The Black Garden Ant, Lasius Niger, is spread throughout the UK and beyond. The general size of nests when most mature can be up to 7,000 workers. There are numerous queens within colony’s and it is said that they can live up to 15 years with worker ants living 2-4 years dependant on the environment.
When queens and males leave the nest to mate you will see flying ants, this can be in some cases very concerning especially if the nest erupts within your house and causes thousands of ants to appear within minutes, we find this mainly in July and August but can run through to September dependant on good weather conditions. From our experience very hot days with an increase in temperature to the average or in turn an over cast day with a small drop in temperature can encourage this behaviour. Males don’t live long after the mating process with the female queens discarding their wings and looking for advantageous areas to set an overwinter home.
Once the nests are in full swing and the early emerging workers have accessed the nesting site and begun feeding the queen, the population can swell dramatically as all is asked of the queen is to feed and produce egg on egg that is then supported by hundreds of willing worker ants.
Black ants are known as more nuisance pests than disease carrying, however the threat of them foraging around any organic substance can end up with them transmitting it across your work surface at home or work. Generally the presence of the ants is not acceptable and therefore control measures are taken.
Black Garden Ants can be controlled in a variety of ways, initially we recommend removing any spillages or waste as this will be the attraction. It is always best to place gel based baits down for the workers to take back to the nests as this will have a better long term control effect. You can have ban spray treatments with toxic insecticides carried out to border areas and wall floor junctions to try and stop access and kill off worker ants but more and more commonly we try to now use organic products such as diatomaceous earth as this is kinder to the environment and will carry little if any risk to young children and pets. It’s also extremely effective with no known resistance.
