How to Kill Ghost Ants

Ghost ants are members of a small invasive species that gets its name from the milky white, almost translucent, color of the ant's legs and abdomens. The color makes them difficult to see. Thought to have originated in the Oriental or African tropics, these ants are sometimes called Black-headed ants or corpse ants and are known to have a coconut-like odor when squashed.

Introduced by human trade

The ghost ant is considered a species of trap and was introduced to the United States by human trade. Although well established in Florida and Hawaii, its range is expanding. Ghost ant populations have found indoors in Iowa, Oregon, Texas and Canada. Although the ghost ant becomes weak in the cold, it has managed to adapt and thrive in northern areas by living in greenhouses and warehouses. Colonies of ghost ants can be very adaptable and highly mobile and difficult, but not impossible, to eradicate.

Ghost Ant Habitat

Ghost ants thrive in tropical conditions and can be found in warmer regions nesting in the ground next to rocks or logs or under piles of firewood. In cooler northern states, the ants are only known to survive in heated buildings or greenhouses where they feed on honeydew collected from aphids on other plants. In homes, they will often nest in voids between walls, behind baseboards, or in flower pots and are known to split their colonies into several nests with different queens.

Treat with insecticides

Outdoor nests can be treated with a residual insecticide using a pump sprayer to soak the ground and other areas that show signs of nests. While this will kill the ants foraging it can cause stress on the colony forcing them to split and scatter into sub colonies making excess of disaster. Is the most direct way to eliminate a ghost ant infestation detect and completely destroy the nest. Using a contact insecticide spray specifically hot for ants will kill the workers in visible nests, but it is only a partial solution.

Baiting is better

Since ghost ants form several nests, the use of baits tends to be more effective in eradication than insecticide sprays that can kill the ant before it can return to its nest and poison the others. Ghost ants favor candy baits so best with a sugar or honey base work. Ants follow chemical routes and transport food back to their nests so a sweet bait consisting of 1 through 5 percent boric acid in a sugar or honey water solution provides the worker ants with a poisonous meal to take back to the nest. Boric acid acts as a slow acting stomach poison, and with this method you can kill the entire colony within a few weeks.