Thief Ants

• Seeing thief ants is the most typical indication of an infestation. Thief ants may be seen occasionally along a trail from their food source to their nest. Thief ants may also be found in food products.
• Locating thief ant colonies indoors may take extra effort because their nests are often in isolated and inaccessible places.

• Outdoors, thief ants nest in moist soil, under objects on the ground such as stones and logs, and in rotting wood. They may also occupy the mounds of other ants, close to the brood chambers.
• Indoors, thief ants will nest in small spaces, in wall voids, in the space behind and beneath cabinets, under countertops, and behind baseboards.
• Thief ants forage on set trails which may be seen inside cabinets, along baseboards, on walls, and along branches of trees and shrubs.
• They may also move from room to room by traveling on electrical wires; and are sometimes found in electrical outlets.

• Thief ants are yellow to light brown.
• Thief ants are extremely small, workers measure about 1/32” - 1/20” in length.
• Queens are similar to workers in color, but are larger.
• Thief ants have an uneven shaped thorax that lacks spines.
• Their petiole has two nodes.
• They have compound eyes that are small in proportion to their head.
• Thief ants have a small, visible stinger at the end of their abdomen.
• Thief ants and pharaoh ants can be mistaken for one another because they are similar in size and color. The most recognizable difference is that the thief ants’ antenna has 10 segments ending in a 2-segmented club, while the pharaoh ants’ antenna has 12 segments and a 3-segmeneted club.

• Thief ants have the ability to bite and sting, however they rarely do.
• Because thief ants feed on dead rodents and insects they can introduce diseases and contaminate food.
• Due to their very small size, thief ants can get into packaged food that would be otherwise inaccessible to larger pests.

• Thief ants come indoors for warm temperatures and greasy food.

Two important DIY thief ant prevention techniques are to eliminate their food sources and exclude entry:

• Clean up all crumbs and spills
• Do not leave dirty dishes in your sink overnight
• Seal cracks in your foundation and siding and caulk gaps around windows and doors
• Repair or replace damaged screens on windows and doors
• Install door sweeps on the bottoms or all exterior doors
• Keep trash can lids securely fastened
• Cut back the branches of overhanging trees and bushes that touch the side of structures.

Thief ants eat protein and greasy foods, such as meats, vegetable oil, dairy products, and peanut butter, but will also eat sweets.

• Colonies of thief ants are relatively small, containing several hundred to a few thousand individuals with numerous queens.
• Winged sexuals mate during swarming that takes place from July through September
• A single inseminated queen can establish a new colony on her own.
• The queen lays between 27 and 387 eggs per day.
• Workers developed from egg to adult in approximately 52 days.