The small dark ant that trails along a driveway seam or a patio edge. It is a nuisance and nothing more — no structural risk, no health risk — and half the homeowners who call us about carpenter ants have these instead.
Signs in the house
- Small mounds of fine soil pushed up through cracks in paving.
- Trails along expansion joints, kerbs and slab edges.
- Indoor foraging in kitchens in spring, usually along a single line.
Size
2.5-4 mm — roughly a third the length of a carpenter ant.
Active
April through October.
Nests in
Soil under paving, slabs and stones.
Risk
None structural. A nuisance indoors.
Treatment window
Routine. Often folded into a quarterly visit.