How to Get Rid of Pharoah Ants

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Appearance

Very small; Light yellow to red, with black markings on abdomen.
Pharaoh ants are small, yellow ants about 1/16-inch long

 

Reproduction

Grows from egg to adult in about 45 days;females live as long as 39 weeks
and can lay about 400 eggs; workers only live up to 10 weeks.

Pharaoh ants being extremely small can be found in a diversity of places
appearing suddenly.
They have a wide range of foraging and their nest are usually well hidden.
They are very persistent, with large colonies.

Habits

Inside they are usually found in the kitchen and bathrooms ,
but workers are seen trailing along window sills, and baseboards.

They can also be spotted near sources of water in the kitchen and bathrooms,
counter tops, toilets,drains and sinks.

They prefer to nest in recessed areas like wall voids,under some appliance,
wall outlets, under carpet for protection.

Can nest outdoors in lawns and gardens.

A very common inside ant in Florida

 

 

How to Get Rid of Pharoah Ants

Baiting would be the preferred treatment over typical residual spraying, so you can eliminate the entire colony, unless you use a non repellent spray. When choosing ant baits, it is best to choose from both the sugar based baits and protein based baits .

 

WHY ANT BAIT?

The use of residual sprays or dusts will cause stress on the colonies,
causing them to split into sub-colonies that scatter to other areas in the structure.
This is also called budding.

After spraying, your problem can be worse than at the beginning.

When you bait, you will want a slow acting bait.
Quick kill insecticides and baits will only kill the foraging ants, not allowing the foraging ants to take the bait back home to feed the queen,nest workers and brood.

If the current ant bait that you are using is not acceptable to the ants,
if they are not visiting the bait, it is recommended that you change the baits. Ants require carbohydrates-sugars, proteins and greases.
They find a variety of these sources in nature. Examples are: other insects(proteins and greases), nectar, aphid honeydew ,
plant products(sugar and carbohydrates)

Choosing a bait would require knowing what they are currently feeding off of,
according to the nutritional needs of the colony. To be sure that you have
all the baiting needs met, you may want to be ready with a sugar-carbohydrate bait,
a grease-fat bait, and a protein based bait.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMOVE ANY OTHER FOOD COMPETITION WHEN BAITING
AND LEAVE THE BAIT ALONE ONCE THE ANTS START FEEDING ON IT.

 

Recommended Ant Baits (Sugar and Protein Feeding Cycles) When in doubt of which one to choose, choose one from each category. We also carry baits that feed both cycles.
For the protein and grease feeding cycles: Advance375 A Ant Bait (for protein/grease feeding cycles)   Maxforce Ant Bait Stations(for protein/grease feeding cycles)		Sweet Feeding Cycles:   Intice Gelanimo Ant Bait for sweet cycles-not messy, particularly good for Odorous Ants)   Optigard Ant Bait Gel(for sugar feeding cycles excludes fire, harvester and pharaoh ants) The powerful, slow acting non repellent active ingredient, thiamethoxam in Optigard ant gel knocks out workers, brood and queens. Maxforce Ant Killer Ant Bait Gell(for sweet feeding cycles)		Baits that feed both protein and sweet cycles: Maxforce Complete Bait Granulars(for protein/grease/sugar feeding cycles)   InVict AB Insect Paste is an all around insect bait containing 0.05% Abamectin (botanical insecticide) Invict AB Insect Paste has a range of attractants including sweet, oil, and protein attractants (but no peanut products). Not only will it kill ants, killing the whole colony quickly, but it effectively eliminates roaches, reducing the need for two different bait formulations.

 

Non Repellents For Outside and Inside Ant Control:

Spraying for Pharoah Ants: Non-Repellents

The best insecticides for ant control are non repellent insecticides such as Taurus SC, Termidor SC, Optigard Flex, Alpine Aerosol, and Phantom Aerosol. Termidor SC and Taurus SC are labeled for inside usage.

Unless you can treat the nest directly, spraying is not an effective solution for Argentine Ants, unless you use a non repellent insecticides or "undetectable" liquid treatments Phantom Aerosol or Alpine Aerosols labeled for the inside. Optigard Flex is another very good non repellent labeled for inside for Argentine Ants(ants popular in California)

Unlike older insecticides, non repellent insecticides can't be smelled, tasted, or even felt by pests. So they crawl through the treated area, not knowing that by ingesting treated materials or merely contacting the insecticide, they'll die.

Again, workers must eat the bait, take it back to the nest, and feed to the queen and larval ants. This type of control is incompatible with treatments(such as repellent sprays)that prevent workers from returning to the nest with the bait.