How to Manage Pests

Identifying characteristics

• Workers are all the same size, tiny, 1/32-inch long
• Yellow to light brown with very small eyes
• Petiole with 2 nodes
• Thorax uneven in shape when viewed from the side with no spines
• 10-segmented antennae with a 2-segmented club

Behavior

• Feed on grease and greasy foods, proteins, dead insects, and even dead rodents; may sometimes feed on sweets
• Often steal food and ant larvae from nests of other ants
• Travel in set trails inside cabinets, on walls, along baseboards, and along branches of trees and shrubs
• May travel from one room to another by traveling on electrical wires; may be seen in electrical outlets.
• Small enough to forage into packaged foods

Nest type and size

• Nest outdoors in soil under rocks or in decaying wood
• Indoors, colonies found in cabinet or wall voids or behind baseboards
• Individual colonies small; may have multiple queens

See also, thief ant quick management tips.