Ants can bite with their pincerlike jaws, although most species rarely do. Contact your county Cooperative Extension office for information on this new pest. They also construct nests under boards, stones, tree stumps or plants, and sometimes under buildings or other protected places. Pharaoh ants like warmth and make nests inside buildings, often in wall voids, under flooring, or near hot water pipes or heating systems. Ant food includes fruits, seeds, nuts, fatty substances, dead or live insects, dead animals, and sweets.
Food preferences vary somewhat between ant species.
Ants enter buildings seeking food and water, warmth and shelter, or a refuge from dry, hot weather or flooded conditions. They may appear suddenly in buildings if other food sources become unavailable or weather conditions change. A new colony is typically established by a single newly mated queen. After weeks or months of confinement underground, she lays her first eggs. After the eggs hatch, she feeds the white, legless larvae with her own metabolized wing muscles and fat bodies until they pupate.