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Little Black Ants

Back to Nature | Commentary by Mari Carbajal

Mari Carbajal | Friday, Sep 11, 2015

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In August, I told you about my database and keeping your eyes open to a wide variety of insects, flowers, animals, birds, etc., and then tracking what you find.

Was it cold or hot when you saw what you saw? Have you seen it before under the same or different circumstances? Can you compare the various characteristics to weather patterns?

These are all interesting questions you should ask yourself. But sometimes even I get thrown for a loop, which is why I’ve chosen to write about common black ants this month in relation to my database.

We all know what an ant is – a pest. Looking at several years of data in my spreadsheet, I found that ants have not been that big of a problem. A few here, a few there; some years I’ve seen a bit more than the previous year or even the previous month.

But this year has been insane.

Several species of ants exist in Southern California: pavement ants, harvester ants, fire ants, thief ants, Argentine ants and carpenter ants, to name a few. There is little difference between them; all create colonies in one form or another, and all typically have at least one queen and workers.

The classification of ants is based on the number of nodes in their bodies, shell color, and general body shape. For the little black ant, a worker ant is approximately 1/16 inch long, and the queen averages around 1/8 inch. They nest just about anywhere, even inside your house. The little black ant is a scavenger, a predator and a forger and will eat whatever it can find.

Now, down to the reason I’m writing this about these ants. I’ve lived in Agua Dulce for 23 years. I’ve watched and recorded information for at least the past 10 years. I see black ants and grease ants (also called thief ants), especially in the summer when most ants are mating. But this year has been a record high. Starting in June, I was seeing more black ants than normal, but nothing overwhelming.

July came, and I saw more. In my front yard, they were literally swarming on the pavers in huge numbers, and one actually stung me. I didn’t even know they could sting. Going around the yard in no particular pattern, and not seeming to be after anything in particular, they just walked around being ants.

In August, they started getting bolder and worked their way into the house in droves. I’ve seen ants in my house before, but nothing like this.

Usually ants will walk single-file (or as near to it as they can). Sometimes I could tell they were after food, water or trash. Other times they were just wandering around after nothing at all.

I walked into my computer room one day, and it was as if the floor were moving. I was convinced the entire colony was on the floor and they had invited all of their neighbors. They didn’t seem to be after anything in particular, and they weren’t moving in a trail – just wandering all over at random.

A week or so later, I went to check if my cats needed food in their dish, and there was a trail of black ants at least 3 inches in width, coming under my front door, across the entryway floor, up the wall, onto the table and into the cat’s dish after the food.

It was like a horror movie. This is no exaggeration. The last straw was a few days later when my daughter found ants trailing around the seam of the pillow-top on her mattress. I couldn’t believe it.

I’ve asked various friends and colleagues, and only one other person I found was having a similar problem. My daughter told me one of her friends in Santa Clarita woke up one morning to find ants all over him. Yuck. That’s the closest story I’ve heard in relation to my nightmare.

This is a definite entry into the database I told you about last month. The real question now is, “why?” There are several assumptions that could explain the abundance of ants this year. One is the drought, or maybe the heat, or both. But I’ve been through both in the past and never had this kind of experience.

My next thought was the upcoming winter. After all, we are supposed to have an El Niño this winter. Are the ants gearing up for a big flood? What do they know that we don’t?

Whatever the reason, I’m noting this with enthusiasm and interest, and I can’t wait to see what happens. I just might be referring to this article, come winter.

If you’ve had any incidents like I have had with these black ants, please post your comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Mari Carbajal is a docent-naturalist at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.

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12 Comments

Shannon Rider says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

The ants are everywhere!

Reply
Sabrina Smith says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

I live in Saugus off of Plum Canyon. They are everywhere. In every room. They are randomly crawling on me. Some mornings I wake to find 7 or so randomly walking around on my nightstand. I stood up from the toilet last night and one was on the seat. UHMMMM – that is getting really too close for comfort. I can’t get away from them. I leave home and head to work (in Burbank) – they are crawling on me in my car. I get to work they are crawling on my desk. It is a walking nightmare and I am beginning to panic!! My poor husband is losing his mind. I wish it would just rain already!

Reply
Sabrina Smith says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

It’s a walking nightmare! My husband is in hell. It is like the Dad from A Christmas Story. Dad vs. the Dogs and Heater – my husband vs. the ants

Reply
Francoise Marie Halliday says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

Ants have been invading cars in the parking lots in the school I work at. Crazy.

Reply
Michael Jacobs says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

It is enerally argentine ants and the source is usually outside of the structure. The most effective treatment available at this time is a permiter treatment with Termidor. It is low toxicity and has a long lasting residual. It is also non repellent so that the ants will continue to track through it and can often track it back to their nests. Most pest control companies will not allow their technicians to use this product because it costs more to use. Hint: Never use ant bait inside your home without first performing a comple exterior perimeter treatment. Otherwise you will attract ants from all over the neighborhood and often make the problem worse!! Mike Jacobs, Owner/ operator ASAP Pest Control

Reply
- Rachael Barajas says:
  
  Saturday, Sep 12, 2015 at
  
  Pm sent.
  
  Reply
Rachael Barajas says:

Friday, Sep 11, 2015 at

They’re EVERYWHERE!

Reply
Carol Hill says:

Saturday, Sep 12, 2015 at

Black ants everywhere! The most I’ve seen in the time I’ve lived here.
Your theory is interesting. Guess we will have to wait to see!

Reply
Tessa Lucero says:

Saturday, Sep 12, 2015 at

The Santa Clarita Valley seems to have more ants than any other place I’ve lived. The little fu…er…suckers are everywhere, mostly the small black (Argentine) ants that come into homes and other buildings in search of cool temperatures and water. If you have an ant problem, it’s not usually because your home is dirty — they are looking for food, water, and comfort. Just like us.

Apparently the little black ants are all up and down the west coast of North America and they are genetically so close to identical that they don’t fight among themselves. You can scoop up some ants from San Diego, drive them up to San Francisco, shake them out near a colony under the Golden Gate Bridge, and instead of attacking the intruders the SF ants will say “well, hello, cousin! Come on in!” We can’t even count on one group keeping another group’s population under control. And they are crowding out the native ants in this area that some other species evolved to feed on.

There doesn’t seem to be much we can do other than spray the perimeter and squish every ant we see. The Big Toe of Death is employed frequently in our bathroom. The worst was one time I came home and a river of ants was coming down the chimney, out the fireplace, across the living room floor, into the kitchen, and into the cat’s dish. UGH. That’s when you spray the fireplace, grab the vacuum, suck up every ant you can see, take the vacuum outside and throw the (now seething) bag in the trash.

Reply
Patti Koether says:

Sunday, Sep 13, 2015 at

I live in Phoenix, Az in the winter time. Our grassy area in the back yard is full of black ants. We have so many bunnies that come to eat our grass, the ants go after the bunny poop. They bite and it hurts and creates welts and then itches, I feel bad for my dog she goes out and goes poop real fast so they don’t have time to crawl up her legs. Hopefully, we will have a cold winter and they will disappear!

Reply
Liz says:

Tuesday, Sep 15, 2015 at

Just moved here from the east coast where we had ants inside our front & back door every summer. When I saw ants in our bathroom, living room, crawling up the wall of our kitchen & in our bedroom I started freaking out. I thought I must be a terrible housekeeper. Then I found one crawling over me in bed!! We are using Terro now which is supposed to be good stuff. Oh my goodness! Unbelievably creepy the numbers of ants going to drink – creepy.

Reply
M.Longino says:

Friday, Mar 22, 2019 at

Great info. Are you still tracking this in 2019? We just moved out to Palmdale last year and are gearing up for the pest invasion, come summer. Last August, when we moved in I noticed when we watered anything outside next to the house, huge bands of little black ants trailing up the side of the house in three-inch wide trails. I’m sure there are colonies under the slab foundation. Any thoughts on the ant population this coming summer? Also, any extermination (pet safe) suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

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