Pest Control St. Louis

Acrobat Ant

Latin Name: Crematogaster ashmeadi

Characteristics: Medium sized, mostly shiny ant with heart shaped abdomen that is sometimes bent up over the thorax when ant is disturbed.

Color: Color variable from light reddish brown to brown or black.

Other: Slow to moderately fast moving ant. May forage in tight foraging trails much in-line with white-footed ant trails, but only acrobat ant bends the abdomen up over the thorax. Acrobat ants also slow to a snails pace than white-footed ants when disturbed.

Habitat: Acrobat Ants are located in the Southeastern US (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia), but can be located in parts of Missouri

Like all ants, the acrobat ants may produce winged, reproductive individuals (males and ladies) called swarmers. These sexually developed adults emerge from an acknowledged colony, commonly in the fall, to disperse and commence new colonies. The swarmers are harmless, but they may well be the start of an infestation. Special treatment of swarmers beyond vacuuming or sweeping them up is not required.

Outside the home, you will normally find Acrobat ants in an assortment of dead and decaying wood. Firewood seems to be one of their preferred homes. In all cases, the timber they occupy will be dead. The acrobat ant never inhabits a healthy or live piece of timber, which is why they like a few of the woodworkings around your house. They have a nasty trait of creating cavities in wood, in particular when that wood is moist. They will even nest in foam heat retaining material board if weather conditions are right. One way to identify their invasion into your timber is to search for sawdust or other frass materials around suspected nest areas.

Several types of small to medium-sized ants are occasional pests around about the home. One of these is named the acrobat ant as a result of the direction the worker ants carry their abdomens above the remainder of the body as if they were performing a balancing act. Acrobat ants are slightly longer than 1/8th inch. They vary in color from yellowish brown to dark brown, and the heart-shaped stomach is commonly darker than the remainder of the body. Magnification is required to see a pair of spines on the back edge of the middle section of the body that helps identify this ant from other species. The addiction of the workers to carry their abdomens uphill when they are disturbed is more than likely the best way to distinguish this species.

Acrobat ants may nest both outdoors and indoors. Outdoor nests are most often in dead and decaying timber like logs, stumps, dead trees limbs, firewood and hollow tree cavities. They might nest in damp soil beneath leaf litter or rocks. The small worker ants readily enter buildings through crevices around windows and doors and several openings. Trails of workers may be seen moving between the nest and a food source. Acrobat ants eat a selection of foods, including other insects and sweets.

When acrobat ants nest indoors they are usually inside wood or cavities kept moist with water from leaks. They may also nest in foam heat retaining board or sheathing. As they excavate the large galleries used as nest sites, sawdust could be deposited near the nest area.

How to Get Rid of Acrobat Ants?

According to a Pest Control company in St. Louis, acrobat ants entering from outdoors can be managed by sealing the outside cracks through which they enter, using a residual insecticide barrier along the foundation, or by treating the ant nest if the location can be discovered through careful inspection and observation.

Ant colonies living within the walls should be treated by eliminating any moisture problems (if present) and by injecting household insecticide spray or dust into infested wall voids. An exterminator may take care of this or for small problems, you can do it yourself. It may well be essential to drill small holes to achieve this therapy.

Insecticides containing pyrethroids are around for homeowners for outdoor use. Always follow labeled directs.

See your local retail merchant to discover a ready-to-use insecticide labeled for ants. Read and follow the directions on the label.