"dumping dead body parts"

ACES pest control gets frequent calls / e-mails about ants much like this recent message. 

"Message: Hi. I have a property in West Auckland that may have a bit of an ant problem. We don't often see lots of ants in the house, maybe once every week.

What we do get most days is neat piles of dust, debris and ant body parts  forming in certain places around the house. We have an open vaulted roof with wooden sarking boards, and it appears the debris is coming out from small gaps and knots in the wood. There is definitely more of this activity recently, but it does continue throughout the year.

Is this something you can assess and treat?"

This  ant is an unwelcome visitor from Queensland. It's a black ant that has the unusal name " white footed house ant". 

This ant likes to live inside cavities, inparticular warm cavitities e.g. north facing walls/window frames. 

The dumping of the piles of (ant) body parts is "house keeping". The ants deem any ant that dies in the nest to be toxic and dumps them away from the nest. 

For more information please go to www.commercialpestcontrol.net.nz

Ants are smart, we're smarter!