Pest Control UK

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.

Pharaoh's Ant Pest Control News

Home Invasion
Ants are coming in to escape the bad weather. When it's cold or rainy, they want to come inside and get warm and dry. But, when it's too hot and dry, they like to come in to cool off, too. So summer or winter, these unwanted house guests barge in and...

Ant Diets
Baits can be very effective at controlling ant infestations. However, to use baits successfully requires a reasonable understanding of species identification, ant feeding preferences, and how these preferences are influenced. Understanding ant diets ...

Pests In Your Apartment
An apartment dweller can clean up after every meal, vacuum religiously and dust every conceivable crack and nookie in their home but pests can still inevitably invade their personal space, and it isn't just those tenacious cockroaches that are to bla...

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....

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