Pharaoh Ants

Latin Name: Monomorium pharaonis

Months of Activity: January - December

The pharaoh ant is a small yellow, almost transparent ant known for being a major indoor nuisance pest, especially in hospitals. Originally only found in the tropics, pharoah ants have been introduced to virtually every area of the world, thriving in even temperate regions provided central heating is present.

Appearance

• A pharoah ant worker is 1.5-2mm long, and is brownish-yellow with a brown abdomen.
• Pharaoh ant males are 3mm long, black and winged.
• The queen pharaoh ant is 3.5-6mm long, dark red in colour, and has a set of wings.

Lifecycle

Queen pharaoh ants can lay 400 or more eggs in her lifetime and, unlike most ants, can reproduce throughout the year provided the right environment exists. A single queen can produce many hundreds of workers in just a few months, and the colony can grow to as large as 300,000 or more members.

Unlike most ants, the pharoah ant is polygynous, meaning its colonies contain many queens. Periodically a queen pharoah ant, together with a few workers, will leave the nest and set up a new colony elsewhere, quickly spreading an infestation.

Nests are often so small that they can be contained in a thimble or located between sheets of paper. They prefer dark, warm areas near hot water pipes and heating taps, enabling them to remain active all year round.

Pest Control

Pharoah ants are usually much harder to control than other ants because of their ability to disperse. There may be dozens or hundreds of colonies in a single hospital and when a few colonies are missed during control, populations will quickly rebound.

Effective control of the pharoah ant is often long term, using a baiting solution in every area where the ants are known to forage. In sever infestations of larger buildings, total elimination of pharaoh ants has been known to take up to a year.

Latest News about Pharaoh Ants

Advion Ant Gel
Advion Ant Gel is a broad-spectrum and highly attractive ready-to-use gel bait containing 0.05% indoxacarb, the revolutionary active ingredient from DuPont. This exclusive formulation is colourless, odourless and non-staining. As a result of extensi... [more]

Ant Invasions Frustrate Homeowners
If ants showed up only at picnics, perhaps they'd be easier to tolerate. Instead, they can make their way through the tiniest gaps and appear unwelcome in almost any area of the home. As the number one nuisance pest in the UK, ants enter homes to fi... [more]

Cutting Short A Tiny Invasion
Ants are amazing creatures. They carry food many times their body weight. They solve problems and have jobs. They build elaborate colonies with special rooms for storing food and mating. They labour in concert to advance ant society, a million indiv... [more]

DIY Ant and Cockroach Remedies
If you know where the ants are coming in from, you can repel them with food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE), baking soda, talcum powder, medicated body powder, damp coffee granules, salt, cayenne, or garlic powder. Place any of these materials in corn... [more]

Fight To Contain Pharaoh Ants
Pest control officers from Dynamic Pest Control are battling to contain a rare infestation of tropical ants that has sprung up in the city of Crewe. It is the first time in almost 10 years that our pest control technicians have come up against an inf... [more]

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