All around campus, in apartments and dorm rooms, they’re appearing by tens and hundreds.

They scour food and belongings, in kitchens and in bedrooms, in search of what they’re looking for.

But despite their reputation for frequenting dirty dwellings, these creatures aren’t searching for crumbs or sweets.

Their target is something much more basic.

They’re ants — and they’re looking for water.

With the Piedmont gripped in a state of severe drought, insects have begun an indoor invasion looking for moisture, and pest control is teaming up with the entomology department to solve the problem.

John Ashley, the university’s pest control safety officer, said he was surprised by reports of fire ants on the second floor of Turlington Hall until he noticed some tree limbs brushing up against the dorm’s brick wall.

“I checked the branch, and I found a line of ants going up,” Ashley said.

According to Ashley, ants often become more problematic at this time of year, but it is worse now than normal. When he needs advice, he turns to Mike Waldvogel of the entomology department.

Waldvogel is an extension specialist with the department, which means that he works with pest control professionals to develop management strategies. From the basement of Bostian Hall, the entomology department provides some services, like insect identification or basic eradication techniques, free of charge.

The first thing Waldvogel said he considers when developing a management strategy is the specie of ant. Two ant species that are very common on campus are the odorous house ant and the fire ant.

The odorous house ant gets its name from an obvious source.

“If you crush it, it smells like rotting coconut,” Waldvogel said. He also refers to the tiny black ants as “itsy-bitsies.”

Ant expert and professor of entomology Jules Silverman explained that this species is quickly affected by drought because they have “shallow nests.” They dry up fast and are easy to leave behind when the ants need to find a place with more moisture.

Fire ants are less common, and slower to be affected by drought because of their deep mounds, Silverman said.

However, they are still a more serious cause for concern.

Fire ants get their name from their red color and the pain of their bite. That alone makes them a worse infestation than itsy-bitsies, but they can put people in the hospital if the person has a rare hyper-allergenic reaction.

Waldvogel said anyone who sees a fire ant mound on campus should “report it as soon as possible.”

One of Waldvogel’s suggestions to Ashley has been to try baiting instead of spraying.

Baiting is a more environmentally friendly method of exterminating ant colonies that works like a Trojan horse. Slow-acting ant poisons are mixed with various gels and liquids that ants target for food. After they ingest it, they still have enough time to deliver the poison to the queen of the colony. The queen’s death will cripple the colony and knock out the infestation.

Ashley said he has had success with the liquid bait.

Baiting is also a good alternative to pesticide sprays because the toxic sprays can be unhealthy for students who come into contact with it, and can be harmful to the environment, Waldvogel said.

However, when students have a room full of ants, sometimes might makes right.

Brandon Manchester, a sophomore in First Year College, said he would have been willing to take his chances as far as his personal safety is concerned.

“I’d just avoid touching the sprayed areas if something weaker wasn’t going to take care of the problem,” Manchester said.

Fortunately, Manchester said his ant problem has disappeared over the past week.

The rash of infestations may yet have a silver lining, at least for entomology professors.

When asked whether the infestation in his room made him more inclined to learn about ants, Manchester replied, “Definitely.”