Appearance:
Pavements ants are light brown to black in color, and have pale legs and antennae and a black abdomen. They also have small grooves on their head and thorax.
Size:
1/8-inch long.
Behavior:
Pavement ants prefer to nest in lawns or under stones, concrete slabs, boards or at the edge of pavement, and in houses in crevices in woodwork and bricks. They feed on insects, honeydew, sweets, fruit, greasy foods and pet foods.
Worker ants may forage for food up to 30 feet from the colony and readily set up trails to and from food sources, mostly at night. Pavement ants will eat almost everything that is consumed by humans.
Habitat:
Pavement ants usually live up to their name, building their colonies beneath and along the sides of pavement on patios, driveways, sidewalks and foundations of homes. The
ant colonies are fairly small and contain thousands of workers and multiple queens. The ant beds usually appear outdoors on concrete as piles of misplaced soil, and can have a slight crater appearance that resembles the mound of the Pyramid ant.
Once inside your home, they will occasionally nest in wall spaces, insulation, and under toilets and water heaters. Colonies will move near a heat source in winter, and will often travel through plumbing pipes and electrical wire to access buildings.