Odorous ants, also known as “honeypot ants”, are a common household pest in the United States. While they do not bite, they can become an annoyance by their constant search for food. Ants will eat just about anything sweet. Common food sources include: honey, sugary drinks, jelly, jam and even certain types of candy or chocolate. Odorous house ants prefer sweets to fats, so greasy foods are seldom eaten. In this article, I’ll show you what odorous house ants look like, why they have this name (which is not nice), how to identify them and where they live. Odorous house ants are big and long-legged, with a blackish body and light brown color pattern on the head, thorax and abdomen. They can cause mild irritation if they come in contact with human skin. The odorous house ant is an invasive ant species and has an aversion to light. They like to nest in well-protected areas, such as under rocks and ground cover, inside wall voids, hollow stumps, or bridge supports. These ants feed on plant secretions, honeydew (from aphids), and dead insects. They are most active during the fall months and live in small groups consisting of one queen and many workers. The odorous house ant is a species of ant. It is an introduced species in the United States, but native to southeast Asia, where it occurs in various forms of arboreal, aquatic, and subterranean habitats. Odorous house ants are small ants with a pungent odor.
Do Odorous House Ants Bite
Understanding Odorous Ants
Appearance
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Size: Odorous house ants, sometimes called odorous ants, are small, measuring 2.4 to 3.3 mm in length.
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Color: They have dark brown or black bodies with one node on their petiole, which is hidden by their abdomens.
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Shape: Odorous house ants have an unevenly shaped thorax when viewed from the side.
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Smell: The most distinguishable characteristic of odorous house ants is the smell of rotten coconut that is emitted when their bodies are crushed.
Nesting
Odorous house ants are opportunists, nesting both indoors and outdoors. Nests are found in a great variety of situations.
Indoors, odorous ants can nest in wall crevices, near heaters, water pipes, under carpets, beneath floors or sometimes behind paneling. They are most likely to invade buildings during rainy weather. Odorous ants travel in trails, foraging day and night.
Outdoors, odorous house ants place their shallow nests beneath soil as well as in logs, mulch, debris and under rocks.
Diet
Odorous house ants forage for food night and day. Outdoors they prefer honeydew from aphids and mealybugs. When the honeydew supply is reduced in autumn, they may move indoors for food. Indoors, they eat meats, sugary foods, dairy products, pastries, cooked or raw vegetables and fruit juices.
When alarmed by a predator, worker odorous ants will move in quick, erratic motions, raising their abdomens into the air.
Reproduction & Life Cycle
Like all ants, odorous house ants live in colonies. Each colony may contain two or more queens and over 100,000 workers. The queens of an odorous ant colony can produce thousands of workers and hundreds of reproductives.
New colonies are created in two possible ways. The first is when the colony produces winged male and female reproductives who swarm out of the nest, mate and the fertilized female establishes the new colony. Swarming typically occurs in the summer months. The second way odorous ants form new colonies is when a queen and workers bud off from the main colony and form their own new colony.
These ants develop by complete metamorphosis from egg, larva and pupa to adult. Development time from egg to adult is affected by several variables, such as temperature, but typically ranges from 34 to 83 days.
Do Odorous House Ants Bite
If you have odorous house ants in your home, you may be wondering whether they bite.
The answer is yes—odorous house ants do bite. But their bites are not harmful to humans and can be safely ignored.
Odorous house ants are small, but they can be very aggressive when threatened. They will bite if you try to handle them or disturb their nests. They also bite people who get too close to their nests, which can occur in many places throughout the home. If you spot an odorous house ant nest near your home, it’s best to leave it alone and call a professional pest control company for help.
Odorous house ants are a type of ant that can be found around the world. They are known for their habit of biting humans, especially those who disturb them in their nests.The ants will bite using their mandibles, which are located at the front of their heads. Odorous house ants are attracted to sweet foods and will attack food sources with sugar content.
Some people experience an allergic reaction to the venom produced by these ants, but this is rare.
Odorous house ants are a species of ant found in the United States. They are considered a nuisance insect because they have a tendency to invade homes and cause damage to food products and other household items. These ants are also known for their unpleasant smell, which is why they got their name.
Odorous house ants do not bite humans or animals, but they can be dangerous if they get into your food or drink because they may contaminate it with bacteria from their bodies.
These ants are very small in size and are typically brownish-yellow in color with two dark stripes along their backs. They can also be identified by their two pairs of curved spines on their abdomen, which make them look like they have four legs instead of six (like most other types of ants).
Odorous house ants build their nests underground near trees or shrubs that grow above ground level; however, these nests can also be found under concrete slabs or under floors inside buildings. They prefer places where there is moisture so that they can keep humidity levels high enough for survival during winter months when temperatures drop considerably outside during colder weather conditions throughout most regions of America’s midwest region (where most infestations occur).
Lists of Do Odorous House Ants Bite
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| Item Dimensions | |
| Height | 3 Inches |
| Width | 2.5 Inches |
| Length | 3 Inches |
| Weight | 0.375 Pounds |
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- Kills the Ants You See & the Ones You Don’t – As worker ants discover the bait, they share it with the rest of the colony to eliminate them all
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| Item Dimensions | |
| Height | 4.5 Inches |
| Width | 6.6 Inches |
| Length | 1.2 Inches |
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Additional Info :
| Color | White |
| Item Dimensions | |
| Height | 4.6 Inches |
| Width | 7.1 Inches |
| Length | 1.8 Inches |
| Weight | 5 Pounds |
- The Package Length of the Product is 5.08 centimeters
- The Package Height of the Product is 17.78 centimeters
- The Package Width of the Product is 16.51 centimeters
- Package Weight : 0.272 kilograms
Additional Info :
| Color | Brown |
| Item Dimensions | |
| Height | 1.9 Inches |
| Width | 5.4 Inches |
| Length | 7.6 Inches |
| Weight | 0.43 Pounds |
- Designed for use on a myriad of indoor and outdoor pests with a simple sprinkle
- Designed for use on a myriad of indoor and outdoor pests with a simple sprinkle
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Additional Info :
| Item Dimensions | |
| Height | 5.75 Inches |
| Width | 2.56 Inches |
| Length | 2.56 Inches |
| Weight | 0.71875 Pounds |