Pharoh Ants

Pharaoh ants nest in secluded spots and prefer temperatures between 80-86 degrees Fahrenheit. These ants are frequent house invaders; often found around kitchen and bathroom faucets where they obtains water. Pharoah ants feed on sweets but prefer fatty foods. The ants also eat dead insects and prey on other insects. Pharaoh ants are more common in warmer climates.

How to tell if you have 

• Workers 1.5-2mm long, yellow-brown in colour occasionally with a brown abdomen.
• Queens 3.6-5mm long, dark red in colour. Winged (but do not fly). Wings are lost soon after mating..
• Antenna with 12 segments and 3-segmented club.
• Thorax with no spines and relatively small gaster.
• Black eyes, 2 small segments at the pedicel.

Upon identifying an infestation, Contact Us and we will help/advise with the next step in preparing an eradication program.

The program will consist of:-

• We would start with a thorough inspection of all known and suspected spots where they might be hiding.
• Customer to try to get a sample us to identify.
• Identifying the insect species causing the problem.
• Education explaining the life cycle and how their habits, habitat, and behavior affects the control plan.
• Treating affected areas by using safe effective control products.

Pharaoh ants can appear to be different variations in colour from light tan to a reddish brown. They breed prolifically, especially as often there is more than one queen in a colony.  These satellite nests are one of the issues encountered when attempting to eradicate this pest.

Prevention

Pharaoh ants build several small nests throughout a building, unlike the common black ant which builds one large nest. Due to the Pharaoh ants small size, they often form nests within the fabric of a building for example inside walls or insulation.
Because of the way they infest a building it is useless to use a spray insecticide to eradicate them for two reasons:

• The nest, brood and queen ants are inaccessible to operatives with spray equipment, and
• Spraying some of the ants but not all of them, causes them to become stressed, causing break off groups to bud off, make another nest often spreading deeper into inaccessible areas of a building, and also to breed faster.
• Pharaoh ants control can be achieved by the use of juvenile growth hormone analogues. These chemicals mimic the action of juvenile growth hormone (produced naturally be the ants) and prevent the larvae from developing as well as sterilizing the queens and winged males.