Strange insect trouble

SH6811

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Oct 24, 2005
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Greetings,

I'm looking for info/help about a strange insect problem I've suddenly got for some reason. My bedroom in my apartment (but not other rooms) seems to be infested with a small flying insect that will literally remove it's wings and then crawl around the place, when they are without their wings they actually look like small worms. They seem to be attracted to clothing and/or wood products...I believe the name of this critter is "hormigas de alas" (may not be correct spelling)...can anybody shed some light on how to avoid and/or get rid of these things? HELP!!!
 

Fiesta Mama

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Jan 28, 2004
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Greetings,

I'm looking for info/help about a strange insect problem I've suddenly got for some reason. My bedroom in my apartment (but not other rooms) seems to be infested with a small flying insect that will literally remove it's wings and then crawl around the place, when they are without their wings they actually look like small worms. They seem to be attracted to clothing and/or wood products...I believe the name of this critter is "hormigas de alas" (may not be correct spelling)...can anybody shed some light on how to avoid and/or get rid of these things? HELP!!!


Are they black? You describe them as flying ants and maybe they are carpenter ants? Some carpenter ants have wings when they are older and they are trying to fly to another area from the original colony to start a new colony. They will be most prevalent in a room or area where there is damp wood because they are like termites and they eat wood.
 

SH6811

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Oct 24, 2005
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They are black however they definitely do not have body types (segmented) like ants do...they resemble little worms. They may be eating wood because I do have "wood dust" but that could be from termites. They seem more attracted to cloth type items like clothes, shoe soles, the drapes on the windows...I've been told they normally appear after rains but here (Sosua) there hasn't been much lately except a little bit on Saturday.
 

tee

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Sep 14, 2007
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These are very much like termites and nearly always come out after a rain shower, in particular at night. As far as I know it is only the females that can fly. The only way you can deter there from entering your house at night is by turning off the lights as they are strongly attracted to light. This has happened to me several times and I have had hundreds of the buggers in my house. Now I turn the lights off and I have very little problems with them. Mi esposa thinks I am a psycotic each time they have come inside as I run around the house for about an hour with a tea towel swatting the buggers and nuking them with spray...problem is that it takes me forever to clean up as the freakin' wings go all over the place!! Mi esposa won't get off her ass to help as she always says that it is me that made the mess...sometimes I feel like nuking mi esposa as swatting her with a tea towel seems to have little effect!!
 

SH6811

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Oct 24, 2005
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That sounds like me last night, and unfortunately probably again tonight. I figure I killed 100-200 of them last night and got a grand total of about 1 hour of sleep.

You are correct it is only a "nightime thing"...they do not appear during the day. One difference I see however is that they seem to be a problem for me even when the light is off...I'm not noticing a difference in their appearence if the lights are off...I thought of that last night. It may, however be the light in the hallway outside my bedroom (my esposa wants a light on at night for her to be able to sleep)...I'll try to talk her out of it tonight and see if that makes a difference. You're also correct about the wings, I've got tons of them lying around after a nightly visit.
 

Mack

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Jan 10, 2009
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tee, Too funny.
Mi esposa won't get off her ass to help as she always says that it is me that made the mess...sometimes I feel like nuking mi esposa as swatting her with a tea towel seems to have little effect!!
Thanks for the laugh. Sorry I can't help you with your problem.
Mack.
 

Bryanell

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Aug 9, 2005
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I used to have similar problems with these creatures but now no longer chase them with rolled-up newspapers, or towels and certainly not with toxic sprays (more harmful to the sprayer than the sprayed..) I just get out the vacuum cleaner which deals with them in seconds..........loose wings and all
Bryan
 

MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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"Mie Esposa" is right in her behavior,
don't waste your time to run after them to kill 'em aso aso.
most sprays do not show much affect on them anyways.
they are the rain ants, they fly around usually after rain and loose their wings, those fine light wings are a p.i.t.a. to get rid of b/c they are so light, flying around with every air movement, ha ha.
the rain ants are not any danger, but they bite, and they nite hard, bites are dry ones, means no poison, but they do it strong, can drive you crazy if you have one under your shirt and don't get it out right away.
to prevent to get 'em into the house you have to close windows and doors after rain on the side of the house where the wind comes from, they are not good flyers, they could not go against it, so they just drift with the wind's direction. next morning they are all gone, they don't stay at your place, they just got stranded there, ha ha
Mike
 

donP

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Dec 14, 2008
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A Gift From Heaven

yes, for the lost wings the vacuum cleaner is a good solution
Yes, indeed.
But the succulent ants should not be wasted.
When fried in oil (with much salt), they are crunchy, tasty and a very good source of protein.

People in East Africa eat them raw even...
 

LatinoRican

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Apr 11, 2004
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They are termites. Unless you live in a wood house, they should not be a major problem. Like somebody else wrote, they usually fly out of their nests after some rain, mate, and then look to establish new colonies. They do
this several times a year.
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Of course, they'll settle for anything made of wood, like cabinets, closets, even furniture, so even though you won't lose your home, you might lose some other stuff.

In any event, it might be a good idea to get rid of them.
 

MikeFisher

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in my house doors and very most furnitures are made of wood, i love wood over the modern stuff, and i never had a prob. of course they are much more rare here on the oceanfront due to the fact that 95% of the year the wind comes in from the ocean towards the land, so their drifting/flying direction is landwards. but i also have a house, completely wooden house, in the mountains on the ranch, there they show up in huge numbers, and never had a prob with them eating furnitures or attacking the house itself, they are just a p.i.t.a. at the moment they occure b/c then it is for the whole evening full of them and the next day the wings are all over the place. i guess i need a vacuum cleaner for the mountain house, too, like that idea.
one of my friend's sons is allergic to the bites, like i wrote above, they do not carry any poison i would know about, but that lil boy get's always strong infections at the spots of the bites.
on myself i just feel the bite, take the beast away and 10-15 minutes later the spot is gone.
i did not know that they are a kind of termites, that may have caused some panic to me with the wooden house, ha ha, but now i know that all is save.
maybe it is the transparent paintings on the wood which they don't like and leave it alone for that.
Mike
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Mike, I am glad you don't have a problem with these ants, but I do, and it is not fun or funny.

I have had them in the wooden closet framing, and in wooden bureaus. These furnishings are inside a 3rd floor condo, within a solidly built concrete building, on the north coast. The closet framework is painted, and the bureaus were finished.

I have also had problems with them in the wooden kitchen drawers. To me, they are much more than just p.i.t.a.s, they are a menace, and something I have to constantly check on. These are not benign little insects, they are destructive and they are hungry.
 

SKing

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Nov 22, 2007
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Right after I read this post yesterday, it rained and I woke up this morning with the wings all over my porch. Thank God only a few in my house! I am guessing that they were attracted to the light on the porch. It IS a pain because when you try to sweep the wings, they are so light that they float all over the place!
SHALENA
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Used to get them often - after heavy rainfall - when we lived in Santo Domingo. Haven't seen them in Punta Cana.
 

MikeFisher

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David,
yours and mine compared to each others i am really not that sure that we are talking about the same spezies, even that i have to add that i know only that one discussed spezies coming out after the rain and loosing their wings aso.
darn,
if they eat your wooden furniture they are sure no kind of fun my friend.
Chiri,
a while back, when i lived up in Veron for many years, we had many of them, i mostly just realized them b/c in the morning after the rain the veranda been full of their wings, only few walked within the house.
the wind is the main point why i do not have them at our house doiwn here on the beach, they would need to come from the open ocean to drift in to us now, so i guess i will not get them again, at least not here at the beachhouse.
SKing,
yes, lights attracts them like most of that kind of animals are attracted to, but the main point to get or not get them is your location. they are growing in 'wet' areas, i.e. you have your property sorrounded by adandonded/empty property full of grass/wet/water/lil jungle and you are in the direction of the wind from there towards your place.
they do not have many options where to fly to, they mostly depend in the wind and it's direction. of course when light is on their way they try to stear more towards that one than to go on with their dark journey.
David,
for the 'outside woods',
paint them once in a while with Diesel, helped me a lot on several own locations here against termites, independent of wings or name of termites, Diesel painted woods are not attractive for 'em.
of course i would not paint/bath my indoor furniture with diesel, i have that smell all day long on the boats, at home i just wanna smell the Mrs or a presidente or my dinner, lol.
Mike
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Mike,
They might very well be a different species. I'm not really sure one way or the other. I haven't actually followed the progression of how they develop, so it might be a completely different species of ant all together.

It would be interesting to find out for sure, but I don't have the patience, so I just try to get rid of anything that looks like an ant, or other potential wood-eating insect.

Whatever they are I don't like them. They drive me to drink. ;)
 

jrhartley

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Sep 10, 2008
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the only wood ive found holes in is untreated pine - maybe they cant get their teeth into caoba or other hardwood