It's interesting that I happened upon this forum since I've been researching ant activity where electromotive force is concerned. It has been documented that ants are, for some reason, attracted to the energy that produces electromagnetic waves and because of that, they are often drawn to breaker boxes and power transformers. In fact, when large transformers are in operation, there are usually considerable numbers of colonies of ants that often invade the transformers. While ants have little water in their bodies, except for what they may be taking back to the colony, that gives them a certain amount of resistance to the flow of electrical current, thus making them impervious to electrocution. So you may wonder, if ants aren’t apt to be destroyed by electricity, what is the problem with them living in circuit breaker boxes and power transformers? The problem is this; when there are enough of them to substantially fill the container and the humidity is above 90%, they can act as a conductor and short out the circuitry. When conditions are just right, the short circuit can actually cause a transformer to explode. Because of that, an exploding transformer will blow the ants out of the container and when the cause of the explosion is investigated, there often is no sign of any ants. While circuit breaker boxes don’t explode, they do burn up, sometimes burning the house down, and thus destroy the evidence of what caused the damage.
Incidentally, sugar ants are the worst contributor to damage from fire since the ants may be carrying sugar and that, as you know, is an excellent source of carbon. It’s hard to believe that such small insects can cause so much damage, but now you know so be wary of ants… they can kill you.
