I'm minding my own business sitting outside with Tiger when I see lots of ants on the ground....I mean a serious colony of ants. Then I noticed some of them were flying ants!

These ants meant business. They were heading right for the sweet stuff.....ME! As one would fly and land on my leg, another would crawl up my calf. Then they would signal eat other: "BITE" and that's what they did. Poor Tiger was twerking trying to get them off of him. So I had to find out more about flying ants and how to get rid of them.

WHAT ARE FLYING ANTS

Most ants are wingless. But at certain times of the year, swarms of winged ants become common.  Among the ant species, you have queens, males and workers. Female winged ants are larger than male winged ants. Worker ants are commonly seen crawling and foraging for food. Why are they here in Shreveport Bossier all of a sudden? I found out that winged female ants and males typically swarm a day or two after heavy rain. Queens begin as winged ants and shed their wings after mating.

WHY THEY GROW WINGS

The hot weather leads to the common black garden ant's annual summer mating ritual which sees both queen and male ants grow wings before they go on a 'nuptial flight'. The flying ants are sexually active males and females who have been waiting all summer for the perfect conditions to swarm. Once some ants begin to fly, other ants detect their chemical smell and join them, with swarms often lasting all day.  I just hope they will take this "activity" somewhere else. The insects then reproduce in their billions before the queens lose their wings and find somewhere to lay eggs for a new colony as the males die.

HOW TO GET RID OF FLYING ANTS

If the flying ants are inside your home, use an ant spray. But if you don't have one handy, you can use a mixture of soapy water in a spray bottle to kill them. You also have to kill any other colonies of flying ants you find outside your house. The best way to get rid of them outside is an ant powder pesticide which you sprinkle on the mounds. You can make your own which is safer around pets and children.

  • Combine about a 1/2 teaspoon of honey, borax, and aspertame (Equal, NutraSweet, etc.), and sprinkle it onto the top of each mound you find. By doing this you are ensuring that the ants will carry the poison back to their homes underground and kill the entire colony. This will prevent further swarming of flying ants from occurring.

 

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