So I discovered a small 1 inch mound of sand near the patio door on the ground level of my house. The mound was near the crack under the door frame. No one in my house put the nicely constructed mound there, so it had to have been done by ants, right?
But why would ants have built this inside the house?
My only theory is that because it was pretty hot and humid in my city a few fews ago (100+ with the humidity) and the A/C was off in the house because we were away, the ants liked the heat indoors and build a home there?
Now, the central AC had been on for 5 days before I discovered the mound. Since I didn’t find any ants in the mound, could the continuous cooler temps have scared them back outside, thus leaving their structure behind?
Tain’t necessarily so. I don’t mean to cause you any undue alarm, but you may wish to have your home inspected for termites. The residue you found may not be sand at all, but rather sawdust created by termites chowing down on the wooden sill and door frame as they eat their way into your house. That little pile of sawdust is often the first sign of a genuine termite infestation. Good luck.
Hmm. I’m pretty sure the mound was sand or sand-like. It was very fine, like sand and not really sawdust in quality. It was the same consistency of the sand in between the patio “bricks”. It immediately thought it was ants because the sand looked like the kind that the ants like to make in certain spots on the patio floor.
I just checked some documents that describe the signs of termites. They mentioned the saw-dust piles and also “dirt or mud-like tubes or trails on the structure.” I haven’t seen that. But I can keep tp find a photo of the sawdust pile you mentioned. Do you know where I could get a photo of it to compare?
The safest thing to do is to look at the little buggers, and see if they are termites.
Termites (in general, in America) have straight antennae; ants have jointed antennae. Ants have “wasp-waist” bodies; termites tend to have much fatter, plumper bodies, etc.
If they are ants, they proabably don’t realize they’re indoors. They use the little balls of dirt to cover up their holes during the rain so the nest doesn’t get flooded. They also make the entry in a hook shape for further protection should anything happen to the barrier. If you haven’t seen them though, I would have to agree it probably isn’t ants. If you have an ant infestation, you definitly know it.
Nope, there was nothing underneath. The floor is a hard parkay floor and I didn’t notice any holes or anything.
But, like I said earlier, I didn’t notice more that one ant near the mound. Is that normal? I mean, if the ants had built something inside the house, near the door, wouldn’t they have been living in there? Or is this some kind of ant X-file?
What do you think about my theory (see above) that the ants built in when the house was nice and hot, but fled (and left they sculpture behind) when it got too cold (because of the AC)? Is that consistent will known ant behavior?
I’ve had the same thing happen today, It wasn’t there this morning when I left the house and when I got home there was a pile of sand outside my bedroom door?? It definately wasn’t saw dust, it was the same sand that we have in the area also, there are no holes in the floor or in the roof above the pile, no ants around either. Also this small pile is nowhere by a door leading outside or by a window?? No one had been home and we all checked our shoes incase someone had tread is in. but there was no other sand in the house that would suggest this and no footprint in the same either. Got any other Ideas??