# How best to deal with winged ants? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295 "2025-06-30T12:05:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/1 "2025-06-30T12:05:58Z")
First off, [her is a cite](https://www.bugoutservice.com/ant-exterminators/ant-control/how-to-get-rid-of-flying-ants-in-house/#:~:text=To%20quickly%20get%20rid%20of,empty%20the%20canister%20outside%20immediately.&text=Mix%20water%20with%20dish%20soap%20and%20spray%20it%20directly%20on%20flying%20ants). I was hoping folk could share what has/hasn’t worked for you. In past years, we have periodically seen pharaoh ants in our house. They are quickly controlled with Terro ant killer. 3 days ago, upon waking we saw 100s of winged ants on our east facing kitchen door. There were also many tiny wingless ants on the floor right below the door, and crawling up from one corner of the top door trim. We just smooshed them and sprayed some ant killer. I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from - whether inside or outside the house. But I thought it likely just a 1-day thing. The next morning there were more. We did the same. Today was the third day. I can’t recall this happening on an ongoing basis in previous years, and we do not regularly have signs of an ongoing ant infestation inside. So what would you do/have you done in similar situations? My impression is that these ants are trying to form new colonies, so I didn’t think it really one of the “bring the poison back to the colon” situations. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/2 "2025-06-30T15:01:27Z")
**Moderating** Since this is seeking personal experiences, it is better suited to IMHO. Moving to IMHO (from FQ). ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/3 "2025-06-30T15:20:53Z")
I know the [first method](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQsjcB2SIko) that popped into my head ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/4 "2025-06-30T15:23:27Z")
Dr. Hibbert: Fire! and lots of it! Marge: Oh, that’s your cure for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/5 "2025-06-30T16:55:16Z")
Sorry - I thought I was asking for a factual answer. Spoke with my sister. Many years back she experienced the exact same thing as I around a kitchen window. They pulled off the trim and there was a colony, which they packed with poison. Never recurred. The trim/paint around that door is in perfect shape. I’d really prefer to not tear it apart and replace it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/6 "2025-06-30T17:21:26Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I know the [first method](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQsjcB2SIko) that popped into my head I was thinking tiny anti-aircraft guns. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/7 "2025-06-30T17:34:11Z")
In some ways, this is a self-limiting problem. Flying ants only exist during the ants’ reproductive season. And the only ant that survives the experience would be the fertilized queen ants. So the only real extermination-worthy effect would be preventing the queen ants from starting a new colony, and I don’t know if that’s actually possible. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/8 "2025-06-30T17:35:31Z")
Flying ants are migrating to find a new home. Once they do, they will lose their wings and become “normal” ants. If they are congregating near your house, they may be either coming of going. If they are coming, you want to see where they are setting up shop, and then bait them once they do. If they are going, you probably should put down baits to get the colony that they are leaving from. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/9 "2025-06-30T17:48:09Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Flying ants are migrating to find a new home. Once they do, they will lose their wings and become “normal” ants. > [@gnoitall](#): > > In some ways, this is a self-limiting problem. Right. That is my impression. But how much effort ought I put into trying to figure out where they are coming from? In the mornings that we’ve seen them, we do not see numbers of them immediately OUTSIDE the door. Which makes me think the ants trying to reproduce are coming from inside my house. If there is a colony inside my house, I find it curious that we do not see ongoing signs of them. Also, even if these are ants trying to establish new colonies, doesn’t that mean there might be an ongoing colony somewhere in our house? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/10 "2025-06-30T18:15:39Z")
They could be some type of carpenter ant, and may be in your walls or foundation. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/11 "2025-06-30T18:33:21Z")
Or, termites. Don’t some termites fly at some point in the colony’s reproductive cycle? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/12 "2025-06-30T18:47:56Z")
I’m very aware of what carpenter ants and termites look like. These ain’t those. Thanks, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/13 "2025-06-30T19:06:33Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Dr. Hibbert: Fire! and lots of it! My very first night staying home alone by myself, w/o a babysitter I’m sitting on the sofa watching some movie on our TV of the time, a regular (_not_ large-screen tube TV, probably 20-some inches). The house has been _taken over_ by ants; they’ve dug a moat around it & brought in an full gasoline 18-wheeler tanker truck to empty it’s contents into the moat, which they then plan to light on fire. Since this was a planned fire, the fire dept is already on scene in case of any issue with lots of fire trucks, all with their lights flashing, & more coming in hot. All of a sudden the sirens seem louder, & the room seems to be bathed in flashing red lights. Wow, this is cool, some type of new-fangled surround movie. Then I catch something thru the window out of the corner of my eye; my neighbor had a (small) oven fire; the real FD is outside. Great; there goes any chance of me being a big boy, staying home by myself ever again. 😧 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/14 "2025-06-30T22:39:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Flying ants are migrating to find a new home. Once they do, they will lose their wings and become “normal” ants. It’s no exactly migration - it’s the mating flight of new queen ants - they do typically discard their wings after the nuptial flight (the males just die after), but the flying ants are new queens, each one capable of founding a new colony, although most will not survive. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/15 "2025-07-01T10:59:03Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Right. That is my impression. But how much effort ought I put into trying to figure out where they are coming from? In the mornings that we’ve seen them, we do not see numbers of them immediately OUTSIDE the door. Which makes me think the ants trying to reproduce are coming from inside my house. The flying ants are the result of the entire purpose and effort of the ant colonies in the area - the mating flight is the _main event_ in the ant calendar, if you will. The colony spends the rest of the year building the resources and capacity to produce and provision a fleet of alates (reproductive individuals) - then when the time is right, they all emerge at once, make their mating flights and the surviving fertilised queens seek out new places to start their own colony. Where I live the mating flights are usually synchronised by weather conditions - a few days of very hot/humid/thundery weather in summer will trigger them to prepare the alates, then they all emerge and fly at the same time (which probably helps to ensure and maximise mating between males and females originating from different nests). The whole event is quite intense as a result of its transient nature, so if you’re seeing flying ants, it’s probably because a lot of the ant nests all over your neigbourhood are all doing it at once - there’s not a lot you can do about that except to catch any individuals that come in the house, if you have the sort of house where they might start a nest indoors. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/16 "2025-07-01T11:38:57Z")
So, your assumption is that the ants I’m seeing are coming from OUTSIDE my house, rather than INSIDE? I find it curious that I would find hundreds of ants at a single place in my home, and not a single one outside - but there are a lot of curious things in nature. Today there were fewer than 50, all on the floor. So perhaps the mating flights are over. It HAS been very hot and humid lately. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/17 "2025-07-01T12:40:35Z")
> “Remember there could always be giant ants, like in Santa Clara in 1950!” > —Ray Stantz Them. But, seriously, you ~~will~~ have an infestation. [TRY THIS (LINK).](https://www.amazon.com/Neutralizer-Roaches-Spiders-Controls-Infestations/dp/B00P7MZZAG/ref=sr_1_3) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/18 "2025-07-01T12:44:38Z")
Wow! Not sure that sounds like something I wanna set off in my kitchen… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/19 "2025-07-01T12:47:19Z")
Toss an old shower curtain over things, like it was a tarp. Put all food, including salts & pepper shakers in the fridge, microwave, or oven. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY. It’s cool. Works like gangbusters. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295/20 "2025-07-01T13:01:23Z")
It’s possible that they’re coming from the opening of a nest inside the house, and that nest might need management [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-deal-with-winged-ants/1020295.md?page=2)