Ants are getting busy! As the weather changes from winter to spring, ants are foraging around setting up their colonies. One of the more prevalent varieties of ants in the Nairobi City area is the Pavement Ant. This pest gets it’s name because it is often found nesting around sidewalks and driveways. When you see little mounds of soil along paved areas, they are likely to be left over from the foraging habits of Pavement Ants. They prefer to live outside, but when the weather turns cold or if there is too much rain, they tend to migrate into homes. Another reason why ants migrate indoors is because of too little moisture. So if we get 3-4 weeks of dry weather, ants will come in looking for water – usually around kitchen sinks.
Pavement ants are small (about 1/10 – 1/8 inch) and if you look at them under magnification, they have little grooves on their head which parallel the length of their bodies. Another way to identify them, is they have two nodes on their back. Nodes are little notches or humps. The number of nodes is a main method of identification for the many varieties of ants out there.
How do we get rid of Pavement Ants?  Although pesticide sprays will work, the best method is usually to bait for them. By putting bait placements directly in their trails, the worker ants will pick up the bait, take it back to the main colony and distribute it. Although this is the most effective way to eliminate Pavement Ants, it sometimes takes 2 or 3 weeks for the treatment to be fully effective because it takes that long to get the bait throughout the whole colony. Also, there are sometimes several different colonies working at the same time.
Sometimes, I get asked if Pavement Ants can sting. They have stingers, but rarely do they use them. Also, the stingers are so small that they usually can’t even penetrate human skin. They are not considered a health threat – just a nuisance.