Acrobat Ants

We got to learn about these last week. I had noticed an ant every now and then in the living room. I didn't think much of it because we live in Texas and bugs are part of life.

Then I noticed that the ceiling in the living room was starting to peel paint. It looks like quite a bit of water damage. We are in a drought. There is not rain.

With closer inspection of the ceiling, I noticed a trail of ants along the main beam in the living room ceiling. At that point, I thought we had carpenter ants and called the exterminator.

When the exterminator looked at the ants under the microscope, he said they were acrobat ants. Basically they do the same thing. They both set up shop or make their nest in wood. They excavate the wood and live there. We had the whole house treated.

The exterminator said it would take 2-4 weeks for all the ants to die. Well, 2 days after he treated, I went into the living room and put my hand on the back of the couch. I felt something. I looked and there were hundreds of ants on the back of the couch. The couch is positioned under the beam in the living room. The ants were dieing and falling down onto the couch. EWW! Everyday since then, I have had to vacuum the couch, sweep under that couch, and sweep all around the couch. I have swept up thousands of ants. Did I say EWW already?

In a couple more weeks we will have someone come out and inspect the wood for damage and repair any damage. Once the wood is damaged it invites infestation from more wood ants or termites.