Question about ants...?

Question

Some ants crawled out of a hole in my wall and were just standing there in a large group. They weren't moving, just standing there, but they have started to go back into the wall now. Does anyone have any idea what they were doing?

Answer 1

Waiting for you to put out some Terro to kill them.

Answer 2

There are at least two other possibilities in addition
to the ones given in other answers. One is that they
were preparing to send off a flight of winged males
and females, but for some reason conditions were
not right for it yet. The other is that something had
disturbed them in their nest and they had come out to get away from it.

Army ants feed largely on other ants and the ones
in the United States mostly forage underground.
When they invade other ants nests the ones being
raided often come out onto the ground surface until the raiders have left.

Answer 3

The most likely explanation is that they were seeking a route towards food. Ants communicate primarily through pheromones which they detect through their antennae. This elementary behaviour of ants can be used to explain how they adapt to changes in their environment. When an established path to a food source is blocked by a new obstacle, the foragers leave the path to explore new routes. If successful, the returning ant leaves a new trail marking the shortest route. Since each ant prefers to follow a certain direction rich in pheromone rather than a poorer one, they follow the new shortest route.

Ants also use pheromones for other purposes. For instance, a crushed ant will emit an alarm pheromone, that in high concentration sends other ants nearby into an attack frenzy, and in lower concentration attracts them, while a few ants use what are called propaganda pheromones to confuse their enemies.

Answer 4

There are two possibilities:

i. The worker ants have brought in a news of food and the group came out to find it and take it home. But as they came out they couldn't actually get the smell from the right direction to track down the food. So they disappeared.

ii. When you squash an ant, if you have noticed, other ants gather in a group around it (as if they are mourning) and then carry it away. But if the dead ant isn't found there they just stand there and then walk back.

Answer 5

The first ant, a scout came to the rim of the hole and looked out, but did not go through the hole. All the other ants followed the chemical trail she left. I would close up the hole now, unless you want another scout to come through the hole and lead the others into your room.
If you want to kill the ants, put some Borax in the hole. They may take it back to the nest.

Answer 6

They were having a meeting and planning their next move. You'd better watch out! :-) no just kidding. They were probably testing the temperature and checking out their surroundings, looking for food...maybe there were some atmospheric conditions (or maybe the fact that you were looking at them) that made them go back in. Ants are weird sometimes like that. Sometimes when I'm walking on the sidewalk I come across a huge (and I mean million huge) swarm of ants, just going crazy in a patch of cement, for no apparent reason....I mean there's no food around or anything like that.!

Answer 7

One small special forces unit might have gone out on a covert operation to the kitchen, most likely under the cover of darkness. The mission may have been compromised and Now they are assesing the situation and preparing to deploy another combat unit on a recon mission.

Answer 8

They were spying on you! Just kidding! They were exploring for food sources or possibly a new home. I'd definitely be happy they left!