Asian Needle Ant Control: How To Get Rid of Asian Needle Ants

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

Asian Needle Ants are invasive ants that behave like bullies due to their aggressive tendencies. While native ants play a vital role in keeping the ecosystem running efficiently, Asian Needle Ants can invade and drive native ant species away to establish dominance.

Asian Needle Ants thrive in both residential areas and in the wilderness. Asian Needle Ants usually enter homes in search of both food and damp areas where they can hang around.

Because of their aggressive nature, Asian Needle Ants can also venture onto lawns and gardens and drive out ladybugs, caterpillars, and even bees that are beneficial to gardens and encourage pollination.

Asian Needle Ants are dangerous to humans because they have a stinger that is venomous. Their sting can cause severe allergic reactions in some people. The Asian needle ant has a knack for quickly producing a population that can infest a home to the point where it becomes very difficult to control.

If your property has been plagued by an infestation of Asian Needle Ants, our DIY guide below will explain how to approach controlling this problem pest using our professional-grade products and expert techniques.

Identification

Before you can treat you need to make sure you're dealing with Asian Needle Ants and not another type of species. Misidentification can lead to using the wrong treatment products, resulting in wasted time and money. Here are some distinguishing characteristics of Asian Needle Ants so you know what the ant looks like:

• The Asian needle ant can vary between small and medium-sized, with worker and queens measuring between 5.0 to 6.5 mm (1/5 of an inch) in length. 
• Worker and queen Asian Needle Ants are very similar in resemblance. Their bodies are relatively long and slender, colored dark brown or black, and they have legs and mandibles that are between a light brown to slightly orange hue.
• A trait that makes Asian Needle Ants stand out is how they are unable to crawl up surfaces that are smooth, such as glass. For example, if you were to take an Asian Needle Ant and place them in a glass container, the Asian needle ant will try and repeatedly fail to escape and will then just resign themselves to the base of the container.

Use the image and description above to help you to properly identify Asian Needle Ants on your property. If you are still unsure, you can contact us with a high-quality closeup photo of the ant and we will try to identify the species for you.

Inspection

After you have confirmed that you are dealing with Asian Needle Ants, you can then proceed with an inspection. During the inspection, you will focus on finding these "hotspots" where ant trails are formed, and possible where their nest or colony is located.

Where To Inspect

Outdoors search in your yard, in yard debris, leaf litter (especially pine needle leaf litter), in woodpiles, near gardens, flower beds, around trees (or inside hollowed trees), under rocks, logs, bricks, close to the pavement, driveways, near garbage cans.

Indoors look in cracks and crevices, near kitchens, bathrooms, basements, attics. Search under sinks, close to moisture, under appliances, near pipes, and close to potted plants.

What To Look For

You're looking for Asian Needle Ant ant trails and their nests or colonies. Search indoors and outdoors for their foraging trails and follow them back to the source. Oftentimes this can lead you directly to the colony.

If you can't find any trails consider using a bait (like peanut butter) and follow the trails they create to the bait. Once you have discovered their foraging trails or the nests or colonies, this is where you will apply the treatment.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed Asian Needle 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).

Depending on the severity of the infestation you will need to conduct both indoor and outdoor applications of insecticide. We recommend applying an outdoor treatment of Supreme IT Insecticide and indoors using a combination of Ant-Trax Ant Bait and Fipro Foaming Aerosol.  

Step 1 - Perimeter Treatment with Supreme IT Insecticide

Supreme IT is a powerful insecticide that kills over 75+ insect pests, including ants and also serves as a repellent. You will use this product as a perimeter treatment to treat ants that might be coming inside your property from the yard, and you will also use it directly on ant mounds that you have found in the yard. This product has a residual (or long-term effects) that will keep working for up to 90 days.

To do the perimeter treatment, mix 1 ounce of Supreme IT with a gallon of water inside a pump sprayer. This application rate will treat 1,000 square feet. Create a barrier by spraying 3 feet up and 3 feet out from the foundation of your structure, while also making sure to target, window frames, door frames, eaves, soffits, rain gutters, garage doors, electrical/plumbing penetrations, and any cracks and crevices you where ants might enter. 

If you have found a colony or nest, you will do a drench treatment. To do this, first, spray all around the opening of the colony (at the base) to target any ants that try to escape after you apply treatment to the opening.

Next, you'll want to open the cap of your pump sprayer and pour the finished solution of Supreme IT directly into the opening of the colony, until it is completely drenched. 

Do not let people or pets enter areas treated until 2 to 4 hours have passed.

Step 2 - Indoor Baiting with Ant-Trax Ant Bait

Ant-Trax is an attractive ant bait product that comes in a convenient syringe for easy application. Ants will not be able to resist the formula and will take the bait back to their nest to share with the colony, and eventually, the whole population will be exposed to the poison.

Ant-Trax is easy to use. It comes with an application syringe you that you simply squeeze the plunger down to apply. Apply at the rate of a pea-sized drop in areas of high activity, and separate each placement by one foot.

Apply near window frames, door frames, where moisture accumulates, under appliances, and close to food sources where Asian Needle Ant activity is the highest.

Step 3 - Treat Cracks and Crevices with Fipro Aerosol

Fipro is a foaming aerosol that contains the lethal active ingredient Fipronil. It will kill Asian Needle Ants quickly and the foaming capabilities allow the insecticide to reach the ants in the tightest of hiding spots.

To use, attach the red straw applicator tip to the nozzle and then spray in cracks and crevices where you have seen ant activity. Apply under sinks, in window frames, door frames, and other cracks and crevices you have noticed them and they will die shortly thereafter.

Do not try to kill the ants or clean the areas (using cleaning supplies) where you have applied both Fipro and 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.

Prevention

After applying treatment products and controlling the Asian Needle Ants, you will need to implement preventative measures to ensure Asian Needle Ants don't come back.

• Maintain a regular cleaning schedule and make sure to clean up any spills, crumbs, or food supplies for the ants. Reduce yard debris in your lawn by cleaning up leaf litter, stones, brocks, logs, woodpiles, and general clutter from your yard, this will eliminate their hiding spots.
• Trim back vegetation from your property (including overhanging branches that touch the roof of your structure) to prevent Ants from coming close to your property. Do your best to reduce moisture issues around your home, fix any leaky faucets or plumbing that creates standing water in your yard.
• Eliminate entry points into your home by sealing cracks and crevices with caulking or sealant.
• And finally, use Supreme IT every 90 days around the perimeter of your property to keep the insecticidal barrier around your home.

Key Takeaways

What are Asian Needle Ants?

• Asian Needle Ants are a stubborn and persistent ant species known for dominating lawns and gardens with their aggressive behavior and entering homes in large numbers.

How to Get Rid of Asian Needle Ants

• To eliminate Asian Needle Ants, you will need a multi-faceted treatment approach of indoor treatments of Fipro Aerosol and Ant-Trax Ant Bait as well as an outdoor perimeter treatment of Supreme IT Insecticide.

Preventing Asian Needle Ant Reinfestation

• To prevent future infestations, you will need to modify your environment. This means creating exclusion measures like sealing cracks and crevices and making your yard less appealing to ants, by cleaning up yard debris. You should also perform routine preventative treatments of Supreme IT.