Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 8:22 a.m.
"Las Vegas seems to have been built on a giant ant hill," pest exterminator Michael Stanley quipped.
Stanley, owner of Enviro Pro Pest Management Service, started his company 13 months ago to focus on ant control, although he will take on any pest.
"When I was working for other companies, I saw that about 75 percent of the calls we were getting were for ant problems," he said.
Stanley has been deluged by ant-related calls for the past month and expects more as the weather gets warmer.
"In the last 30 days we've doubled the number of calls we normally get," Stanley said. "When we get a constant temperature of 100 degrees and above, the calls will double again."
Yes, ant season has arrived.
"We actually see the ant problem year-round," Stanley noted, "but it's slower in the winter, depending on the area of town. As we move farther into the desert, the ant problems are more and more common in the outlying areas in winter."
That's because people are disturbing them in their natural habitat.
Stanley pointed out that ants and other insects were living in the desert long before humans, which means people are actually the pests, having invaded the homes of the bugs.
Since there is no chance of a peaceful co-existence, there is a constant battle between people and ants.
There are more than 10,000 species of ants around the world, according to several entomologists (who study insects), and about 100 species in Nevada. There are about 20 species in Southern Nevada.
Among the most common ants locally are the Argentine (with a brown-to-dark-brown body), harvester (dark red to brown) and the southern fire ant (red and black) that is native to the area.
The Argentine ants, which eat sugary foods, other insects and meat, are the ones that give most people in Southern Nevada the fits, says Don Nottingham, one of Stanley's employees.
"A lot of areas are worse than others," Nottingham said. "Spanish Trail -- we are out there almost on a daily basis. We had a mild winter so we were on calls there as late as December and January."
The best way to get rid of the Argentine ants, he said, is to use bait. One of the best commercial baits for the southern fire ants, is said, is the commercial product Amdro.
"The ants take the bait back to the colony and it kills the colony," he said.
Unlike most of the native ant species in this area, the Argentine ant is closely tied to human habitation, says Diane Wagner, a professor of biology at UNLV.
According to Wagner, the valley is too dry and the temperatures too severe for the Argentine ant to thrive without human shelter and food. As a result, the Argentine ant has become a major urban pest in Las Vegas.
Wagner notes that the ants are more an annoyance than a danger; they neither sting nor spread disease.
Nathan Pim, service manager for Terminix International in Las Vegas, says Argentine ants are hard to control because their colonies have sub-colonies.
"Once you eradicate the nest, the problem is not necessarily solved because there may be other trails to sub-colonies," Pim said.
"You can kill 99 percent of the ants in a colony and the colony will survive. It's a real task to get rid of them. You have to follow the ants back to the colony, dig up the soil and use liquid pesticide."
Not everyone agrees on the use of pesticides, including Wagner.
She said she and some of her students surveyed 156 homes in Las Vegas three years ago and found that pesticides are no more effective at controlling ants than other methods.
"It's not worth the risk to expose yourself and your children and pets to pesticides," Wagner said. "There are some simple things you can do to control the ants."
Ant tips
With the help of several students, Wagner developed a website (unlv.edu /faculty /wagner/antsinlasvegas.html) devoted to ants of Southern Nevada.
The website lists several ways to control ants. Some tips:
The best way to deal with ants in the home is to avoid a serious infestation before it starts. To avoid infestation, limit the access to what they need to survive, which are food and water.
Limit ant access to the house by blocking the holes and cracks they use to enter.
Keep food items, especially sweets, tightly wrapped or store them in the refrigerator.
Wipe off kitchen surfaces after meals and rinse dishes that held sweet items carefully; a small amount of sugar or a smear of jam can attract ants.
Dispose of leftovers, especially sweets and meats, in the garbage disposal, in sealed plastic bags, or store them in the freezer until trash collection day.
Use baits (commercial or homemade) rather than sprays. A simple bait can be made by mixing 1/8 teaspoon of boric acid into about 1/4 cup of jelly. Place small amounts of the bait around the house in areas ants can reach for about 2 weeks. Resist the urge to make the bait more concentrated; ants will avoid feeding on high-concentration boric acid baits. Keep this and other baits out of reach of children and pets.
Ants are sensitive to fine powders and therefore avoid walking through them. Sprinkle a bit of talcum powder or spice such as cinnamon or cloves where ants are entering the home.
Invasive ants, such as the Argentine ant and the red imported fire ant, also commonly move into potted plants. Before buying a potted plant from an outdoor nursery, or before moving an outside plant indoors, check the pot for ants.
To rid a house plant of Argentine ants, take it outside and water it thoroughly. Several hours later, when the ants have dispersed, bring the plant back into the house but place it in a new spot for a week or two. The ants have scent trails leading to the old location, so moving the plant will decrease the likelihood that they will move back into the pot.
Ants need moisture. Damp insulation and leakage into the plaster behind faucets can provide nesting sites.
Light my fire
While many households are preparing for the onslaught of Argentine ants, the Nevada Department of Agriculture is preparing for a more sinister foe -- the imported fire ant.
Tom Smigel, the department's regional manager in Las Vegas, says there is an ongoing effort to keep the imported fire ant out of the state.
The imported fire ant is more aggressive and its sting more toxic than the fire ants native to Southern Nevada. Southeastern states are infested with imported fire ants, which are gradually making their way west.
Colonies of imported fire ants have invaded Southern California and at least one county in southern New Mexico.
Over the past 10 years, according to Smigel, the state has eradicated about 20 colonies of imported fire ants before they could gain a foothold here.
"We have always been successful in eradicating the sites because we have caught them early. Once they get established, they can't be eradicated," he said.
Last year the ants were found in four nurseries. "Most are brought here by commercial plant movement," Smigel said.
But he fears with the large number of people moving into the area, it may be only a matter of time before the ants arrive in a U-Haul.
"Eventually we're going to get them," he said, "but hopefully not for many years."
To help delay that time, each year when the warm months begin, the agriculture department employs four or five college students to survey the territory for imported fire ants.
Shirlene Wayland coordinates the survey, which involves putting baited traps in suspect areas and later retrieving them for analysis. Last year 3,000 samples were tested.
"We try to check all the nurseries," she said. "Last year we did the parks, and this year we're doing the newer golf courses."
Wayland said the imported ant looks like the native fire ant. "The difference is microscopic."
The imported fire ant, once it moves into a region, quickly becomes the predominant ant.
"They are more aggressive and have much more of an economic impact," she said. "Millions to billions of dollars are spent on control."
Smigel said many commercial pest control people may unwittingly help the imported fire ant. Exterminators, he said, often are interested only in solving the immediate problem with ants.
"They kill the worker ants, which masks the problem," he said. "This just causes the colony to break into smaller pieces."
The goal of the agriculture department is eradication of any imported fire ant colony, and eradication is different from controlling an ant population.
"We spread an insect growth regulator (IGR) in the area," Smigel he explained. "The workers take the IGR into the colony and feed it to the developing larvae, which changes the cast of the colony -- most become queen ants.
"A week later we feed toxin to the workers and the workers take the toxicant down and feed it to the larvae and queens, essentially killing all the reproductives. Now we apply residual insecticide and kill all the workers."
Smigel said most commercial companies don't take the time necessary to eradicate a colony of ants.
"Pest-control people don't go through these steps because they are wasting time," he said. "They just want to take care of the immediate problem."
People who suspect they may have imported fire ants should contact the department.
While ants get a bad rap, Wagner points out that they are a valuable part of the environment, improving the soil and providing food for other organisms, including insects, spiders, birds and lizards.
And they provide a nice income for the pesticide industry.
