Lorna at Vicenza

Chloe walked into her room half an hour ago and screamed.
I ran to see what was going on and the floor to ceiling white curtain was almost totally black with those big fat flying ants.
When I saw how many were there I gagged and I couldn't even call for OH to sort them out, I had to deal with them myself.
I hoovered up the pile of them on the floor so I could get to open the window fully without treading on them. Shook some of them out the window, sprayed the window and curtain and hoovered and hoovered like a woman possessed until I couldn't see a single one left.

What makes them come in swarms like that and why just one room? There are none in any other room.

As soon as I'd finished, I stripped off and jumped in the shower but I'm still itching. Each time a stray hair brushes my neck or face I whip my hands up thinking it's a bloody insect. Hateful things. I'm scared to empty the hoover in case some are still alive in there. If I leave them there will they suffocate on the dust and other muck?

Anybody else had a swarm of them this year?

Lorna at Vicenza

Like an idiot I googled "flying ants" and never should have done.

I'm now wondering if I had a nest of them somewhere under the parquet flooring and they were all in the room trying to get OUT. They were all on the inside of the curtain and not the outside of it.

TestaRossa

I get them a couple of times a year, I think I have ants nest's in the house foundations tbh!! I douse with ant powder and that deals with that batch!! Someone told me they "swarm" just before a big storm.....I can't remember if that was the case, but I don't think it was far off...

Lorna at Vicenza

Well I did say the heat had been building up today - no sign of a storm yet though and a friend rang earlier and said tomorrow is going to be unbearable.

I remembered I had a swarm of these ant things in the lounge a couple of years ago and there is no wooden floor in there - it's solid marble - so maybe they weren't inside the house. I'm still itching though.

indiebird

I've had a few this year in the kitchen but last year I went in in the morning to a swarm like you had all up the window and across the table. I just swept them all outside and then went to buy ant powder as I just can't cope with ants in the house. I have just doused any I see this year with ant powder and try and keep the floor crumb/ food free and this has kinda helped. Only seen a few and not many flying ones. I did notice though, when I mowed the lawn last week that I've got a huge bump in the grass and this is the nest. I resume they come into the house looking for food or something. Maybe some came into your house Lorma and laid eggs and they all hatched tonight or something?? You've not been there for a few weeks so maybe not done the hoovering etc where you would normally get them all?? I dunno, I'm just guessing really cos I haven't figured it out really myself....

Lorna at Vicenza

You could be right. That room wasn't touched the whole time we were away but I did mop the floor and change the beds when we got back coz i didn't want the kids to sleep in a dusty, unaired room. Who knows where the buggers came from.

I was going to go to bed and read but I think if I turn my lamp on they'll come into the bedroom. I left the bathroom light on for 10 minutes and have just found another 50 or so in there. I'll tell you one thing though - they don't like water. Most of them were dead in the small puddle of water I'd left on the floor after my quick blasts in the shower and dripping onto the floor afterwards.

TestaRossa

I get the little ones in my bed...but they don't bite so I just squash them and chuck them on the floor where their mates cart them away..... I actually love watching a tiny little ant hauling a huge crumb of bread away across the floor! I draw the line at my kitchen worksurfaces and in my bread bin though...

bricwood

I was sitting in the garden yesterday and noticed a lump of mud stuck on the wall, I though someone's trying to break my windows , I got the hose out as it was high up and washed it of then a load of flying insects started arriving the were going to build a nest I suppose, good job I saw it

indiebird

*shudders* we had a wasps nest here last year under the eaves between our house and next doors house. They called in the Vigili Del Fuoco to come and take it away... I've heard that Wasps often come back and build in the same place again though!!

37100

Yes they do. We had that problem. Keep your eyes open and knock it off as soon as they start because it doesn't take them long to build it up.

bricwood

last year I was watching flying ants coming out of a hole in the ground in my garden so they must nest at ground level too, I poured a pile of ant killer powder on the hole and it did the trick

davehornet6

we regularly come across wasp nests and wood ant hills at work.
used to alway call pest control in to deal.
one day i stayed with him to show him 3 other nests and all he used was ant killer powder for everything (especially wasps)
fire the powder in and around the wasp nest and RUN, it really pi$$e% them off for up to an hour, after that they die. brilliant