If you wake up in the middle of the night to find ants crawling across your bed, don’t panic. Although ants always come uninvited, there’s always a reason for their presence in your house.
Here are all the possible reasons why ants are there in your room:
- Seeking Shelter from Bad Weather
- Joining a Nearby Ant Colony
- Getting Moisture
- Finding Food
- Changing Anthills from Neighbour to Your House
- Nesting in Rotten Wood
- Seeking Warm Environments.
- Eating Dead Bugs
- Just Passing Through
In this article, I will discuss what could be the possible reason if you see a single ant (or ants) in your room. Stay tuned!
Is It Normal to Have Ants In Your Room?
Ants are a pest that can make your life miserable if they enter your home. But it is not abnormal for ants to be in your room, as most places have them. There are ways you can get rid of them such as cleaning up all food crumbs from around the house so that ants don’t come looking for snacks.
Ants are a common problem in homes, especially as the summer rolls around. These insects stay inside of houses and they often leave behind pheromones that attract other ants to your house.
I would suggest you move any clutter from your homes like old shoes, newspapers, trash bags, etc., which provide good homes for ants. Because it’s easier for them to find their way through this clutter than a clear path across bare floors and walls.
You could also use traps and ant baits to catch the queen ant who has established her colony in your bedroom or kitchen. It’s an effective way to get of the ants.
Use insecticide in your house with caution.
9 Reasons Why Ants Are Present in Your Room
1. Seeking Shelter from Bad Weather
Ants are just any other animals and are dependent on the weather to survive. You may see ants in your room when the weather is harsh outside. This is when they look at your home as a real safe place to live and consequently causing an infestation.
When it rains heavily ants will usually aggregate together and try their best to find a way to stay dry. At night they tend to gather in the cracks of your home just to find shelter from the rain and freezing cold temperatures.
Mostly, during storms, you will notice an increase in ant activity since it is a good chance for them as well as other insects like crickets that share the same habitat.
Ants may even choose your room as their permanent residence. So you must take action before the colony populates.
2. Joining a Nearby Ant Colony
Ants like to live near each other for protection against predators such as animals or birds that might want their personal territory destroyed. An ant colony can be anywhere from a small nest in your house to an entire wall of ants.
There may be a nearby ant colony that is larger than your room ants. If they are a visible presence in the room, you may want to consider getting rid of them before the ant problem gets worse.
If you uncover an ant colony, it’s time to seek advice from a pest control expert.
3. Getting Moisture
Humid areas also increase ant numbers, like in basements and crawl spaces which are usually poorly ventilated. If there is too much humidity inside your home then ants tend to congregate especially during warmer months, the rainy season, or after a flood.
In most cases, ants will search for the moist areas in your home where the levels of humidity are high such as the kitchen or basement.
When you have objects like sinks and dishwashers exposed, they will collect moisture thus creating ant homes under these areas as well. In some cases, there may also be moist spots on your walls or floor.
An additional kind of dampness you will have to pay attention to is condensation which may develop in your room after a warm and steamy shower, bathtub especially when it is not properly vented for ventilation.
4. Finding Food
Remember the old saying “don’t leave water source and food near each other because they are a perfect meal for ants”?
Appetite for protein sources and moist surfaces combined with a high moisture level is a perfect meal of choice for ants. They particularly look for the grain stores in small cupboards and pantries, but may also need protein sources such as peanuts.
Also, just because you don’t see any food in your room, it doesn’t mean ants can’t too. Ants can see small grains of food (crumbs) that humans can’t.
5. Changing Anthills from Neighbour to Your House
If you see an ant in your room, one reason could be the infestation in your neighbor’s house. An entire colony may be relocated to your area by them if the building of their nest is disturbed.
Ask your neighbor if they have an ant invasion in their house.
Some ants use cooperative behavior to change the location of anthill from one locale into another by gathering up as many ants and moving them to other regions such as apartments, homes, or offices that are already infested with different kinds of insects.
6. Nesting in Rotten Wood
You will often find ants in dark corners near infected areas and bases of rotting wood. This can be due to the warm, moist zones that store sufficient amounts of pre-formed powder which attracts them for breeding purposes.
Mostly, carpenter ants live in decaying wood. And they are different from fire ant species.
They may also bring moisture from other sources such as water droplets or condensation onto surfaces where they build their nests quickly.
7. Seeking Warm Environments
Ants seek out higher surface temperatures to avoid freezing.
They usually hide in places that get minimum sunlight such as behind couches, beds, and furniture. In cold weather conditions, it has been found that ant populations greatly increase.
All of the herd (members of the colony) will follow the queen once they find a warm place for their nest.
Even if there’s no food in your room, ants can still find their way in due to their need for shelter, moisture, and nesting.
8. Eating Dead Bugs
If there are any dead bugs in your room, it will be a fair invitation for the ants. Make sure you clean other insects along with food sources to avoid ants.
Ants will eat dead insects such as cockroaches, termites, and other bugs.
Once they find such corpses, the ants take them to their nest carefully where their friends are waiting for the next meal.
9. Just Passing Through
One reason for finding ants in your room might be that they are just passing through. But you can’t always be sure if that is the case. You don’t always need to see a large number of ants before you trigger the alarm for ant infestation.
Ants can be dangerous because they are very aggressive and pestering. If the problem is not addressed immediately, it might develop into large-scale contamination that would be harmful to your health if you do not act accordingly.
Therefore, you should take the necessary precautions to get rid of ants.
Faizan.