We can find ants everywhere in the house. Your bedroom is just another spot where they chill out and live out their daily activities. This; of course, constitutes a lot of nuisances.
In fact, some of them bite. Some destroy valuable properties. And a few of these bedroom ants can even transmit different deadly diseases.
But to get rid of them, you need to learn all you can about bedroom ants. Here, we have the facts.
So, What Are Bedroom Ants?
Simply put, bedroom ants are the ants that live and breed inside our bedrooms. Out there, there are several species of them; each one with a different agenda, feature, and habit.
However, in this article, we’ll briefly discuss the most common bedroom ants. Namely, these ants include:
1) Carpenter Ants.
If you’re looking to identify the big black ants in your bedroom, then carpenter ants are most likely the culprits. But there are certain other markers you need to check.
For one, carpenter ants have rounded thorax. Their antennae are quite long. And their waists are single-nodded.
This node is like a small but deep trench between one group of abdominal segments and the next in insects. In carpenter ants, you will only find one.
Aside from the physical features, sawdust is also another marker that gives carpenter ants away. If you see this, then your bedroom ants are likely to be carpenter ants.
Although, termites also eat through wood like carpenter ants. But unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t use wood as food. Instead, they tunnel through and live within it.
2. Crazy Ants.
Crazy ants are black or brown. One way to identify them lies within their name. Because as described, crazy ants always act in a frenzy.
When hunting for food, they run all over the place in a very disorganized manner. Their nests are huge. They eat anything, if edible. And yes, they bite; even when you sleep.
Often, they gather around electrical appliances like electric wires, televisions, and laptops. Therefore, alternatively, some people call them laptop ants.
Unlike most of the other ants, crazy ants are very difficult to eliminate because they always keep coming back. But here in that article, we have compiled some of the best ways to get rid of laptop ants.
3. Fire Ants.
In case you don’t know, fire ants have a terrible reputation. Because among all species of ants, they produce the most painful bites and stings.
According to some people, the pain from a fire ant’s sting feels like placing your skin on fire. Although within a few minutes, it’s gone, leaving redness, itchiness, and allergy in some rare cases.
To identify fire ants, you need to look for medium-sized ants with either red, black, or brown color. Often, these ants are found outdoors.
But through wall cracks, open doors, and unprotected windows, fire ants can get inside. If they do, their sting may be the only marker that alerts you of their presence. So, watch out for these things.
4. Sugar Ants.
Sugar ants are one of the most common ants you can find in your bedroom. This even goes double in a bedroom that witnesses frequent eating.
That’s because sugar ants are attracted to sweet things. Our food satisfies this quality. So, when we cannot take care of food spills, these sugar ants trace the scent.
In fact, some people use honey-based lotions and hair creams. At other times, the attractant can be your body or even your hair cream that spilled during usage.
To identify sugar ants, just pay attention to their size. Often, that shouldn’t be over 20 mm.
Besides that, their heads appear black with a banded abdomen. For that reason, sugar ants are also called banded sugar ants.
These ants rarely bite and they are quite easy to get rid of; if you know-how. To learn more about how you can get rid of fire ants, you can visit this article that’s fully packed with effective methods.
5. Odorous House Ants.
Among the brand colors that are common among bedroom ants, brown is not something to miss. Among those brown ants, the little brown ones are the odorous house ants.
Although sometimes, some kind of odorous house ants can have shiny but dark colors. Their thorax is quite irregular. And when you squeeze one of them with your hands or leg, they emit a terrible scent.
Besides this unpleasant odor, odorous house ants rarely bite if at all. But if they enter your bedroom, know that you’re in for many nauseating ants.
Which Ants Are the Bedroom Flying Ants?
At one point or the other, almost all ants fly. It’s only that most of them fly when it’s time to reproduce.
The reason for that is biological. So, bear with us as we borrow some words from biology.
Ants, like most insects, pass through at least three stages in their lifecycle. In biology, we say they metamorphosed from their eggs to larva to the dormant pupa and then to the young adults.
Once the young adults mature to a certain level, they gain the ability to mate. To mate, these ants grow wings and then swarm out of their current nests.
This swarming occurs to protect the current nest from overpopulation. The swarming ants fly out of it to look for other prospective sites to start up a new colony.
In a nutshell, what we are trying to say is that all bedroom ants are flying ants. It’s only that flights are restricted to certain members of the ant caste. These members become the new kings and queens of a new colony.
Why Do You Ants Enter Your Bedroom?
As said earlier, there are different bedroom ants. But regardless of the species, all bedroom ants are attracted by almost the same things. Let’s talk about some of those general reasons briefly, shall we?
- Your House is Heavily Infested.
On the norm, most ant species infest other places aside from your bedroom. Such household regions include kitchens, bookshelves, cabinets, attics, basement, panties, and even bathrooms.
That is because those places are rich in food and other resources that the ants crave. For instance, the cabinets are made of wood.
Carpenter ants build tunnels in woods. So, they would rather infest the cabinets in your kitchen and the furniture in your sitting room.
Likewise, sugar ants would rather prefer to stay in your kitchen where they get a rich supply of sweet and sugary materials.
However, as their numbers grow, these ants migrate from one spot in your house to another. Some of them can fly. And others migrate by simply crawling over you, your pets, and your kids.
If you enter your bedroom with a mating pair or those pairs entered by other means, they would start up a colony there. We’ll discuss the reason for that in the next entry.
- Bedrooms Are Perfect Breeding Spots for Ants.
We usually kept our bedrooms within the optimal temperature. After all, everyone wants comfort in their sleep.
Just like us, ants prefer this appealing bedroom condition compared to the harsh weather outside. Likewise, they can easily find places like bed frames, mirror frames,, and shelves to hide inside the bedroom.
So, once they get in, they would multiply their numbers without delay.
- An Unkempt Bedroom Attracts Ants Even More.
Aside from the optimal breeding condition, ants are better off in other places like the kitchen. Because there, there is a higher chance for them to get food.
The bedroom is more like a desert. But there are ways they go about it to get their food.
For one, bedroom ants have other colonies outside the bedroom, most especially in the kitchen. Once the worker ants secure the food, they transport it to the nests built inside your bedroom.
At other times, food spills and leftovers that you left untended can also serve as food for bedroom ants. So, the less often you clean up, the more food you supply for your tiny roommates; the ants.
That aside, ants also eat other insects like cockroaches, silverfish found in books, and even termites. Whether dead or alive, any of those insects serve as delicacies for ants.
So, lack of cleanliness would only make the ant population in your bedroom soar. Take note, will you?
Best Commercial Products for Getting Rid of Bedroom Ants.
- Ortho-Orthene Fire Ant Killer.
Among all bedroom ants, fire ants are probably the most dangerous. That’s because their sting is very painful and it can be very hard to locate them because of their size.
Out there, there are lots of products to kill ants. However, the Ortho-Orthene ant-killer was designed specifically for fire ants. Though, it can help to kill other bedroom and house ants as well.
- The Syngenta -Optigard Ant Bait.
Most Syngenta products are made from a chemical named Indoxacarb. According to many chemistry experts, this substance is one of the most active ant killers out there.
Aside from that, the Syngenta ant bait can work against sugar ants, fire ants, and even the odorous house ants
- The Terro T300 Liquid Ant Baits.
One bad side to most ant killers out there is that they are often advertised as multi-ant-species killers. Whereas sometimes, some species of ants can prove very stubborn to kill.
When that happens, these so-called multi-purpose killers make the infestation worse. The Terro T300 breaks that barrier.
Besides that, it is very easy to use, and its major content is borax. That means it is very safe to use because most detergents also have borax in them.
Step-by-Step Guide to getting Rid of Bedroom Ants Naturally with Home-made Recipes.
- Start Out by Clearing the Clutter in Your Bedroom.
As said earlier, a dirty bedroom attracts ants the most. So, the best offense against them is to clean out the entire room.
While cleaning, you need to pay attention to certain places where ants can hide. Such spots include your bed frame, window frame, and cosmetics shelves in the room.
Check out these places. Make sure they are thoroughly clean. And arrange the things back as neatly as possible.
- Extend the Cleaning to the Entire House and Garden. Seal All Cracks and Crevices.
The original ant nest might be outside your room.
Sometimes, it may even be located outside your house. From there, the ants can find their way inside via open doors and wall cracks.
If you clear out your entire house, you may locate the primordial nest. We’ll tell you what to do with that later.
For now, just keep cleaning. You can even use a vacuum cleaner.
Once you’re done, empty trash cans, wash dirty gutters near your house, repair all leaking pipes and seal all cracks. Also, make sure you install door and window screens where needed and if possible.
- Spray the Ant Nest with a Home-Made Ant Killer.
To make this homemade ant killer, mix equal amounts of boiling water, white vinegar, and dish soaps. Bottle the mixture up in a can and spray on the nest and other places as needed.
Once you’re done, sprinkle some amount of food-grade diatomaceous earth on beddings, carpets, furniture, and shelves. Leave it on for about two hours.
Then, suck up the earthly material and the resulting dead ants with a vacuum clear. Empty the trash bag as soon as you can. If you wish, you can spray a can of peppermint solution to keep the ants from coming back.
Final Words.
In this article, we clarified bedroom ants are just ordinary ants that are often found inside the bedroom.
Some of them include carpenter ants, dangerous fire ants, odorous house ants, sugar ants, Argentine ants, and laptop-infesting crazy ants.
To kill these bedroom ants, you can use commercial chemical products that contain either borax or Indoxacarb. Alternatively, you can get rid of these bedroom ants naturally and with homemade recipes.
To make this local bedroom ant killer, mix white vinegar, hot water, and dish soap together. Then spray as needed.