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Argentine Ants
- Size
- 2.2 to 3.5 mm long (1/10th - 1/8th of an inch)
- Color
- Light brown to shiny dark brown
- Locations
- Hawaii, Southeastern, Southwestern, Northwestern and Midwest States
- Eating Preferences
- Honeydew
- Sweets
- Oils
- Plants
- Insects
- Teeth
- 2 enlarged teeth at the front with 15 other tiny teeth
- Stinger
- Antennae
- First segment of antennae is about the same size as the head
- Eyes
- Queen
- Brownish in color and 4 to 6 mm long (1/6th to 1/4 inch)
- Multiple queens per colony
- Eggs
- White in color 0.2 to 0.3 mm in size
- Nests
- Primarily nest in moist areas near a food source
- In open ground with small piles of earth close to the nest holes
- In wooden posts
- In cracks in walls and foundations
- Beneath plants infested with aphids
- In and under decaying plants and tree stumps
- Voids in walls
- Bathtub traps
- Insulation in attics
- During Autumn and Winter months the nests get enormous and contain large numbers of Queens - and then in Spring and Summer, various Queens will take a large number of worker ants each and setup their own new colony
- Winter nests seem to prefer areas with heat (such as decaying plants or house infrastructure with heat (e.g. near water pipes and tanks etc)
- Propagation
- Accidently - when they were nesting in plant stock at a nursery bought by a customer
- Queens leave the main colony and setup a new colony with an army of workers
- Foraging
- Very strong foraging trails consisting of sometimes thousands of ants extending sometimes over 100ft.
- In the 50 degree to 86 degree range you can find the trails in shade and in sunlight, but once the temperatures exceed 90 degrees you will rarely (if ever) see a trail in direct sunlight.
- Predators
- Imported red fire ants in the South Eastern States.
- How to Kill
- Use Maxforce Granular Bait
- Track down and bait every trail you can find
- Sprinkle bait around nesting sites - but not directly onto the nest
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