Why ants swarm

When the ant colony is naturally ready to expand, the winged ants get ready to take the stage. Mature male and female ants fly out of their colonies with one purpose in mind: to mate.

Most ant colonies swarm around the same time each year, like clockwork. These conditions include bright sunlight, low winds, high humidity and warm temperatures, preferably after three to five days of rain. These conditions happen most often in the late spring and early summer.

The males and females of all the colonies in your region simultaneously fly out to mate, or at least as close together as possible. This increases their chances of finding a mate, and the successful fertilization of the queens-to-be. These landmarks are used every year and quite a few onlookers gather to watch these large swarms. These huge swarms can be a bit intimidating, but the ants have only one thing on their minds: mating.

If the ant species bites, like a carpenter ant, the winged carpenter ants can still bite if they feel threatened. If the ant species stings like fire ants do, the winged fire ants can still do the same. If fire ants swarm indoors, locate and treat the outdoor mound with a low-odor insecticide. Failure to treat fire ants that are nesting close to your house may result in mass invasions of fire ant workers, especially during the hot summer months.

Having termites swarm in your home is an almost sure indication of a termite infestation. Save any specimens you discover for a professional to examine. The best way to preserve a specimen is to place it in a crush-proof container in alcohol rubbing alcohol is fine. Make a note of the date and which room it was collected from. This information will help a pest control professional inspect your home more efficiently.

Many suspected termite infestations turn out, on close inspection, to be some other insect. If you find your home infested it is best to work with a professional termite or pest control company to eliminate the problem. Ant swarmers are distinguished from termites by their pinched waists and elbowed antennae.

Swarmers may or may not have wings. Termites are recognized by their dark, straight sided bodies and long, equal-length wings. Ant swarmers have distinctly pinched waists the joint between thorax and abdomen and the four wings are unequal in length two long and two relatively short. Ant antennae also bend sharply in the middle, whereas termite antennae are flexible throughout their length.

Ant swarmers are usually larger than the worker ants from the same colony. Both ants and termites can lose their wings shortly after emergence, so it is common to find reproductive ants and termites without wings. For more information about termites and their control, see Extension publication E Their diet consists of proteins from other insects.

Some ants prefer more sugary foods and many of them will feed on the honeydew of sap feeding insects. With all the great variety in ant species commonly found in Iowa they do have one thing in common. They reproduce with winged swarmers.

Swarmers are queen and king ants that fly out to start a new colony of ants. Once they have mated a queen finds a suitable habitat, begins digging out space for a colony, and lays eggs to produce her daughter, worker ants.

It is interesting to note that the worker ants you see are all females, males just mate and die. A well established ant colony may produce hundreds of swarmers. As Summer brings the heat, you have probably noticed swarms of ants spilling out of sidewalk cracks and crawling all over the pavement.

Maybe you have wondered what it is about summer heat that brings all the ants out in full force, and what, if anything, needs to be done about them. A lot of ants travel along sidewalks and paved surfaces, but not all of them are considered true pavement ants. Pavement ants tend to live under — you guessed it — paved and concrete surfaces, due to their preference for dry soil with plenty of air.

Like many other animal and insect species, the pavement ant breeds in late Spring or early Summer. Ant colonies are established by the newly mated female ants queens and grow quickly as the arrival of the hatched ants within the colony creates the demand for resources to support the increased numbers. As a result, large groups of ants begin traveling out of the colony to forage for food to support the new ants.

Pavement ants seek foods that are sugary and sweet, as well as greasy foods.