Food is only part of it
Yes, the honey jar with the sticky lid and the cereal box with the torn corner matter. But ants also come for water — a slow drip under the sink, condensation on pipes, a pet bowl left full overnight. In Florida's dry spells, moisture draws ants inside as strongly as food does.
The entry points you walk past daily
Ants need a gap the width of a credit card edge. Check: the weep holes in brick veneer, gaps where AC lines and plumbing enter the house, worn weatherstripping on the garage door, and the seam where the driveway meets the foundation. Once one ant finds a route, it lays a scent trail and the highway forms within hours.
Your landscaping is a bridge
Mulch piled against the foundation is ant habitat touching your house — keep a gap. Tree branches touching the roof are highways for carpenter ants and crazy ants. Bushes brushing the siding give every crawling insect a ladder past your foundation barrier. In Central Florida, the oak canopy over so many Ocoee homes is beautiful and also a direct ant route to the attic.
The Florida-specific ant cast
Ghost ants love moisture — kitchens, bathrooms, and anywhere with a drip. Argentine ants form supercolonies and relocate after rain. Carpenter ants don't eat wood but excavate it for nests, often in moisture-damaged trim. Crazy ants (including tawny crazy ants spreading through Florida) swarm electronics and AC units. Different ants, different baits — which is why identification comes before treatment.
Seeing trails that won't quit? Our ant control page covers how we find the colony and end it.