Never heard of them. I did a search and the information is that they are non biting nuisance ants. It seems that they have not arrived here in Marion county. They have not been observed active at 45 F or lower but as the temperature
rises they become active. No known eradication methods
exist. Very interesting but at least they do not bite.
Felix

I haven't had any experience with them here in Lake county either.
I have a small pest control co. in Clermont. Since we started in 1996 we are dealing with newly introduced species of ants such as big-headed, white footed, etc.
Controling them in the yard will be next to impossible. But the can be managed as to not be a problem on the interior of the house.
On a new start with ant problems, I ask the customer to make sure and cut any plant material at least 12 inches off the house and make sure nothing is touching the roof.
I then make a perimeter treatment with Termidor and the interior with Phantom. I tell them to give it one week and if they reoccur on the interior I will come back.
Using this method I have seen a major reduction in ghost ants, carpenter ants, pharoah ants etc. Ghost ants use to be an every three month occurance. Residual repellents would only last about that long. Termidor and Phantom are non-repellents and the ants transfer it to the rest of the colony for a more thorough kill.
Hope this helps.

Grega--Thank you for your input
I was told by someone that Calstar Granules would treat these outside and have a 6-mo residule but it is very expensive (49.00 for a 25 lb bag and they estimate it would take 4 bags
What do you know about Calstar Granules and would that be an effective solution?
Linda

If they are sweet loving ants like Surgar Ants are you should try Terro. They swarm it and it kills them in less than a day. You can get it even at Albertsons.

When I went to the Jacksonville Zoo with my kids they were badly infested with them. Maybe give them a ring and see if they still have issues and what they could suggest also.

I think you probably mean Talstar granules.
They are a repellent and would probably have little to no effect on the ants. Plus I am sure you won't get 6 months out of it with our rainy weather. Two months maybe.
If I were to try a granule for the ants in the yard I would try Over and Out. I saw it at Lowes and Home Depot today. A bag costs about 20 bucks and covers about 5000 sq. ft..
The active in Over and Out is fipronil. The same active that is in Termidor. It is a non-repellent.

Grega
You are right! - it is Talstar! Thank you for the advice on the Over and Out--it is half the price of the Talstar and covers more. Does it kill them instead of repelling? I am not familiar with Termidor or fiprnil or what they do. How long does it stay active (I take it that it is still effective in rainy weather?)
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Linda

You are welcome!
Talstar is an insecticide that repels. It kills on contact but soon after application others coming into the area where product was applied will try to avoid it.
Over and Out is a non repellent. Say one month after you put it down, if they crawl over it they will pass the fipronil through the colony with their social behavior.
Keep in mind, if they are living above the ground in trees and/or shrubs and if they are trailing onto the house, it is unlikely they will come in contact with what has been applied to the ground.
Bayer, the manufacturer of Over and Out claims "season long control", whatever that means. I would think you would get 2-3 months control, outside of monsoon type rains that we have had over the last week.

Thank you Grega--I will pick some up today and apply it after all traces of Fay are gone. Believe me I have a infestation of the! The ground moves! If you stand still for a minute or 2 they are crawling all over you. I imagine it will take a while to get rid of them but even slowing down the population would be a relief. They are even in the neighbors vehicles!!
Linda

While on the subject of ants, does anyone know the name of a tiny, tiny ant that is no bigger than the smallest speck of black pepper? I have them in my house and they seem to come from nowhere. You can't see them unless they are on something white, but I can feel them if they get on my hands or arms. I thought they may be the crazy ant as that's the way they run and spin around, but they are so tiny. Anybody else have these?

Ginny

So far, I've had very good luck with Amdro, which is a fire ant killer/eliminator. If used as directed, it appears to get rid of any ants treated. I had what appeared to be Crazy Ants between pavers at my back door and though it took two applications, I've not seen them since. A small bag of Amdro has lasted three seasons. cora

Ginny it sounds like the CC ants. Do you have any in the yard? Here they are in everyones yard but not always in their homes. I may try either Terro or Spectracide Bug Stop inside and the Over and Out that Grega suggested for the outside. They are driving me crazy!!! They seem to have gotten worse with all the rain.
Cora - Amdro is great for fire ants but does nothing for these critters and as widespread as they are in everyones yard it would take truckloads of Amdro if it did work. I will try the Over and Out after Fay goes completely away and let you know how it does

Oh, I sooo sympathize with you other infestees! I've got a mess on my hands, multiple types of ants, including the crazy ants, the white-footed ants, ghost ants, pharoah, and others I've not yet identified. It's been ongoing since we moved into this rental back last November. When the landlady insisted there was no infestation (they are even crawling in and out of the electrical outlets and any and all cracks in paint around interior doorways), I was forced to take care of their problem myself. It's still going on! First I did the Terro all over the yard and planting beds. Terro baits indoors. Our ant problems are so bad that I got the gel bait and put outside on the window frames, on every single window in the house. Multiple kinds of ants could be observed in lines traveling out of the ground, up the house outside, to feed on the gel. Then they would enter the foundation cracks around the windows. I ran inside to see where they were going, and they were going into the inside of the walls, the house structure. I've got ants everywhere inside the house as well, despite using the terro baits.

So, I called the county extension for more help. I had already begun cutting away anything growing anywhere near the house (another landlord-neglected area I got to clean up). Landlord still insisting there's no infestation in their structure. So, once all was cut back, I freshened the baits inside the house, using a different brand (name is eluding my brain at this moment).

Once again advised landlord that we can't live like this. When one uses the bathroom, there are even ants in our pants, literally! That one got their attention, after telling me they prefer 'natural, organic pest control'. Well, that's all well and good, but obviously their method (actually the 'do nothing' method) isn't working. They found a 'natural, organic pest control service', and treated the yard. This company claims they have treated the yard no less than eight times since last November, but they're still coming in and living in the walls.

The extension service advised me everything should be caulked, which the landlord refuses to caulk anything. Guess that's my problem as well. I was also advised to take every single electrical outlet and switch cover and spray or bait inside as well, since they are living in the foundation. I've done that as well, and it seems to have reduced the ant infestation inside the house just a little more.

So, I guess I need to advise the landlord I'm still seeing mounds outdoors in the yard and ask them to let the lawn service know whatever they are using isn't doing much to control the ants.

As far as indoors, we have even had to resort to keeping our toothbrushes in the refrigerator. I took the rubber non-slip ring off the dog's stainless steel water dish, as it was holding moisture and attracting the ants as well. I keep finding swarms, and can't get rid of them. This is maddening!

I'm going to put out fresh bait today, once again, inside the house. Need to find out what they are using outside, and request they treat around the foundation once again. Argh!

girlsaylor

girlsaylor, I am so sorry you are having this problem! You can turn the landlord in to the housing authority and that might get some action. They'll send a housing inspector out to see if the infestation is really as bad as you say, and if it is, they'll cite him and make him treat for the ants. I had to do that once with a landlord over roaches. He just kept coming over and spraying with Rid-a-Bug, which wasn't doing a thing! They were so bad, the housing authority made him tent the house, because they had infested all the walls.

I agree with junkyardgirl! The landlord is responsible if they are on his property. If they are in the structure you may have to tent the house. The ants getting into outlets can cause a short as well so please keep a watchful eye on them. They might use a Termidor treatment
My heart goes out to you--I know first-hand how frustrating this is

The gentleman from FPC came early and spent about an hour here assessing the situation. And YEP!! they are definitely the Caribbean Crazies and as he said--a pretty bad infestation! The solution is expensive and they cannot completely eradicate it due the fact there are woods behind me and neighbors as well with them but they can get it under control where there will be minimal ants (that I can live with!)
The fact that I sprayed the malathion, Spectracide etc is what drove them into the kitchen. They will treat the yard in about a week (after the spraying I did dissipates) and put baits outside to draw any inside back out. I will have to keep cleaning up the kitchen floors 3-4 times a day to keep the dead ones picked so they are not drawn to them (another wonderful habit they have) and he said I can spray with Lysol inside which contains alcohol which they do not like
They will have to come out periodically to spray to keep them under control. Hopefully within another week and a half I can spend more time in the yard without the "crazies" making me crazy. Spent about 4 hrs out there today though and got some storm damage control done, and got some of the things put back out that I had put up.
I have a small yard so I can imagine what it would cost for the Jacksonville Zoo that has been infested for 2+ years to treat with that much acreage! Greg says they are drawn to plants, mulch, rocks, landscape timbers, potting soil and fertilizer !!! He was in awe of the yard though and was impressed with what I have done in about 6 mos time. Of course, since he loves plants, he left with about 9 pots of plants! He had one brug that he loved (white) so now he has a pink and a yellow to keep it company along with several crinums, caladiums, cannas, wandering jew, marguerite and blackie sweet potatoe vine and coleus---he was such a happy camper! I am not an enabler tho!
Linda

Linda-
So glad you've got a good bug man to get that CC ant problem controlled. Shouldn't have to live with those buggers. Scourge of the earth, right up there with fire ants.

Enjoy getting back out in your garden!
girlsaylor

They start treatment next Tues. Keeping my fingers crossed that they can get them under control. If anyone has fireants, come get some of my CC ants--they eat fireants!!! Don't know which is worse! I want neither!

Grega
I decided to put down some of the Over and Out on my flagstone Patio yesterday to see how that would do.
I went out there this morning and there are at least 10 times more ants in that area than previously. They literally cover ery inch of the patio. I can't even walk in the area without getting covered with ants. This is something out of Alfred Hitchcok!!!
My neighbor bought a bag of spectracide granules and put them down Thurs. Fri there were no ants where he put the granules. I hope they can get these under control Tues. I literally cannot spend any time in my yard! Driving me CRAZZZZEEEEE!

I hear y'all.

My landlord just advised me they will not be doing another 12 month lease when our lease expires. They will go month to month only.

So, now we get it. If we dare complain about the infestation, we will be told to move! So, I have to save up to move outta here if I can and for the movers. Then if I can ever find a place we can afford we'll get to pay to have ourselves moved. Doggone slumlords.

girlsaylor

The local hardware store guy told me that everyone has been having problems with ants this summer. He seemed to think it was no big deal-- sometimes there are lots of ants, sometimes they just go away. I've decided to borrow his outlook and hope the darn things vamooose soon. I found three in my bed last night!!!

Jane

Linda, was wondering how the treatment went? Are you seeing any less ant activity?

Same old, same old here. There's a huge nest in the bathroom wall, I discovered. I slipped my long-handled bath brush down into the soap dish/washcloth bar thingy, and guess the noise disturbed the nest. I was at the sink and saw a huge, growing black mass out of the corner of my eye. Ants were swarming out from the wall, where the caulking is missing around the soap dish. I was soooo grossed out. Then I found another nest under the bathroom sink, up where the sink bowl fits under the vanity top. I mean, geez, like we're supposed to put up with having to kill massive quantities of ants every time we want to use our bathroom?!

Despite the landlord supposedly paying Scotts to treat this yard and exterior of the house, the insect infestation is so horrific, it's almost uninhabitable. We can't complain or we'll be asked to move. Now the dog has become covered with fleas and ticks, from the supposedly-treated yard (Scotts again). I called the landlady to ask if it was OK for me to call them - don't want to tramp on any toes. Tho she should be the one feeling embarrassed. Will ask Scotts to put stronger stuff out, get this problem under control. Right now I'm not impressed with this company's products. It's like feeding candy to a toddler every time they come. :-(

I just spent my grocery money on flea and tick control products for the inside, and the dog and cat. Used the shampoo exactly as directed, and didn't kill them. So used it full strength and 10 minutes instead of 3-5 minutes as directed. Still didn't kill them. Dog and I had a three hour session of me pulling ticks off her, after I recovered from having my own adverse reaction from the flea/tick shampoo! I was laying on the patio, having trouble breathing, when the spouse came home with benadryl for me. So, I can't bathe the animals myself. Also, the foggers, used as directed, didn't do squat. Still infested with ants, ticks, whatever, inside this house, and used three foggers instead of two, according to the square footage of the house. This is maddening. I am sure they need to tent this place. It's unliveable. I wanna move back north after having to live in this mess.

girlsaylor

Girlsayer---I would definitely contact the housing authority in your city about this problem as well as the health dept. They will force his hand and if he threatens eviction you have grounds for a lawsuit. He will be made to correct the porblem and if you should have to move he would have to cover your expenses.
My CC ant problem still exists and will continue, since these critters came in on freighters from somewhere and they do not have a natural predator in the US. They are spreading throughout the US by railway from the cargo ships that are unloaded and travel throughout the US. CSX railway is infested in Jax and everything going out has ants in it. They are doing studies at UF but have not made any progress.
I have woods behind my house on the neighboring property and that is more than likely where the nests are but we cannot treat back there since the property is not ours and the area is huge!!!

Oh Linda, I feel for you, with the neighboring property needing treated. I have read that sometimes ant colonies span several city blocks. So if you and I are trying to control them and everybody else is just ignoring their infestations, we're essentially fighting a losing battle. But I'm sure things wouldn't be so bad here if the house was properly maintained. I asked the landlord to caulk the cracks and holes in the foundation, around windows, doors, and such, and he said he wasn't going to do any caulking. Bah humbug!

Since it is a single family home we're renting, seems there's nothing we can do. No protection for tenants renting single family homes. Written right into state statute here, and believe me, even tho the infestation was obviously going on long before we moved in, the landlords are hiding behind that statute to avoid maintenance on the rental. They live out of state and won't even give us their actual address. We are supposed to communicate by phone. I'm sure they have a mailbox somewhere here, so as to avoid the high out of state property taxes. But I'll call the various departments suggested and make some inquiries anyhow. Thanks for the info, even if it's not exactly encouraging.

Spent this evening pulling ticks off the dog again. She's totally covered again, in only 3 days, since I flea-bathed, fogged the house and treated the yard. Finally ran out of daylight, and can't see them well enough with these old eyes to continue. Will try and work on her again tomorrow. Gotta fit in some other things, though, between the insect treating, like grocery shopping...

Girlsaylor

Hi All:

Came home to Atlanta after my Labor Day vacation in Florida, to discover ants had moved into the rental house where I live. After 9 days of watching my landlords struggle with the daily infestations - I cannot TELL you how many times the pest-control company has come out here and sprayed our house and yard these last 14 days - I caught the ants going down my bathroom sink drain to lick up mouthwash.

So I got my can of Bengal roach spray, cleared my sink, and puffed a couple shots of that across the back and down the drain. Bingo - dead ants, no returns. It's been five days now. Today one of my landlords, in desperation, asked if he could use a bit of my Bengal to check the invasion at the kitchen sink downstairs. I'll be very surprised if we see another ant down there either. Bengal may say it's a roach spray, but it seems to work fine against ants as well.

Just a thought! Seems to me I bought my Bengal at a Home Depot, hope they still carry it.

I have them here. They really seem to love my red passionvine which covers the whole 60' fence. They get on your clothes when you walk by BUT and this is a BIG plus for me, the fire ants are gone. Since they stay mostly outside here, the CC ants are FAR preferable to fire ants which had a tendency to make themselves at home inside. At least the CC don't bite and leave scars.

I haven't tried killing them, but Bayer makes a powder for fire ants that works like a miracle. One small sprinle on a mound and nearly instant death and the mound was gone by the next day. I hate to use poisons, but with fire ants, I was desperate.

Has anyone used boric acid on their mounds or trails? Just a very light dusting should deter them and it's not toxic. I also read that using aspertame artificial sweetener kills fire ants, it may work for CC.
Jo

Ok I am posting to save anyone the trouble I went through. This ant is not to be taken lightly. You cane end up with tens of thousands or more of these ants. You cant eliminate them by killing what appears to be a mound. They have colonies of 40+ queens, they travel 1/2 mile from nest, they mingle with other colonies and there have been reports of colonies with millions of ants covering square miles.
I recently moved to Florida from up North and didnt know what i was getting into. My family and I moved into a home in Venice accross from a nature preserve and on a canal. we thought this would be a little slice of paradise. well until we opened the doors and saw the ants. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of ants on my property.
The home was vacant for months giving these ants time to multiply like wild fire. Like anyone else I thought well heck I'll go to Home Depot and spray. We bombed the house, sprayed all base boards and floor. Then we cleaned everything. I layed down ant barrier around the house, spread TIACICIDE granules n the yard, used liquid TRIACICIDE in a pump sprayer for trails and nests.
After a month of this battle I have them a bit under control but as soon as it rains or I stop they come back. They are relentless. I bought every bait Home depot sells, they seem to ignore baits. A few use it but not typicaly as you normaly see ants react to baits.
So I gave in and hired a professional exterminator to examine the property. He confirmed its the caribbean crazy ant and is a MAJOR problem here in Florida. He said he has examined homes with millions of these ants. If left untreated they will over run your property. I will be starting regualr monthly treatments starting tomorrow. He said right now there is little research and he has been speaking with the areas Entimologist about these ants. Until they are upgraded above a "pest" status not much funding or time will be spent to research an effective way to kill them. He said right now all I can do is treat my home, yard and drive them off the property. If I stop treatment they will just return quickly.
This I can confirm. I had spent over 100 dollars on spray and granuals may last trip to depot. I spread and sprayed and dumped it everywhere. Then it rained and about 3 days later I have them coming back everywhere. Hence me giving into a paid service coming out tomorrow. Adding up what I spent at depot VS the exterminator, he is cheaper. Plus I dont have to handle the chemicals.
Also note those of you looking for nests to treat. I found they love to make nests in trees, especially the fibrous ball atop the palm trees. They like landscape timbers or logs, boards, any kind of structure in the sand. I even had them crawling out of the electrical conduit running down to my dock. I trimmed back all my bushes, weeded, really cleaned up the yard. All this helped but doesnt solve the problem. These ants are like nothing I have ever seen in my life. I feel for those of you in the same battle as I am. Those of you who dont have these ants consider yourself lucky. If you have a small infestation, act quickly before its a major issue.
If you doubt what am saying google caibbean crazy ant and read for yourself.

ok the cold weather seemed to help out this year, but unfortunately these pests are back with a fierceness, i have found if you pressure wash then lay granules and insecticide it does keep them from the inside of your home. Last year I hired an exterminator, money not well spent, may I tell you, didn't even touch them! Good Luck all!

I just found this post on CC ants, and it doesn't sound good, for what I was hoping for; a solution to these CRAZY ants. Like most other people here, we are overrun with them.

We live in a new development, that has a lot of nearby lots that don't have a house on it yet. So there isn't much in the way of neighboring pest control. And I'm wondering if that is part of our problem.

We have tried Andro for fire ants. I think that was like a snack for the CC ants. I've tried the multi-insect control, from several different manufacturers. The one from Sevin seemed to give about 2 days of relief. But that was probably washed away by rain.

We have a young, 6' tall Magnolia tree in our backyard, and I just looked at it. It is completely covered in CC ants. And interestingly the majority of them seem to be coming from the empty lot behind us. I say "intersting", because that sure isn't "helpful" knowledge. Probably just means I would need to treat that entire lot, in addition to our yard, to make any kind of headway on this.

It is very odd how they don't have obvious mounds. I find holes in the ground, where they are coming out of. But, those holes are everywhere.

This whole thing is very disconcerting. Even if a company did come out with an effective product for the control of CC ants, the way they travel and spread would seem to make even that, an ongoing never ending process of treatments. We just moved from an area in the country where we could have our yard treated once a year, and that was it, very few ants would show up after that. It almost seems that wouldn't be possible with CC ants.

Oh wow!!! CC ants, are unreal!! We have billions,coming into the house,in the driveway,porches ...literally everywhere! They laugh at any bug spray,orkin sprayed our lawn,and house every 2 wks.for 6 mos.!Nothing has stopped them. I have found them under everything. I have vaccumed up to 6 times a day,they come bk. each time.
They love tooth paste,some bath soaps,water,lotion...etc. They flee for short times, if you use spray cleaners, it deters them for a short time. I even tried smothering them with baking soda...doesn't work.

I was reading your posts and would like to help. I was covered up with the Crazy Ants I mean everywhere. You stand in the yard they would be all over your shoes and legs. I spent 2 months trying everything I could find, talked to exterminators. Nothing worked until now I found the right combination !! I now have no Crazy Ants ! I have put up a website to help other people get rid of these pests. Believe me I know what your going through not to mention the damage they do. This will work for you I give the detailed treatment program on the website. You can do it yourself no expensive exterminating fees.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crazy Ants Treatment

After reading all comments on this thread. I thought I would post some information that I found that helped me get rid of crazy ants. I live in East Texas and the crazy ants had completely taken over my yard. The crazy ants were doing damage to my tree's, they got inside my neighbors braker box and shut down his irragation pump. They became so bad that they were now coming into the house. Outside you could see trails of thousands of crazy ants. We knew that we had to take action right away in order to get these ants under control. We tried about every pest control spray but nothing was working. You could spray them and they would come back the next day. We called (2) professional exterminating company's and were told that there was no treatment available at this time that would totally get rid of the ants but could control them. However to control the crazy ants there would be weekly visits and this would end up being very costly in the long run. After almost giving up, I did some serching on the internet and came across this site. http://www.crazy-ants.com This site had alot of useful information about crazy ants and a treatment plan that my wife and I discussed. We bought the necessary materials that we would need and started the treatment process exactly as it was explained. To our suprise the crazy ants were gone within (2) weeks from our yard. We also have (2) neighbors that tried the plan and worked for them as well. I wanted to share this treatment plan with you on this forum in hopes that this will solve your problems as well. Hope this helps and have a great day.

OH my gosh we have them so heavy that when we treat with bug killer, they die but the followers just crawl over the dead ones and soon they have a bridge. My house doors look like there is dirt on the floor NOPE just CC ants!!!!!! there are millions of them, We have killed millions and they keep coming. Daddy long leg spiders LOVE them and now I have to constantly keep after the corners of my walls, ceilings and under my furniture because the spiders come in for the ants. Our bug man spent an hour on our yard and house, inside and out and they die but keep coming!! I am so over it!!!!!! We are going to strip my container garden in an attempt to end them. I live in Manatee county. Everything we try kills them but there is more of them than bug kiler! People think I have pollen gathered on my patio even when there is nothing blooming and nope it is CC ant bodies! I am going to crazy-ants.com right now!!!!!!!