Pharaoh ants: how to get rid

Pharaoh's ants are insects that have managed to accumulate huge territories of the planet for hundreds of years, while delivering a lot of trouble to mankind. They were first discovered in the Egyptian pyramids, for which they received such a specific name (with the easy hand of the 18th-century biologist Karl von Linnaeus). In fact, red-headed creatures to Europe came from India, on sea ships carrying spices. The first representatives of red creeps appeared in the ports of London and developed quite rich houses, settling under stone slabs. Gradually, visiting guests penetrated far into the depths of countries, which were abandoned by the will of chance, and it became easy enough to adapt to new conditions for themselves.

Description of Pharaoh ants

Pharaoh ants exist in colonies, up to a million individuals in each. Duration of their life varies: for males - about 3 weeks, for workers of ants - 60-70 days, for female-queen - 273 days. A distinctive feature of this type of insect, whose body consists of 3 segments, are yellow strips on the abdomen, which are not particularly noticeable due to the small size of the ants (from 1.5 to 6 mm). The females are 1.5-2 times larger than the workers, outwardly much darker than their counterparts, than they resemble the usual garden ants. Virgin queens are equipped with wings, which are abandoned immediately after mating. Working ants are characterized by light brown, closer to the yellow color of the body.

The eggs of the larvae of this species of insects in diameter are about 0.3 mm, the sizes of larvae (translucent, immobile and white) vary from 1.0 to 1.5 mm in length. The development of the working ant from the egg to the state of the 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 co-exist with a person and live in heated dwellings, because they do not tolerate low temperatures at all. In winter, the number of people coming from the hot tropics is sharply reduced, and with the onset of summer days and a comfortable temperature (+25 ... + 30 ° C) it increases many times.

Outside the heated houses heat-loving insects can not exist; With the onset of cold weather, they simply freeze. Ants live in different parts of the houses: under skirting boards, floors, ceilings, in closets, in piles of things 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 there. Most prefer the bathroom and kitchen, easily conquer the space of neighboring apartments. By the speed of reproduction and the number of Pharaoh ants can make a worthy competition to other insects: for example, they can populate a new 9-storey house in a couple of years.

An interesting structure is characterized by an anthill: while it is small, it occupies an area of only a few square centimeters. When it grows, it separates certain parts and creates additional nests in different places of the dwelling.

In nutrition, such insects are absolutely not demanding and eat anything that is edible. Most of all they like sugar and protein products, raw meat, sausages, milk, rotting organic.

Dangerous Infectious Disease Infection

Pharaoh ants, whose harm is obvious and understandable to residents of apartments and houses, are carriers of various infections: creeping along garbage waste, on their paws they carry pathogens (including Salmonella, Staphylococcus, plague and dysentery) and pathogenic microbes to food. It is possible to get rid of such insects, although it is quite difficult: their anthill-megalopolis can be located in several apartments, from its nest ants are able to move about 35 meters.

Provisions for survival are always enough: they are food stocks, refuse garbage, street organics. Therefore, the destruction of one or more nests can pass for millions of settlements almost unnoticed: the Pharaoh ants are rapidly developing 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 egg-laying females at a time when the anthill is just beginning to develop and the ancestral anthills with insects are not yet formed. If lucky enough, and the den of pests will fall on your eyes, then it's enough to vacuum it. But most often nests are placed in hard-to-reach places (under the wallpaper, behind the cabinet, under the baseboard, in the bales of old magazines and newspapers, in unused electrical appliances), so finding them is not so easy. Realizing that the livestock is fed by the working people, it is possible to destroy the latter, which will interrupt the food supply chain.

For three days - Pharaonic ants are able to live without food . How to get rid of uninvited guests once and for all?

Boric acid in the fight against Pharaoh ants

Effective means in the fight against Pharaoh ants is boric acid, the action of which, though slow, but effective. Gradually eroding insect chitin, this drug kills him. During the time of action of boric acid, the working individual manages to deliver the latter to the nest, which destroys its inhabitants.

To prepare the remedy, stir 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 insects and their trails. Gradually the number of pests will noticeably decrease, as the process of poisoning of ant females begins. Boric acid can be combined with foods that like ants: mashed potatoes, minced meat, eggs. From such a mixture it is required to form balls and spread them around the perimeter of the room.

Popular methods of deliverance

And yet, if pharaoh ants appeared in the apartment, how to get rid of them quickly and harmlessly? Pharaoh ants react negatively to yeast. Mixed with jam, they kill these tiny insects. Red crumbs are forced to leave the room essential oils of some plants, namely elder, wormwood, walnut, peppermint, cloves, tomato tops. Twice a month, these infusions require spraying places of insects, wiping the surfaces in the house and washing the floors.

A repellent insecticide is unrefined sunflower oil, which is recommended to lubricate the edges of dishes with food. Effective in the fight against ants are natural traps: small containers with sweetened water, placed along the perimeter of the kitchen. Crawling into them, the ants are drowning.

Overpowered 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 folk methods, it is recommended to use chemical preparations. These are aerosols, which need to be sprayed all the surfaces in the house and with special care of the place of frequent movement of insects. Against pharaoh ants, gels can be used successfully - powerful insecticides, droplets of which are transferred by foraging ants into nests, which causes poisoning of a large number of specimens and the uterus, among others. The action of gels is not instantaneous, but effective.

Insecticide crayons and dusts are widely used in the fight against harmful insects. Trying to clear their own paws from them, the ants immediately etch.

Preventative methods

In parallel with the use of chemicals and food traps, it is recommended to actively apply preventive measures aimed at preventing ants from accessing the premises: carefully cover all the cracks in the skirting boards, between the floorboards, in the areas of joining the floor and walls. Be sure to maintain cleanliness, food waste contain in a closed form, treat insecticide pathways of insects into the house.

It is important to fight insects with the joint efforts of all residents of the house, indifference and disinterest of individual personalities provides a huge chance for survival and further reproduction of such tiny, but very dangerous insects, like pharaoh ants. How to remove such unwanted pests from their territory? If the methods used are ineffective, it is worth turning to specialists of disinfestation services - professionals in their field, who in a matter of hours will help solve the problem of getting rid of unwanted guests.