Odorous House Ants Stink Up Oven in Freehold, NJ

Challenge

Recently, I went on a service call for a homeowner in Freehold, NJ who was complaining of ants in their kitchen. As temperatures warm, ants begin to come out of their winter slumber and are on a serious mission to find food and water. Ants actually have four to five times more odor receptors, located on their antennae, than most other insects. It’s this exceptional sense of smell that helps ants find food. 

Upon arrival, I began a thorough inspection in the kitchen and found a trail of ants near the stove. Upon closer inspection, I identified these ants as odorous house ants. Odorous house ants are tiny ants, roughly 3.3 millimeters in length and have dark brown or black bodies. They got their clever name from the rotten coconut smell they release when they are crushed. Odorous house ants are recognized as being one of the most commonly encountered ants inside homes. They are tiny, but fast and usually travel in lines unless they are disturbed or alarmed to which they will run around erratically.

As I followed the ant trail, I noticed they were traveling from an unused pipe from the stove. As I took a closer look, I discovered that the homeowner never had a fan installed in the stove and decided to cut the pipe, and wrap it with duct tape. The pipe was attached to a vent that was inside a cabinet of an island in the kitchen and was then dug underground to exit to the outside. When I pulled the tape off the pipe I found ants nesting below the cabinet.

Solution

For treatment, I applied a light liquid application on all the cracks, crevices and baseboards in the kitchen as well as on the ant trail leading to the stove and along the exterior of the home. This application is designed to keep the ants alive long enough to carry the application back to their colony. When ants forage, they leave a pheromone trail for them to follow back to the colony. Once an ant finds food, it lays down an even stronger pheromone trail, and other ants start following it. When ants come in contact with this application they transfer it from one to another. In a short amount of time, the ants are no more. 

I spoke to the homeowner about the unused pipe from the stove and how it was essentially an open door for the ants to make their way into his home. He informed me that, since he needed a new stove anyway, he hired a contractor to replace the stove and seal off the unused pipe. Now the homeowner can rest easy knowing that he can enjoy cooking in his kitchen without worrying about ants smelling up his oven.