• There are more than one quadrillion ants on earth and they are indigenous to every continent except Antarctica.
• Among the more than 12,000 species of ants, some common invaders of home and garden are: Argentine, harvester, fire and carpenter ants.
• They are capable of carrying approximately 20 times their body weight and will work with other ants to move heavier items.
•  In existence for over 100 million years, their adaptive nature makes eliminating an entire colony nearly impossible, but there are methods of control.

To locate a nest, use an attractant such as Spam or bait stations (sweet baits containing 1% boric acid or peanut butter with 1% boric acid are effective and will be carried by the worker ants back to the nest). Although flooding an ant nest with water won’t destroy the nest, many of the ants will swarm at the surface carrying small white objects that resemble grains of rice. The adults are moving their young to a safer location and this would be a good opportunity to use an insecticidal dust or spray them with an organic product containing orange, clove or other oils that will destroy them on contact.