Indiana Ants?

[snakebitten]

I've had my brand new Aerolite 213 for about 4 months. I purchased it within days of its arrival down hear in coastal Texas.

Pulled it home and quickly deployed it on the back side of the pond that is behind my standard house. It's all heavily wooded and I'm no stranger to the native bugs, spiders, insects, snakes, and various critters that live happily in this tropical area. And ANTS are nothing rare here. However, they are the red and smaller variety.

So, I was a bit surprised when I killed a few BIG black ants inside the new tinyhouse. They're far easier to spot, and they don't move nearly as stealthily as the fire ants I commonly see outside. I also thought it a bit odd that the few points of ground contact were sufficient for the structure to be so quickly discovered and any kind of "infestation" to take place.

I sprayed. And every day when I come home I fond a few dead ones. Occasionally spot some that are already showing symptoms of dying. I assume the spray is doing its job.

The reason for the post:

I was up on the roof wiping things down for the first time. (happy to find it far more solid up there than I feared) While cleaning around the kitchen skylight I was kind of shocked to discover a pile of the big black ants dead UNDER the clear plastic dome, but above\outside the interior portion of the opaque skylight assembly. From on top you can get a really good view of the structural framing that is "boxed" to accept the inner and outer halves of the skylight. And it looks very likely these ants are in a far greater concentration up in the ceiling-attic area.

Are these Indiana ants?
If so, that would explain a lot!

[WoodlawnDon]

Sound like carpenter ants to me. They can do damage if left unchecked but they are fairly easily exterminated. Keep spraying, maybe put a couple of traps out, you'll get them. See if you can spot a line of them moving to an opening, get them at that point.

[snakebitten]

Did just that today after the discovery. Bought a 4 pack and put em at all 4 corners.

So, these guys are like other ants that build mounds? What I mean is that it is easy to kill a whole mound very quickly with ant "poison". Seems they really do drag the food down into the mound and in a day or two it's lifeless.

Not panicked. Just more surprised to see the evidence that indicates they might have lived here before I did.

[nineoaks]

Go to Dollar General and get a bottle of MEAN GREEN spray that where ever
a piece of the RV touches the ground, also if you see them marching spray the line and it will kill the path they leave. Carpenter ants can really destroy wood and are harder to get rid of that you think, I got them in a PUP once and had to remove the roof to kill them as they ate the foam and wood in the top. Mean Green will kill them instantly if sprayed on them.