Pharaoh ants

Human habitation has long attracted the attention of animals and insects by access to food. Some of them cause a lot of trouble, and sometimes even become carriers of dangerous infections. This is exactly what the ant of the pharaohs is, or as it is also called the "house ant." Representatives of this species have been able to expand their habitat for hundreds of years, having settled on vast territories of the planet and becoming a global problem for millions of people.

Description and lifestyle of insects

Pharaoh ant - one of the smallest representatives of the ant family. The body length of working individuals does not exceed 2 mm, males grow up to 3 mm, the largest (up to 4-6 mm) are the uterus.

The main difference of this kind of ants is their body consisting of three segments. It has a light brown, and often yellow hue tone. That is why the pharaonic ants are also called red. In the abdominal part of the body there are yellow stripes, however, in individuals of workers, due to their small size, they are hardly noticeable.

A distinctive feature of the uterus of the pharaohs is not only a larger size, but also its dark, almost black body color. Because of what, it is very reminiscent of the usual black ant that lives in the gardens. Males have the same color, and besides, they have wings. Females gnaw after fertilization.

Pharaonic ants prefer to live in colonies, the number of inhabitants of which can vary within a few thousand. To reach such a quantity of insects succeeds due to the presence in anthill several queens.

On a note!

The life expectancy of the pharaohs is short: males live for about 20 days, workers for about 2 months, but the queen uterus for 9 months.

What eat

Pharaoh ants are almost omnivorous. However, their favorite delicacies are protein and sugar-based products. That is why red "thieves" can often be seen in sugar bowls, sweets, honey or cookies. They will not refuse meat, sausages. However, the pharaohs still give preference to liquid or semi-liquid consistency products.

How to breed

Alone in my life uterus gives life to approximately 500,000 individuals. She lays eggs and is forced to independently spray them with special enzymes due to the insufficient number of males. As a result, individuals are born. When the amount of enzymes runs low, males are taken for action.

The eggs of the pharaoh ants are hard to see: usually the female lays them in hard to reach places. And besides, it is difficult to do because of their meager sizes (up to 0.3 mm). The hatched larvae in appearance do not differ much from eggs: white and translucent, they have an elongated shape. The dimensions of their bodies do not exceed 1.5 mm.

On a note!

The larva emerging from the egg becomes sexually mature after 1-1.5 months.

When the anthill overflows with insects, some of them leave and build their own housing. However, through a special move combining the new nest with the parent anthill, the pharaoh ants can keep in touch with relatives.

Interesting!

Unusual fact about ants concerns their relationship.Pharaohs do not have much respect for the uterus, they perceive it only as a reproductive individual. If necessary, the inhabitants of the anthill can even move the female to the adjacent anthill. And the uterus, which lays a smaller number of eggs, is simply killed for unsuitability.

Habitat

Pharaonic ants are thermophilic insects, temperatures below 20 degrees are harmful to them. Insects usually build nests under baseboards, in ceilings, under floors, and in furniture drawers. They prefer to be located in an inaccessible place, in connection with which it is not always possible to destroy the anthill inhabitants. In addition, these crumbs, actively moving through narrow crevices, quickly infect neighboring apartments. Most often, pests can be found in the kitchen or in the bathroom.

What is harmful pharaohs

Having settled in a person’s housing, the ants of the pharaohs cause him a lot of trouble. In search of food, insects creep around the house, infecting food, furniture, and even things. Pharaohs ants can bite hardHowever, they carry out such attacks for self-defense.

Important!

In the absence of the required amount of food, the pharaohs are able to replace it with animal hair. The penetration of ginger pests into the respiratory tract of pets can even cause suffocation of the animal.

Ways to fight

Fighting the pharaohs is not easy enough. This largely depends on the size of the anthill and the number of inhabitants inhabited by it. Indeed, if you destroy only part of the ant family, then very soon it will quickly be replenished. Get rid of the pharaoh ants can by chemical or folk remedies.

Chemical methods

Chemicals in the form of gels have found widespread use among consumers (Clean house, a great warrior, Globol or Help), aerosol (RaptorGeth Kombat or Raid), as well as in the form of crayons and dusts (DeliciaWest or Muratsid).

For these purposes, you can also use trapsin the middle of which is bait. Having penetrated into a similar design, insects take poison on their paws and bring it to the anthill, infecting their relatives.

Folk methods

One of the effective folk remedies is boric acid use. To attract the attention of pests, the powder is mixed with honey, jam, minced meat or mashed potatoes.

Excellent results in pest control give yeast. They are also mixed with jam and laid out in places of accumulation of insects.

On a note!

It has a deterrent effect. decoy, wormwood, cloves, elderberry or tomato tops. Enough to decorate the places of movement of the pharaohs with a decoction of these plants, and the ants will no longer appear there. Garlic juice has similar properties.

However, only regular house cleaning and garbage disposal can prevent the spread of pests.