Pharaoh Ants
PHARAOH ANTS - commonly called sugar ants, ghost ants, tiny ants, yellow ants, and clear ants. They are found all over the United States and Canada. It is one of the most important ant pests in the home because it is so small it can get into almost anything (even candy wrappers) and because it eats just about anything. It is a predator to many insects and has been found in large numbers in hospitals where it feeds on open wounds.
Biology - the pharaoh ant is light yellow to red, and 1.5 to 2 mm long. Each colony has many queens and is quite large, numbering up to 300,000. Mating occurs inside the nest throughout the year. New colonies are formed when a group of queens and workers split from the mother colony. Swarmers are never seen.
Nests and Habits Nests are found under floors, in ceilings, between walls, behind baseboards, or outside in gardens and along walks. They prefer to nest near warm places like furnaces, heat ducts, and hot water pipes. Their nests are usually very hard to find due to the ants travel very far from them. Usually you will see their trails along window sills and baseboards but often you will see them coming down the wall from a nest in the ceiling. This ant prefers a wide variety of foods like sweet foods such as sugars, syrup, fruit juices, jelly, cakes, and pies, but also grease, dead insects, and meats. This is a very persistent ant and is tough to control. It has the tendency to appear all of a sudden and in various places getting into things.
Control - the pharaoh ant can be one of the more difficult to control due to its unique ability to fractionate or satellite or bud, which is their habit of gathering up all their young and splitting up into multiple smaller colonies. This typically happens when a pesticide is introduced to them such as when spraying. That is why for these ants especially the best control is baits and there are several to choose from. Maxforce and Niban granular baits are very good baits for ants and other insects, Advance Dual Choice Ant Bait Stations, Gourmet Ant Gel Bait Syringe, and Drax Dual Ant Bait Syringe are excellent for ants indoors. Liquid residual type insecticides and aerosols will also kill ants indoors and out but are usually only a quick fix. You seldom get the colony so the problem usually comes back. But these are good to have when you need that quick kill for instant relief. Some good choices are Onslaught, Talstar Pro, Demand CS, Suspend SC, Demon WP, and Cynoff WP. Some good aerosol choices are PT Cy-Kick, PT 221L, CB Intruder, CB Invader, CB D-Force HPX, and EcoPCO AR-X. All are excellent with long residual activity and should work for weeks depending on conditions such as rainfall, temperature, etc. Always remember to read all chemical labeling before using.
Geographic Location(s): Found nationwide.
Some online retail products cannot be shipped to all states, most notably
are New York, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, and Connecticut.
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