Pharaonic ants are insects that have managed to inhabit the vast territories of the planet for hundreds of years, while delivering a lot of trouble to humanity. They were first discovered in the Egyptian pyramids, for which they received such a specific name (with the light hand of the 18th century biologist Karl von Linnaeus). In fact, red creatures came to Europe from India, on ships carrying spices. The first representatives of red goosebumps appeared in the ports of London and mastered quite rich houses, settling under stone slabs. Gradually, visiting guests penetrated deep into the countries into which they were abandoned by chance, and began to adapt quite easily to new conditions.
Description of Pharaoh Ants
Pharaonic ants exist in colonies, up to a million individuals in each. Their life expectancy is different: for males - about 3 weeks, for working ants - 60-70 days, for a female queen - 273 days. A distinctive feature of this type of insect, the body of which consists of 3 segments, is the yellow stripes on the abdomen, which are not particularly noticeable due to the small size of the ants (from 1.5 to 6 mm). Females are 1.5-2 times larger than working individuals, outwardly much darker than their counterparts than they resemble the usual garden ants. Virgin queens are equipped with wings that are discarded immediately after mating. Working ants are characterized by light brown, closer to the yellow color of the trunk.
The eggs of the larvae of this type of insect have a diameter of about 0.3 mm; the size of the larvae (translucent, immovable, and white) varies from 1.0 to 1.5 mm in length. The development of a working ant from an egg to an adult occurs within 36 days, females and males - 44 days. Males die 3-5 weeks after mating.
Features of existence
Pharaoh ants are accustomed to coexist next to humans and live in heated dwellings, since they can not stand the low temperatures. In winter, the number of people from hot tropics decreases sharply, and with the onset of summer days and a comfortable temperature (+25 ... + 30 ° ) it increases significantly.
Outside the heated houses, thermophilic insects cannot exist; with the onset of cold weather they simply freeze. Ants live in different corners of houses: under skirting boards, floors, ceilings, in closets, in heaps of clothes in pantries, in folds of clothes - in hard-to-reach places with an acceptable temperature, where it is extremely difficult for a person to get to. Most prefer the bathroom and kitchen, easily conquer the spaces of neighboring apartments. In terms of breeding speed and number of pharaoh ants can compete with other insects: for example, they are able to populate a new 9-story house in a couple of years.
An anthill is characterized by an interesting structure: while it is small, it occupies an area of only a few square centimeters. With its growth, certain parts are separated with the creation of additional nests in different places of the home.
In nutrition, such insects are absolutely not demanding and eat everything that is edible. Most of all they like sugar-containing and protein products, raw meat, sausages, milk, rotting organic matter.
Dangerous carriers of infection
Pharaoh ants, the harm of which is obvious and understandable to residents of apartments and houses, are carriers of various infections: crawling through garbage waste, they carry pathogens (including salmonella, staphylococcus, plague and dysentery) and pathogenic microbes on food on their feet. It is possible to get rid of such insects, although it’s quite difficult: their ant hill-megalopolis can be located in several apartments, ants are able to move about 35 meters from their nest.
They always have enough provisions for survival: food stocks, garbage chutes, street organics. Therefore, the destruction of one or more nests can go almost unnoticed for millions of settlements: very quickly the pharaoh ants develop new territories . How to remove uninvited guests from the apartment? What measures should be taken first?
Where to look for domestic pests
It is important to destroy the nests with the laying eggs by the females at the moment when the anthill is just beginning to develop and daughter anthills have not yet been formed by insects. If you are lucky, and the pest lair catches your eye, then it is enough just to vacuum it. But most often the nests are located in hard-to-reach places (under wallpaper, behind a cupboard, under the baseboard, in piles of old magazines and newspapers, in unused electrical appliances), so finding them is not so easy. Understanding that working individuals carry food to females, they can be destroyed, which will interrupt the food supply chain.
Three days - this is how many pharaoh ants are able to live without food . How to get rid of uninvited guests once and for all?
Boric acid in the fight against pharaonic ants
An effective tool in the fight against pharaonic ants is boric acid, the effect of which, although slow, is effective. Gradually corroding insect chitin, this drug kills it. During the action of boric acid, the working individual manages to deliver the latter to the nest, which destroys its inhabitants.
To prepare the product, mix a teaspoon of boric acid with a teaspoon of honey (or sugar with water) until a thick mixture is obtained. The composition is applied in the area of accumulation of insects and their paths. Gradually, the number of pests will decrease markedly, as the process of poisoning ant females will begin. Boric acid can be combined with products that ants love: mashed potatoes, minced meat, eggs. From such a mixture, it is required to form balls and arrange them around the perimeter of the room.
Folk methods of deliverance
And yet, if the pharaoh ants appeared in the apartment, how to get rid of them quickly and harmlessly? Pharaonic ants react negatively to yeast. Mixed with jam, they kill these tiny insects. Essential oils of some plants, namely elderberries, wormwood, nuts, peppermint, cloves, tomato tops, are forced to leave the room with red crumbs. Twice a month, with such infusions, it is required to spray the places of accumulation of insects, wipe the surfaces existing in the house and mop the floors.
Unrefined sunflower oil is considered a deterrent insecticide, which is recommended to lubricate the edges of dishes with food. Natural traps are effective in fighting ants: small containers with sweetened water, placed around the perimeter of the kitchen. Crawling into them, the ants are drowning.
Overcame the Pharaoh ants: how to get rid
The photo shows how huge the labyrinths of anthills and the numerous hordes of red insects are.
Therefore, in combination with alternative methods, it is recommended to use chemicals. These are aerosols with which you need to spray all surfaces in the house and with special care the places of frequent movement of insects. Against pharaonic ants, it is quite possible to use gels - powerful insecticides, droplets of which are carried by foraging ants into nests, which causes poisoning of a large number of specimens, including the uterus. The action of gels is not instant, but effective.
In the fight against harmful insects, insecticidal crayons and dusts are widely used. Trying to clean their feet from them, ants instantly poison.
Preventative methods
In parallel with the use of chemicals and food traps, it is recommended that prophylactic measures be actively applied to prevent ants from entering the room: carefully cover all cracks in the baseboards, between the floorboards, at the joints between the floor and walls. Be sure to maintain cleanliness, keep food waste closed, handle with insecticides the paths of insects to enter a residential building.
It is important to fight insects with the joint efforts of all the inhabitants of the house, the indifference and disinterest of individuals provides a huge chance for the survival and further reproduction of such tiny, but very dangerous insects, like pharaoh ants. How to remove such unsolicited pests from its territory? If the methods used are ineffective, it is worth contacting the specialists of the pest control services - professionals in their field, who in a matter of hours will help solve the problem with getting rid of unwanted guests.