cultshock

From time to time we get a bunch of ants running around in our house. Our usual solution is to use some Raid ant killer, basically little drops that once hardened, attracts ants who bring it back to their colony and everyone (including the queen) eats it and dies. So far it's worked great, until now. A few days ago, we noticed ants, put some drops in the places they seemed to be most often seen, and that's when weird shit started to happen. The next morning my wife went downstairs and in one concentrated area at the bottom of the stairs and close to the bathroom (where we put a lot of the drops) there were tons of ant parts all over the place. Not whole dead ants but rather separate heads, thorax and abdomens. She cleaned it all up, but a couple hours later I went downstairs and they were all over the place again! And this keeps happening! Plus any live ants we see are walking around carrying body parts in their mouths. We must have cleaned up almost two hundred parts so far!

So, the only theories I can come up with are A: there are two colonies of ants coming into our house that are using that particular area as a battleground and the carnage is left behind, or B: the poison is killing the ants in the colony and ones that are still alive are pissed and bringing parts of the dead ants back into our house just to freak us out. Or C: the damn house is haunted.

Are there any entomologists out there that can help explain what's going on and what to do about it? Please?

Kurt D

Wow. I haven't heard of ants starting up a decoy turf war of this savagery in, like, ever.

I'd advise you to sell, but it's too late.

cultshock

Dammit, we were planning to sell next year!

I was just sweeping up more body parts in the laundry room beside the main problem area, and an ant came scurrying in from out of nowhere and tried to grab one of the heads I was sweeping up. What the fuck???

Bronkster

How freakin' big are these ants that you can identify individual body parts??

Sonic

Why don't you purchase a Anteater?

Problem solved.

Vibiana

I had ants in my kitchen a couple of weeks ago. Because I have cats, I didn't want to use anything that might harm them, so I researched and somebody recommended Terro, basically it's an ant drinking fountain that contains sugar water with borax added in, which won't hurt pets but gives bugs fatal indigestion. I'm not kidding when I tell you my ants were gone within DAYS.

The Cow

And this guy needs a comeback...

General Zod

He's too busy to respond at the moment.

msdmoney

That's what we use, the only problem is that you end up with an ant highway to and from the Terro for a few days, but it works. With Raid it only got the ants you could see. In our old apartment we had lots of problems with ants, but while we could control them pretty well inside, we had a hard time figuring out the source so they would eventually come back It's easier to manage now in our house, only had them come in once.

By the way, I believe most of the ants we deal with now are the type with multiple queens, so you can't just eradicate by getting the queen.

Abob Teff

cultshock

Otter hasn't failed to deliver teh funny.

They aren't huge, but big enough where I can see the three body segments of a living ant, and individual pieces of dead ones. Ick!

Thanks Vibs, I might give Terro a try.

My wife and I did more investigating and determined that they were coming from the laundry room. The laundry tub by the washing machine was full of dead ants! I looked around with a flashlight and one of the ceiling beams in the basement near the wall and above the tub seems to have some kind of ant nest burrowed into it. I sprayed the hell out of it and tomorrow I will look outside near that area (unfortunately it's in the crawlspace under the back deck). Shit, we might need an exterminator or something.

Abob Teff

May I also suggest you quit using explosives to get rid of ants.

andicus

The ants parts thing is pretty freaky...

We're currently dealing with 'micro' ants. I've never seen ants so small. Maybe just over 1/32" long.

You have to look really closely to see that they are actually ants.

They showed up when I cut up some strawberries and didn't notice that I got a bit of juice on the counter.

Obligatory:

Gambit

I've noticed ants carrying away dead ants before and thought they were just cannibalistic. But after looking it up, it appears that ants are programmed to carry their dead away. They need to keep their nest free from disease and stuff, so make sure to carry the dead far away.

rw2516

You've got Zantis. Look around your yard for a very small spaceship.

The Questyen

Our exterminator company which we have come out every two months (here in Arizona big scorpion and cricket problems) uses chemicals that are safe for pets. We've been using them for 2+ years and never had any problems with our cats they usually ignore where they spray.

emanon

Well, shit. I came into the thread to post that we needed antspawn to weigh in on this, but I see he already has:

cultshock

Ok, that makes sense, they're taking the dead out of their nest and putting them in our house, I just don't know why they are in pieces.

After I sprayed last night it seems there are less but still some new pieces lying about. And now I am finding them in my man cave too, this means war!

Ky-Fi

Yep, only one way to handle that.

Nick Danger

It sounds like you have walking dead ants.

Sdallnct

Ants. Ant body parts. And nests. Basements? How is this not a movie?

Abob Teff

Your house isn't in a new subdivision, is it?

Paff

I for one welcome our new insect overlords

zyzzle

Watch out! The ants have become intelligent and entered Phase III.

Once they get to PHASE IV, they take over the world, and mankind is doomed! And a pretty girl becomes their new queen...

starman9000

Keep your fireworks locked up.