Treatment Methods: To avoid dispersing the colony into multiple new nests, NON-repellant baits should be used and placed on ant trails-this takes some time on your part. Inspect and monitor carefully as there are often multiple nests. Allow the ants to take bait back to their nests. Make sure you choose one that works for both “grease” and “sweet ants”. Baits are the preferred method of treatment of Pharaoh ant. They have been known to build nests in debris such as newspaper, cardboard, and any place warm inside a wall. Reduce any chance that Pharaoh Ants may find a food source inside your building. IPM for indoor pests is always a combination of exclusion and sanitation: Don’t provide access to water, food and shelter!īest Management Practices: IPM to reduce numbers is prevention. Threshold: Any confirmed sighting of Pharaoh ants in a building is cause to act. Pharaoh ants have been known to vector food-borne diseases when they’ve infested a food preparation area.
If you’ve seen ant activity, you need to act. Preferred Habitat: Inside buildings due to their preference for warmth, and therefore are often pests in large food-service areas. Preferred Food Sources: Especially interested and successful in finding human food as a food source-both fatty and sweet. Queens are darker than workers, can raise large batches of eggs, including many daughter queens. Life Cycle: Males and females mate within the nest (males are dark and do not stay in the nest after mating). Pharaoh ants like both fatty and sweet foods. Learn the Pest BiologyĪnts follow scent trails to and from food sources. Size and Particulars: 1/16" (1.5 to 2 mm) (queens 4 mm), yellowish brown to pale brown in color. To best treat a pest, you must be sure what it is. Colonies contain many queens that often start new nests nearby. Where to find it while inspecting: Pharaoh ants prefer warmth for their colonies and so have a fondness for establishing nests in buildings. An ant or two may be searching for a food source-don’t let them find it! Develop a knowledge of where ants are likely entering and make a practice to inspect and anticipate. Inspect the adjacent areas along walls (interior and exterior) now and again later. Sample for Pestīefore taking any action, confirm the presence of more than one ant-it may have come in on clothing or packaging.