New species is a growing problem for Mississippi residents

GOLDEN TRIANGLE REGION, Miss. (WCBI) – Residents all across the Magnolia State are at war.

Their kitchens, front lawns, pools, and sometimes even their vehicles are the battlegrounds. The enemy can sometimes be too small to see.

We’re talking, of course, about ants.

We’re all familiar with fire ants, sugar ants, or even velvet ants maybe. But there’s a new species in our area that could end up costing you thousands of dollars in damage.

“They get inside the motors, they get inside the electrical outlets, and they get inside the breakers.”

Roy Webber is the owner of New Dimension Pool and Spa in Starkville.

He’s been in the pool business over 18 years, and he said that 25% of the time he’s called out to fix a pool pump it’s related to ants.

“Because of the electrical current that’s there, it’s always a warm spot. They have a tendency to build ant beds inside those items,” said Webber.

Webber said the average cost of replacing a pool pump is close to $500, not including labor.

Joe MacGown, a researcher at Mississippi State’s Entomology Department, said the main culprits are exotic ants, and they’re a growing problem.

“When I first started working on ants about 15 years ago, we only knew of seven exotic ant species in the state. We’ve added twenty-three species” said MacGowan. “Exotic ants don’t have natural predators in general when they come into a new region. So, if they become established, they can go unchecked and cause huge problems.”

Those problems can be dangerous.

“People send me sensors from airbags that went off because they were shorted out by ants… tiny ants inside a censor. You know, shorting out an airbag, when you don’t want an airbag exploding in your face, you know, it can be a surprise. That’s not a very common occurrence, but they can get into computers, you know, anything you can think of. They can be potentially dangerous. I mean, it’s amazing… tiny little ants causing these problems,” said MacGowan.

So far, there are no solutions; only temporary fixes.

“Wash them down with water. Rinse everything out really good. After you get done rinsing it all out, spray around it with ant spray,” said Webber.

“It’s important when we visit places where they are established to be careful when traveling back that you don’t want to transport them to your region, so they could easily become established. Some of these in our area,” said MacGowan.

Experts said things will most likely get worse before they get better.

“There is a new breed of ants that’s headed this way. They are eating through… actually eating through liners and causing holes in liners. They are causing holes in the coping around the top of the pool,” said MacGowan.

Experts said to keep your electrical devices away from dirt and if you happen to see one or two ants. That usually means more are on the way.