Acrobat Ant Control: How To Get Rid of Acrobat Ants

This page is an Acrobat Ant control guide. By using the products and methods suggested you will get control of Acrobat Ants. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee 100% control of Acrobat Ants.

Of the many ant species you can encounter in your home, one that is becoming a more common occurrence is the Acrobat Ant. The acrobat ant is unique in that they can live in a variety of different living conditions which can make them difficult to control.

Acrobat Ants get their name because of the way they can raise their abdomen over their head and thorax when they are moving which as if they were a tiny acrobat.  Acrobat ants range in size from 1/8th of an inch to 1/4th of an inch in length but usually, they are on the smaller side of this scale.

Acrobat ants share some similarities to Carpenter Ants in that they like to form nests in damp, rotting wood. Outdoors, acrobat ants can be found in trees and shrubs as well as in water meter boxes. Acrobats ants are able to come into your home with relative ease by traveling through pipes, cracks, windows and doors or by climbing over tree branches close to the home. Indoors, they are common in areas that are high in moisture, such as bathrooms or around plumbing and water heaters as well as kitchens.

If your home has become infested with Acrobat Ants, Solutions Pest and Lawn can equip you with the professional-grade products and knowledge to eliminate the infestation yourself. Our DIY guide below offers the best-recommended products for Acrobat Ant control and the best strategy to tackle these nuisances.

Identification

Before you can proceed with pesticide treatment, you need to identify and make sure you're dealing with Acrobat Ants. Acrobatic ants 2.6 to 3.2 mm in length and vary in color from light red to brown to black. Acrobat Ants earn their name due to the acrobatic way that a worker ant can hold its abdomen up over the rest of its body

Acrobat ants are arboreal ants, meaning they prefer nesting in trees and rotting wood. This ant nests in a wide variety of microhabitats, ranging from tree trunks and logs, rotten wood, wooden boards, stones and cracks in the walls of human habitations.

These ants do minor damage to wood, but their frass is alarming to see from homeowners. When they are found nesting indoors, this usually indicates the presence of damp or rotting wood.

Use the description and image above to help you to determine whether you are encountering Acrobat Ants. If you are not totally sure, contact us and we will try to help you to properly identify the pest. 

Inspection

Once you have correctly identified Acrobat Ants, perform an inspection to determine where Acrobat Ants are infesting, harboring, or where they have been seen. During the inspection, you will search for these "hot spots" where Acrobat Ants are found.

Where To Inspect

Acrobat Ants are found and like to form nests in damp, rotting wood. Outdoors, acrobat ants can be found in trees and shrubs as well as in water meter boxes. Acrobats ants are able to come into your home with relative ease by traveling through pipes, cracks, windows, and doors or by climbing over tree branches close to the home.

Indoors search in bathrooms, kitchens, attics, basements, and in rooms. Search near areas of the home constructed of wood. Outside your yard search near woodpiles, yard debris, flower beds, around the foundation of your property, near trees, and around window frames, and door frames.

What To Look For

You're looking for Acrobat Ants ant trails. Acrobat Ants have always shown a predilection for rotting or damaged wood. Examine closely any Acrobat Ants that are traveling about and make note of the trails they are on. If you have the time, you can even follow the Ants until they head back to their highly concentrated activity areas and possibly their nesting site.

If the trail isn’t made obvious, use a harmless bait like peanut butter and wait for ants to come to it and you will then notice their Ant Trail. Once you have discovered their nesting site or their trails, this is where you will apply treatment.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed Acrobat Ant activity, it is time to begin treatment. Remember to read all product labels, and follow the application instructions on these labels, and stay safe by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

To treat for Acrobat Ants we recommend treatment both indoors and outdoors using Supreme IT Insecticide, D-fense Dust and Ant-Trax Ant Bait. Supreme IT will be used to create a barrier around your structure's perimeter while Defense Dust is for treating those tight cracks and crevices that Acrobat Ants may sneak into as an entry point into your home. Indoors, Ant-Trax will kill intruding Acrobat Ants and likely the whole colony via bait transfer.

Step 1 - Outdoor Treatment with Supreme IT

Supreme IT is a powerful insecticide that targets more than 75+ insect pests, and it is perfect to use as perimeter or barrier treatment around the perimeter of your structure because it delivers a quick knockdown with repellent properties. It also has a residual or long term-effects that will last up to 90 days.

Determine how much Supreme IT you will need to apply by calculating the square footage of the treatment area. To do this, measure and multiply the area length times the width (length x width = square footage). Mix 0.5 to 1.0 oz. of Supreme IT per gallon of water inside a pump sprayer. This application rate will treat 1,000 square feet. Perform a spot treatment of areas where you have seen ant activity such as any visible ant nests, on pavement, sidewalks, driveways, patios, and landscape beds.

To do a perimeter barrier to keep ants from coming into your home, spray 3 feet up and 3 feet out from the foundation of your property. Spray all around the perimeter of your structure in this manner, while also spraying door frames, window frames, eaves, soffits, garage doors, rain gutters, electrical/plumbing penetrations, and cracks and crevices. 

If you have found the Acrobat Ant colony on the ground near mulch, conduct a liquid drench of the ant colony, after raking the mulch back to expose the ant colony. To drench the colony, simply spray (with the application rate 1 ounce of Supreme IT with a gallon of water) around the opening of the colony as well as the base of the opening to target any Ants that might want to try to escape. Spray until the mound is completely wet and saturated.

Finally, if you find the nest in lumber, cement, brick or other items that have been stacked up, unstack the material and then conduct a liquid drench of the mound with Supreme IT.

Step 2 - Treat Voids and Points of Entry With D-Fense Dust

For an added measure of protection and control, use D-Fense Dust around your home to put a stop to Acrobat Ants crawling into entry points. D-Fense Dust is an insecticidal dust that can be used in hard to reach areas like cracks and crevices and along baseboards. It also has a residual of up to 8 months.

To use D-Fense Dust you will need a handheld duster. Apply the product by first filling up the duster with D-Fense Dust. Leave half the container of the duster empty to allow air to circulate inside. Apply by squeezing in the duster in hard to reach areas, like under sinks (where plumbing penetrates walls), along baseboards, in cracks and crevices, and even into points of entry inside and outside the home.

Step 3 - Indoor Treatment with Ant-Trax Ant Bait

Ant-Trax is an attractive ant bait product that comes in a convenient syringe for easy application to treat Acrobat Ants that have made their way indoors. Ants will not be able to resist the formula and will take the bait back to their nest to share with the colony, leading to the entire population being poisoned by the bait.

To apply Ant-Trax, simply press down on the plunger. Apply a pea-sized drop in areas with high ant activity. Separate each placement by at least one foot. Apply in countertops, near window frames, near cracks and crevices, near baseboards, and close to appliances, and wherever you have noticed Acrobat Ant activity.

Do not try to kill the ants or clean the areas where you have applied Ant-Trax. The point is to let the ants come into contact with the products so that they will bring the pesticides back to the nest. Allow for 7 to 10 days to pass and let the ants feed undisturbed in the areas where you applied Ant-Trax.

Prevention

No treatment plan is finished until modifications to the environment are made to make it less suitable for Acrobat Ants. Here are some preventative measures we suggest to ensure Acrobat Ants don't make a return:

• Start by practicing good sanitation and reducing moisture around your home. Some of the specific things you can do are wipe away and clean up crumbs and spills immediately after they occur.
• Use caulk to seal off holes and cracks which could serve as popular entry points for acrobats to sneak into the home. Focus caulking around foundation, baseboards, window frames, and door frames with caulk or other appropriate material to eliminate ant entryways. 
• Outdoors, clean up any leaf litter and stack firewood, piled lumber and other wooden materials as far away from your home as possible.
• Trimming down trees and shrubs so they don’t touch your home will eliminate another access point into the home.
• Yard debris such as stacked or piled lumber, stones, bricks, leaf litter, heavy mulch, and other debris that serve as potential ant harborages should be removed as far from the structure as possible.
• Address moisture issues by repairing any water leaks with your plumbing, replacing any dead or rotting wood in the home and drying up and dampness as acrobat ants thrive on moisture.
• Spray Supreme IT every 90 days around the perimeter of your property to maintain an insecticidal barrier around your home.

Key Takeaways

What are Acrobat Ants?

• Acrobat Ants are a household intruding ant that is becoming a rising issue. They are known for the way they can contort their abdomen over their heads like an acrobat.

How To Get Rid of Acrobat Ants

• To control Acrobat Ants, we recommend applying a combination of Supreme IT (around your home perimeter), D-Fense Dust (around voids and points of entry) and Ant-Trax Ant Bait indoors.

Preventing Acrobat Ant Reinfestation

• Discourage Acrobat Ants by addressing moisture problems, caulking off cracks and crevices to seal entry points and applying preventative treatments of Supreme IT.