There are over 291 species of ants hymenoptera.
Texas ants living in roof.
They live in colonies preferring to build the mounds in open sunny areas.
Depending upon distribution and cold weather conditions ants may be as likely to nest outdoors as indoors especially in many parts of the warmer more southerly portions of their distribution also the preferred indoors locations and food preferences of the ants listed below may vary to some degree since there is a lot of species specific variability among ants.
These ants are reddish brown in color and are most recognizable by the way they move.
Some of the more common species of ants found living in the southeast region of texas include.
Ants in the walls.
Nest hollow trees logs posts landscaping timbers wood in homes several hundred to thousands parent colony satellites eat live insects honeydew fungus associated with wood scavengers baits dusts sprays university of minnesota.
Ants belong to the family of insects called formicidae and are in the order hymenoptera which also includes bees sawflies and wasps.
This dark brown ant has long legs and antennae is extremely fast moving.
It commonly infests buildings especially in the warmer more humid parts of the state.
The reproductive members of an ant colony are the only members with wings.
Once your roof is clean return to the problem areas and caulk the holes and other areas of concern.
When a colony is mature the reproductive ants emerge to find mates and create a new colony.
Ant colonies are often located in cracks and crevices between structural timbers but the ants can also tunnel into structural wood to form nesting galleries although this is rare for species occurring in texas.
Mature colonies build large dome shaped mounds that can contain more than 200 000 ants.
Caulk spray the area.
They often appear to prefer moist decaying wood wood with dry rot or old termite galleries.
Carpenter ants camponotus spp.
You can also spray the area with ant spray to help keep the ants from returning.
Formicidae in texas see the common ant genera of texas a full color identification key to the common ant genera of texas.
One common crazy ant species in east and south texas is the true crazy ant paratrechina longicornis.
Check uut the swarms of black ants throughout a roof cavity inspected by ron as part of a visual termite inspection.
If there are trees near your home that may be a potential source for ants gaining access to your roof pruning may be necessary.
