Literal Bug Problem

[Gonebananas]

I live in Sarasota FL. My wife parked the 2023 Model Y at the Orlando airport garage for a few days, when she came back I noticed a few little bugs (never saw these before) running around mainly the outside of the car. I washed the car hoping that would chase a few of them away. I charged the car in our garage last night, when I went to pull the charger out it was covered with hundreds of these bugs. They started running onto my hand and up my arm since I did not see them at first.

They are light brown, smaller than the smallest ants, don't seem to bite, and move quite fast for their size.

They have not gotten to my Honda Clarity PHEV at least not yet.

The charging had been done for hours, but maybe it was still warm and they liked that? I sprayed Raid around the charger port and under the charger cover and on the charger handle and cord. We will park the car out in the sun for a few days in the middle of a large paved area hopefully that will starve/overheat many of them.

The garage is air conditioned, long term that seems to keep the bug and varmint population low by desiccating them.

Has anyone dealt with this before and have any information to help?

Florida is just wonderful. Oy.

 

[jcanoe]

Sounds like it could be Caribbean Crazy Ants. You should contact an exterminator before the ants have established nests in your yard/home.

Caribbean Crazy Ants (Tampa, FL)

 

[Gonebananas]

Sounds like it could be Caribbean Crazy Ants. You should contact an exterminator before the ants have established nests in your yard/home.

Caribbean Crazy Ants (Tampa, FL)

Thank you so much, I have to say 90% chance you are right. They are so tiny that I cannot tell for sure they are ants, but they are the size the crazy ants are supposed to be (about 1/16 of an inch long). Reading up on them, the good thing is they don't like AC spaces so they stay outside. The car is in an airport outdoor parking lot for a few days, hopefully when we bring it back they have died off from the lack of food in the parking lot.

 

[Tronguy]

Um. Crazy ants. I think I've heard that there's been problems with them and high-voltage equipment. Yep: They like Electric fields. Link: Why 'Crazy Ants' Swarm Inside Electronics

You want to get these things out of your Tesla sooner, not later. They like electric fields and their bodies cause shorts. Tesla have high-voltage electric fields and the fact that you found them in the charge point Is Not A Good Sign. Call your exterminator.

 

[Gonebananas]

Um. Crazy ants. I think I've heard that there's been problems with them and high-voltage equipment. Yep: They like Electric fields. Link: Why 'Crazy Ants' Swarm Inside Electronics

You want to get these things out of your Tesla sooner, not later. They like electric fields and their bodies cause shorts. Tesla have high-voltage electric fields and the fact that you found them in the charge point Is Not A Good Sign. Call your exterminator.

This is going to become a big problem for EVs in the south, especially those that charge away from home.

 

[Olle]

Since you got them in Orlando I wonder if they might be ghost ants. We have them here in the house occasionally if we leave food or crumbs on the counters. Got them on the Tesla once when it was charging outside. Looks like they used the charge cable as a trail and they covered the rear quarter of car around the charge port.

Unplugged and sprayed a little raid in a circle around the car, around the charge cable on the house wall and on the car itself around the charge port. Vacuumed the car really well for crumbs and cleaned off any stains from the interior. Never seen the ghost ants on the car since.
Funny anecdote; when I dropped off a rental at Hertz recently I saw one of their Model 3‘s with the words “ANTS” written in chalk on it’s windows. It was litterally taken out of commission for ants so I guess it can sometimes be a real issue.

 

[Gonebananas]

Since you got them in Orlando I wonder if they might be ghost ants.

Thanks. We have since found out that a neighbor had some crazy ants, so the trip to Orlando might or might not be coincidental. Although both are so tiny its hard to see, the coloring of ours looks like a consistent brown, like tawny crazy ants. (most of the crazy ants in Florida are the tawny, not Caribbean variety) And the way they were running around on the car was indeed crazy, never seen anything like it. The ghost ants are a mix of dark and translucent brown which I did not see on ours.

I checked on the car today in the middle of a large parking lot and could not find any signs of live ants so my guess is they have been starved. No food or crumbs in the car.