Chris Taylor will never forget the time he had some uninvited passengers in his car.
"Get in after a couple days off, and I notice I had a stream of ants going across my dashboard," he said.
Taylor has always lived in Texas, but this was the first time he experienced an "ant invasion" in his car. He had no idea what attracted them to his vehicle.
"I had a couple of water bottles, but not anything that would bring in ants," he said.
These pesky visitors weren't Chris's fault, though. They were Mother Nature's doing. Summertime rain brings out the worst in these insects, explained Kaylen Guzman, a lead technician at Family Pest Control. "It kind of tickles their roots," he said.
Guzman said the insects are looking for warmth, shelter, any food source, and pheromone levels that could be determined by people, pets, or other ants.
The best way to prevent your vehicle from becoming their home is to be conscious about where you park. Besides parking as far from trails of ants as possible, Guzman encouraged drivers to park far from any foliage or vegetation. He called these areas "potential nesting grounds."
Guzman also said to remove items from your car, especially those that may attract heat. "MP3 players, kids' toys left in the vehicle, battery operated mechanisms," he said.
But the best way to prevent the problem is to take proper precautions. Place ant traps inside your car, near wires or crevices, as those are areas ants will gravitate toward.