making more ants until it is dealt with. When you use sprays inside, you should be very careful.
You can try a natural pest control alternative by mixing dish soap and peppermint oil. Pour a few drops of oil into a spray bottle. The soap stops the insect from moving and makes it lose water, and the peppermint oil makes it suffocate.
- Not effective on house flies. Is effective in killing fruit flies, gnats, and mosquitos.
- Triple trapping power: a UV light, powerful fan, and sticky glue board combines to be an effective way for how to get rid of fruit flies, gnats, and...
- Use the fruit fly trap for indoors close to insect-ridden fruit, plants or trash bin. Turn off the lights for best results.
Hit The Colony.
As with any ant problem, you won’t get rid of all the ants in your home until you attack their nesting site pest control products. The best way to remove flying ants is to set out ant bait.
Apply treatment into the area where the ant colony is. This is something that is best done by a professional exterminator.
Replace Decaying Wood That Is Broken.
If you see a large group of flying ants inside, there is a good chance that you have potential swarms or a carpenter ants mature nest. That can be a big problem, because only termites and carpenter ants can damage wood as they can. Flying carpenter ants are up to 1 inch long, which is longer than most house ants.
If you have a large swarm of carpenter ant infestation in your home and structural damage you should replace any rotting or decaying wood in the walls or under the floors, as this is what the ant colony feeds on.
Conclusion
If you’re still not sure whether you’re dealing with flying ants or a termite infestation, it’s best to contact a pest control professional for help.
They’ll be able to identify the insects and recommend the best course of action for killing them.
