Oahu homeowners know big-headed ants are the worst! Even with regular pest control service, these bugs take time to control. This can be frustrating, but knowing your personal Kilauea technician will return to treat these remaining pests in between the regularly scheduled services help our Oahu based customers feel assured and secure.
Big Headed Ants Identification
Big-headed ants live in the walls and crawl spaces and generally stay pretty close to the ground. These household ants are dark brown, with the soldiers having these huge monster heads. Unlike the glabber ants, their behinds are more rounded and not pointy.
Unlike other ants, big-headed ants tend to stay on the floor and generally don’t follow a path one behind the others. Rarely do we see them crawling up a wall or nesting up high in the attic or on shelves. These guys are a different breed, and we find control to be different than most ants as well.
Big Headed Ants Inspections
An interesting phenomenon we see unique to big-headed ants is the “ant graveyard” effect that people in Hawaii sometimes notice around their homes and sometimes mistake for termite droppings.
These ant graveyards are caused by spiders (I like to think daddy long leg spiders.) These spiders live under furniture like sofas, dressers, and beds. Big-headed ants are for some reason are attracted to these spiders and the spiders suck the life out of them and leave ant graveyards for you to find and wonder about. Well, this is the story- mystery solved!
Kilauea’s Big Headed Ants Control Process
Unlike many kinds of ants, Big-headed ants don’t respond well to liquid pest control treatments-even non-repellant products. Both baits and liquid treatments can be used, but generally, it will take a while to get complete control of these pests in our experience.
We like to let people know what their expectations can be. Rest assured we can get complete control of these pests, we just like to let people know what to expect. For ghost ants, we can get control rather quickly. For Glabber ants, a little longer but still control generally within weeks. Big-headed ants are more like a month or more for control. You’ll see a reduction, but you’ll get another batch and just have to keep beating them back. Again we just like to let you know what to expect- on average.
Big Headed Ants Control Tips for Homeowners
One take away is don’t let one of those piles of big-headed ant remains not to be inspected by a professional. They can look very similar to termite droppings and we’re more than happy to stop by and give you a professional opinion. Another option is just shooting us a picture if you want a quick answer and nine times out of ten, we can at least put your mind at ease.
Whether you’re seeing one of these ant graveyards or a generic ant trail making their way around the house, we’re here to help. Call us at 808-236-2847 or simply fill out the form on this page for a fast, friendly service.
Aloha.
