Velvety Tree Ant Control: How To Get Rid of Velvety Tree Ants

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

If you’ve ever had a picnic at the park ruined by the arrival of ants, there’s a good chance that the party was crashed by Velvety Tree Ants. Velvety Tree Ants are commonly seen marching up and down trees and can very well come upon your picnic. This is why they’ve also been nicknamed as “picnic ants” for their frequency of ruining picnic outings.

Velvety Tree Ants, as their name suggests, like to reside in or on trees but they can get comfortable around your home if the conditions are right and can become an irritating pest. Velvety Tree Ants are aggressive biters and can attack you while you’re doing yard work. On top of biting, they also inject a poison which can be quite painful and is comparable to a scorpion sting.

If you have Velvety Tree Ants on your property, it would be best to get started on a control program to get rid of them. Our DIY treatment guide below will tell you all you need to know about Velvety Tree Ants and how to eliminate them from your property using professional-grade products and expert techniques.

Identification

Before you can treat you need to make absolutely sure that you are dealing with Velvety Tree Ants. Misidentification can lead to using the wrong treatment products, which can be a waste of time and money. Below are some common traits of Velvety Tree Ants so you know what they look like for easy identification.

• Velvety tree ants are red and black in color and very aggressive.
• Velvety tree ants vary in size but may grow to a 1/4 inch—larger than most of the usual ants you’d see in your house, but still smaller than a Carpenter Ant. 
• Velvety Tree Ants share a similar characteristic with the Odorous House Ant in that, when crushed, they emit an unpleasant odor. The smell has been described as being like a rotten coconut.
• Like most ants, Velvety Tree Ants have a great appetite for anything sweet or protein-based. They mostly eat insects like aphids and honeydew but when food is scarce they will wander into human dwellings when foraging.

Use this description and the image above to help you in properly identify Velvety Tree Ants. If you are unsure, contact us and we will assist you with proper identification.

Inspection

Once you have correctly identified Velvety Tree Ants, you can move on to inspection. Velvety Tree Ants like to nest in areas where there is moist wood and in the crooks of trees, and often they are able to gain access to a house while on a tree via a branch that is touching the house. 

Where To Inspect

We suggest starting your examination from the outside and work your way indoors. If you spot an ant, don’t kill it, but rather, observe the ant and see what trail it goes on. If you are persistent, the ants may lead you to the colony or nest. Nests set up outdoors may likely be set up in or around a nearby tree. Search around yard debris, like dead branches, logs, tree stumps, and under bricks and stones and general clutter.

Indoors search in areas where there are moisture issues. Areas like the bathroom, kitchen, utility rooms, and wherever there are leaks or standing water is usually where you will find Velvety Tree Ants. 

What To Look For

You're looking for Velvety Tree Ants, their foraging trails, and even frass. Like Carpenter Ants, Velvety Tree Ants also create frass (sawdust) of small wood shavings, when they nest inside the wood. Search in all the areas mentioned above, looking for the ants and their foraging trails. Once you have identified a foraging trail follow it back to its nest or colony.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed Velvety Tree 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 get rid of Velvety Tree Ants, we recommend using more than one product and performing both an indoor and outdoor treatment. Indoors, use Ant-Trax Ant Bait and Fipro Foaming Aerosol. Outdoors, apply a barrier treatment of Supreme IT Insecticide and Fipro Foaming Aerosol into tree holes and holes around wood.

Step 1 - Outdoor Treatment with Supreme IT

Begin treatment outdoors with a perimeter application of Supreme IT Insecticide. Supreme IT will be used to treat nests in the soil, and it is a great powerful insecticide that will not only kill but also repel ants making it perfect to use as a barrier treatment to keep ants out of your structure. 

Determine how much Supreme IT you need be calculating the square footage of your home's exterior. To do this, measure and multiply the area length times the width (length x width = square footage). 1 ounce of Supreme IT in a gallon of water inside a pump sprayer will treat 1,000 square feet. So for example, if your home measures 4,000 square feet, you will need to mix 4 oz. of Supreme IT in 4 gallons of water.

To do a perimeter treatment, you will need to spray 3 feet up and 3 feet out from the foundation of your structure. While spraying in this manner you will also treat eaves, soffits, windows, doors, garage doors, rain gutters, electrical/plumbing penetrations, and cracks and crevices.

To treat nests or colonies in the soil, you will drench them using Supreme IT. To do this, first spray around the diameter of the opening, to prevent ants from escaping treatment and then spray the entire mound until it is thoroughly drenched in Supreme IT.

Step 2 - Indoor Application of Ant-Trax Ant Bait

Ant-Trax is a sweet ant bait that ants can't resist. It works slowly, allowing the ants to carry back the bait back to the colony where extermination of the whole colony occurs. This product comes in a syringe for easy application. Apply a pea-sized drop in places of high ant activity and separate each placement by at least one foot. Apply in countertops, in kitchens, bathrooms, and wherever you have noticed Velvety Tree Ant activity.

Do not try to kill the ants or clean (use cleaning supplies) in the places where you have applied Ant-Trax Ant Bait. Allow for 7 to 10 days to go by and let the ants form foraging trails around the places where you have applied Ant-Trax Ant Bait.

Step 3 - Application of Fipro Foaming Aerosol 

Fipro is a foaming aerosol that contains the lethal active ingredient Fipronil. It will kill Velvety Tree Ants quickly and the foaming capabilities allow the insecticide to reach the ants in the tightest of hiding spots Fipro Foaming Aerosol will need to be applied both indoors and outdoors.

Fipro comes ready to use. To use simply inject the tube straw and apply to cracks and crevices. Use near window frames, door frames, underneath sinks, in wall voids, near rotting wood, and where Velvety Tree Ant activity has been observed. 

If you have found colonies or nests inside wood (trees, logs, branches) you will use Fipro. If necessary drill a hole into the wood. This product comes ready to use. To apply simply inject the tube straw and apply directly into cracks and crevices inside wood. Apply directly into the colony.

Prevention

Prevention is key to staying Velvety Tree Ant free. Complete control will only be obtained when you modify your environment to make it less suitable for these Ants. Here are some preventative measure you can implement to protect your home from reinfestation.

• Address moisture issues. Locate and fix areas of the home that are accumulating moisture by fixing plumbing leaks  Use a dehumidifier to eliminate damp areas of the home.

• Seal off as many points of entry around your home as possible. Use caulk or black foam to eliminate holes, cracks and crevices which can serve as entryways for velvety red ants (or other insects)

• Trim tree branches. Trim back trees and shrubbery away from your home as they ur home. Also, cut off rotting or dead parts of trees.

• Sweep up and discard leaf litter around your home. Move mulch, woodpiles, stones, and bricks away so they aren’t touching the house as those materials often house velvety tree ant colonies. Clean out the gutters as well.

Key Takeaways

What are Velvety Tree Ants?

• Velvety Tree Ants are an aggressive ant species that is known to invade yards and homes and delivers a painful bite.

How to get rid of Velvety Tree Ants

• To treat Velvety Tree Ants, we recommend a barrier and mound treatment of Supreme IT Insecticide and an indoor treatment of Ant-Trax Ant Bait as well as Fipro Foaming Aerosol for gaps and crevices.

Preventing Velvety Tree Ant Reinfestation

• Prevent future infestations by reducing leaf litter and moisture around the home in addition to sealing off points of entry with the help of caulk.