Little Black Ant Identification & Prevention

Gecko Pest Control offers local East Texas ant control that you can trust to help you get rid of ants from your yard and home. Our experienced pest professionals are dedicated to our customers and provide the services necessary to help them maintain pest-free properties. To learn more about the benefits of partnering with us for your ant control or general home pest control needs, please call us today!

Little black ants prefer to nest outside in areas of damp soil. Some of their favorite nesting sites include the soil under landscaping ties, rocks, and fallen trees. They also like to create nests in the ground, found next to foundations and cracks that develop in pavement and sidewalks.

When little black ants decide to nest within a home, we usually discover their nests within:

- Woodwork

- Masonry

- Wall voids

- Insulation

- Crawl spaces

If an ant infestation has developed in or around your home, don’t just hope they will eventually disappear. Ants are opportunistic pests; if their basic needs are being met, they won’t go away on their own. Get rid of an ant infestation safely, quickly, and entirely with the help of a professional.

Worker ants leave their nest each day to forage for food to bring back to the nest. If there is a nesting site located near your home, it is common for them to find their way inside. The small size of these ants allows them to move inside houses through gaps under doors, damaged trim, cracks around windows, vents, and spaces around pipes and wires.

Once inside, these ants may decide to make themselves comfortable and create an indoor nest to expand their colony. Along with shelter, our homes offer little black ants reliable food and water sources.

Little black ants are not ants that we consider a danger to people or property. These ants aren’t known to bite or sting people; they don’t cause structural damage or transmit serious disease-causing pathogens. When talking about little black ants, the biggest concern associated with them is their ability to contaminate food. The ant's small size allows them to infiltrate our kitchens and food packaging. While foraging for food, they contaminate stored foods with their saliva, excrement, and bacteria they carry on their bodies. These ants contaminate larger quantities of food than they could ever consume.

Another issue with little black ants is their large colony size allows them to take over indoor and outdoor spaces. In our East Texas yards and homes, these types of ants become very frustrating to eliminate and control.

In regards to little black ants, there is no false advertising involved. These ants are, in fact, little black ants. Adults are jet black and grow up to about 1/16 of an inch in length. One of their more notable but easy-to-overlook features is their two-segmented waist. 

Little black ants are omnivores. Sources of proteins, sweets, and carbohydrates in our yards, gardens, trash cans, grill areas, and kitchens are too tempting for these ants to resist. Like other ants, little black ants are social and live and work together as a group. Finding a property with reliable access to their basic necessities is the key to their colony’s success.