It can be strange to find a group of small, oval objects in your yard or home. Upon closer inspection, you may realize they are ant eggs. If you want to get rid of ant infestations and stop them from happening again, you need to know what to do when you find ant eggs.
This complete guide will explain how to spot ant eggs, why you should get rid of them, and the best, safest ways to get rid of ant colonies and eggs.
Identifying Ant Eggs
For the most part, ant eggs are only one to two millimeters long. They are a creamy or milky white color and are oval-shaped and shiny. The eggs don’t have any legs, eyes, or antennae. They will only look like tiny, still ovals that are usually found piled up together instead of as single eggs. Their tiny size makes them easy to overlook. Check for places where ants could hide their eggs, like cracks, corners, under things, and anywhere dark and out of sight. If you’re not sure if you’ve found ant eggs, taking a picture to show an exterminator can help you be sure.
Why You Should Remove Ant Eggs
Encountering a few ant eggs may seem harmless, but allowing them to remain permits the ants to keep reproducing and expanding their colony. Here are reasons eliminating ant eggs is prudent:
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Prevents Growth Each ant egg can become another colony member, Destroying them curbs this proliferation
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Reduces the need for food: more ants means more looking for food inside and outside the house. Fewer ants reduces this pressure.
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Decreases Nest Size: Ant colonies construct extensive networks of tunnels which can eventually undermine a home’s structure. Restricting the colony’s growth by removing eggs prevents additional digging.
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Limits Colony Spread: Ants form satellite colonies when the original nest becomes overcrowded. Wiping out eggs helps contain the infestation.
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Reduces Ant Bites: Ants get defensive when their nest is disrupted. Eliminating eggs removes the ants before they can mature and bite.
Exterminating ant eggs diminishes the colony’s reproductive capacity, an essential step in controlling infestations.
How to Remove Ant Eggs Safely
Ant eggs need special precautions during removal to avoid spreading them and prompting the colony to relocate. Here are tips for safe elimination:
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Wear gloves to prevent direct contact with the eggs, as ants can transmit germs and diseases.
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Do not crush, smear or blow on the eggs, as this can scatter them. Carefully lift them intact.
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Place eggs on a paper towel, fold it over multiple times to fully enclose them, then put the wrapped eggs in a sealable plastic bag before discarding in your main garbage.
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Disinfect the area where the eggs were found using an antibacterial cleaner or spray.
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Check for more eggs nearby and repeat the cautious removal process. Eliminating all eggs is imperative.
Removing ant eggs manually allows you to safely dispose of them without spreading the infestation. For large or difficult to access egg clusters, calling a professional exterminator is advisable.
Follow Up With Additional Ant Control Measures
While plucking off ant eggs can slow colony growth, more ant control tactics are required to fully eliminate an infestation:
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Use ant baits or traps to kill off workers and queen ants who produce the eggs.
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Apply borax around nesting zones to poison ants entering and exiting the colony.
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Pour boiling water on outdoor nests to immediately exterminate ants.
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Seal cracks, holes and entry points in your home’s foundation to deny access.
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Keep kitchen and bath areas clean and store food in airtight containers to remove attractants.
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Regularly check for and remove any new ant eggs after initial elimination.
Combining egg removal with these pest control techniques provides a multi-pronged approach to not just hampering the colony’s reproductive capacity but also eliminating all ants on your property. Stay diligent in monitoring for and destroying any new ant eggs appearing. Address ant problems quickly before they escalate.
When To Call A Professional Exterminator
In certain circumstances, an ant infestation warrants contacting a professional pest control expert:
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Large or multiple nests inside your home’s walls or crawl spaces.
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Presence of carpenter ants that can damage your home’s structure.
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Ant colonies migrating from outdoors to taking up residence indoors.
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Failed DIY efforts to destroy ant eggs or control the infestation.
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Lack of time, physical ability or knowledge to complete removal yourself.
Licensed exterminators possess the expertise and chemical treatments to fully eradicate ant colonies and recurring issues with eggs reappearing. Their insights are especially valuable for pinpointing exactly what ant species you’re dealing with and their nesting habits.
The Takeaway
Stumbling upon ant eggs on your property indicates a colony is settled in and actively breeding. While these miniscule oval objects may seem innocuous, allowing them to remain and hatch enables the infestation to proliferate. Exterminating the eggs curbs the colony’s size and containment. Combine egg removal with additional pest control tactics for the best chance of ridding your home and yard of ants permanently. Stay vigilant in monitoring for and obliterating any new ant eggs appearing. Tackle ant dilemmas swiftly before they escalate.
What Do Ant Eggs Look Like?
Most ant eggs are a translucent milky white color, typically no larger than half a millimeter. Worker ants dedicate their time to protecting the tiny eggs from intruders or other predators. If you see ant eggs, it’s likely that you’ve uncovered the core of the colony and are also looking at a few hundred adult ants as well.
Ant eggs are about the size of a worker ant’s thorax (or as laymen call them, their big bulb-butt). They will only be incubated for about a week before they turn into little baby ant larvae, so you may see them move around a bit.
After hatching, larvae exit ant eggs and begin consuming foraged food. According to the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management Program, a newly mated queen tends to the developing larvae until they grow capable of caring for her and other larvae.
Larvae feast on captured and foraged goods found by worker ants to support their maturing forms. Born without appendages or eyes, larvae depend on other worker ants to aid them in feeding. Tragic.
Will Eliminating Ant Eggs Remove the Colony?
Removing eggs is one way to target many insect populations. Insects like ants mosquitoes and caterpillars are both vulnerable to insecticides such as larvicides.
However, targeting ant eggs in your pest control method isn’t a viable option. Ant eggs are buried deep within the colony near the queen. To reach these hidden stores, you must dig around in the ant-infested mounds and risk receiving several ant bites!.
Ant eggs are an important part of a colony’s life cycle, but killing the eggs won’t have a big effect on the nest. If the queen survives, she can quickly repopulate the colony’s missing members.
Workers have a brief lifespan, but queen ants may live for years in the proper conditions. The death of the sole reproductively active member of a colony will cause it to collapse after the workers die.
Effective pest control methods should focus on eliminating every ant in the colony, from the queen to the tiny ant eggs!.
How to Get Red Ant Eggs | Grounded (2022)
FAQ
What to do if you find ant eggs in the house?
Or you can try an ant-killing bait gel which is applied with an applicator. Squeeze bait gel into cracks and crevices, and around the ant area. Whatever the type of bait, ants will eat it and take some back to the colony to feed the queen. The queen will die and ant eggs will no longer be a problem.
What do you do with ant eggs?
Because they contain acetic acid, red ant eggs are used instead of lemon juice or vinegar in many Thai dishes. Ant egg soup is a traditional dish of Laos, but popularity of the dish is waning in the younger generations. Ant eggs are also sold canned.
What does it mean when you see ants carrying eggs?
The white “ant eggs” carried by workers when an ant colony is disturbed or moving are not the eggs but the pupal stage of complete metamorphosis. Ant eggs are almost microscopic. The larvae that hatch from them are helpless, grub-like young that the workers must feed and care for.
What to do if you find an ant nest?
Try some of these methods to get rid of ants outdoors. Boiling water. Rake open the nest and pour in boiling water (add liquid soap for extra killing power). Vinegar. Mix equal parts vinegar and water. Water. Soak the nest for 15 to 30 minutes with water from a hose, saturating soil. Boric acid. Chemical ant killers.
How long does an ant egg take to hatch?
Ants are helpful garden bugs because they pick nectar, seeds, and dead bugs from flowers and bring them back to the nest to feed the young ones. The life cycle starts with a fertile queen digging into the ground to make a small cell in which she lays eggs. These hatch in about 3-4 weeks into larvae.
Can ants lay eggs in your house?
That’s right; some ant species can build nests inside your home – often using wall voids or rotting wood to make a nest. That means you could have several generations of these insects joining you as tenants.