The trail is five percent of the problem.
What you see on the counter is a foraging party. The colony — the queen, the brood, the thousands of workers — sits in a wall void, under the slab, or out in the yard, and it replaces fallen scouts faster than any spray can knock them down. That’s why store spray feels like it works for two days and then the trail is back by the weekend.
Worse, the wrong move can multiply the problem. Several common Ohio ant species respond to repellent sprays by “budding” — the colony splits into two or three daughter nests, each with its own egg-laying queen. A Saturday spray-down can turn one trail into three, which is why most calls we take are second attempts.
Carpenter ants get their own paragraph, because they’re the ones that cost money. They don’t eat wood — they excavate it, hollowing galleries in damp framing, window sills, and porch posts. A mature colony left alone for a few seasons leaves real structural questions behind. Sawdust piles and big black ants indoors in spring are the tells, and they earn a fast visit.