Ants are such commonplace pests, we don’t often pay them much mind. The typical house ant varieties you see are relatively harmless foragers that, while they annoyingly crawl all over your property, don’t pose larger health risks to you or damage to your property. But no ants should be treated as harmless because every so often an ant infestation will reveal itself to be dangerous and destructive.
Pharaoh Ants: What To Know
While sugar ants and pavement ants are far more common, pharaoh ants are not counted among these mere nuisance species. Instead, pharaoh ants are considered dangerous and far more serious for your property. Here are traits you can use to tell them apart from other varieties:
- Color: Pharaoh ants are typically yellow or tan, though they can be darker brown and even reddish. Some pharaoh ants are disturbingly transparent.
- Shape: With a double-notched pedicel (a connecting segment of an ant’s body) that separates their abdomen from their thorax, pharaoh ants appear to have a long and narrow extra segment compared to other ant varieties.
- Behavior: Unlike other ants, pharaoh ants don’t always travel in clear lines or trails when foraging for food. They are more free-roaming, though they do still coordinate their workers with pheromones.
The Dangers Of Pharaoh Ants
The biggest difference between pharaoh ants and other run-of-the-mill ant species is the added danger they pose. Not only can pharaoh ants spread diseases, but they can also lead to property damage and be far more difficult to eliminate than other species. Here are some of the dangers posed by pharaoh ants:
- Disease: Pharaoh ants are known to carry a dozen different kinds of dangerous and contagious bacteria, including salmonella.
- Damage: Pharaoh ants have a penchant for flocking to electrical components. As the first wave of ants goes there, likely attracted by the warmth, they are zapped and cooked, releasing pheromones that bring other pharaoh ants to the area. It doesn’t take long for this to gunk up the works.
- Budding: Many of the most dangerous ant species in the world share a survival trait called “budding.” It occurs when ants detect an extermination attempt, prompting them to split their populations into two mature ant colonies. This is how a pest infestation can go from bad to worse.
Ant Prevention Tips & Tricks
To avoid those serious issues, you need to protect your home from invasive ants of all kinds, since pharaoh ants will also be attracted to the food and shelter found in your home. Here are some ways you can get started on basic ant prevention:
- Food storage: Ants can detect food traces from great distances, using their acute senses of smell and chemical receptors. Don’t leave food out and deep clean for crumbs and spills regularly.
- Trash storage: You also need to make sure your trash is inaccessible to ants, which isn’t easy since most are small enough to crawl through the lip of even lidded bins.
- Crack sealing: Routinely checking your exterior walls and foundation for any cracks and holes will help you address potential entry points early. No fault is too small for an ant to squeeze through.
Contact The Pros Right Away
Because it can be so tough to tell one tiny ant species from another, turn to the experts at the first sign of pests on your property. At Havard Pest Control, we’ll help identify an ant population and take steps to remove them completely. Rather than trusting methods that might not work -- or even make the problem worse -- you should turn to professional methods that provide the greatest guarantees. Even if ants aren’t already a problem, our routine inspections will help you stay on top of proper prevention and alert you to problems before they can grow out of control.
For protection from pharaoh ants and other dangerous pests, contact Havard Pest Control today.