Ants are one of the most successful species on the planet. And part of the reason for that success is their specialisation. There’s an ant to fit just about every ecological niche out there, and this specialisation has resulted in some fascinating adaptations.

Pharaoh ants are not native to BC. They are a tropical species more suited to the warm climates of Africa than to the rainy weather of the West Coast. But the species has become very well-established in BC, and is one of the hardest ant species in British Columbia to control.

Often, controlling pest species means understanding more about them and using their weaknesses against them. So with that in mind, it’s time to dive into the strange world of Pharaoh ants.

What are Pharaoh ants?

Pharaoh ants, or Monomorium pharaonis (Linnaeus), get their name from the outdated belief that they were one of the plagues of Egypt in Biblical times. That may not be historically accurate, but it is a spot-on reflection of what a nuisance these creatures can be.

Pharaoh ants are tiny, even by ant standards. Workers are 1.5 to 2 mm long, or about 1/16 of an inch. In fact, they are so small that often, people don’t immediately realise that they are ants. They are also yellow or orange in color (golden yellow/red color), which sets them apart from most ant species.

Pharaoh ant colonies can be huge, with the number of workers reaching into hundreds of thousands. And unlike many other types of ant, Pharaoh ants can have more than one queen in a nest. A large mature colony could have hundreds of reproductive queens creating eggs and helping the nest grow rapidly.

The Pharaoh Ant - Monomorium pharaonis

Pharaoh ant lifecycle

Like all ants, a Pharaoh ant begins its life as an egg laid by a queen. Pharaoh ants go through complete metamorphosis, meaning they start their lives as a wormlike larva before pupating into an adult ant. A worker ant takes a little over a month (approx 42 day) to go from an egg to an adult ant.

Worker ants forage for food and take care of the young. As with most ant species, the colony is entirely dependent on the juveniles to produce food. Adult ants can’t eat solid food and have to bring it back to the nest for the larvae to chew, and the adults then eat the liquid the larvae secrete. Yes, it’s gross. But it’s an effective way to make sure that adult ants will do everything they can to ensure the survival of the young.

As with other ant species, typical workers are sterile females. However, queens also produce eggs that hatch into winged reproductive ants. Unlike other species, the winged reproductives don’t swarm in a nuptial flight (like we see with the carpenter ant and the pavement ant). Instead, they create new nests by a process known as budding. This happens when a queen ant migrates from the original colony, bringing some workers and juvenile ants with her. She will set up a nest of her own not too far from the original colony, and the new nest will not compete with the old one.

Pharaoh Ants - M.pharaonis

*Image Credit Note

Where are Pharaoh ants found in BC?

As a tropical species, Pharaoh ants can’t survive a BC climate. Plus, their small size makes them vulnerable to other insects that would prey on them, including larger ants. Therefore, Pharaoh ants in BC need to live indoors.

Pharaoh ants are a particularly big problem in apartment buildings, hospitals, and other places where lots of people live close together. All Pharaoh ants need to create a colony is a wall void. Unlike many other species, they don’t need soil or wood to nest in. But they do need heat, ideally around 25 to 30° C, and a high humidity of 80%. They can use water pipes and electrical cables to travel through the building, and workers can forage up to 50 m from the nest.

Why you should never spray Pharaoh ants with pesticide

Their budding behaviour is part of what makes Pharaoh ants one of the most difficult species to control. Budding occurs naturally as a colony grows, but it can also happen in response to stress. If a colony of Pharaoh ants feels threatened, it will split up, and what used to be one big nest will now be seven, eight, or more smaller nests spread throughout the building. It’s not hard to imagine that this makes the problem far worse.

Pharaoh ants are sensitive to pesticides, and spraying them with any repellent substance can cause budding. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be pesticide. Strong cleaners like bleach can have the same effect. For that reason, it’s very important not to spray Pharaoh ants with anything, no matter how tempting it might be.

Are they harmful?

Pharaoh ants are not going to bite or sting you, but they could transfer disease.

Pharaoh ants have been implicated in the spread of more than a dozen disease pathogens  including salmonella and Streptococcus pyogenes. They are notorious for being a major nuisance in hospitals where they can enter wounds, enter IV bottles and can sometimes even seek moisture from the mouths of sleeping patients.

Because they’re so small, they can get into even the most secure food packaging. This means that they may contaminate food (make the food unsafe) with germs they pick up travelling through buildings.

How to get rid of Pharaoh ants

So if you can’t spray them, how are you supposed to get rid of Pharaoh ants? 

The key to effective Pharaoh ant control is to use poison bait. This combines poison with a substance attractive to the ants so that they will take it back to the nest and feed it to the larvae. The ants will never realise they’re being poisoned, so baiting Pharaoh ants in this way does not cause budding.

Baiting is an effective way to destroy an ant colony because it uses the ant’s natural food distribution method to spread the poison throughout the colony. However, baiting requires patience. Pharaoh ants are known for being fickle in their food preferences, and can switch what they like to eat almost from day to day. Try to use ant bait along active foraging trails to make sure the ants find it and carry it back to the nest.

In an apartment building, a Pharaoh ant baiting program needs to take in every apartment. Treating the ants in only one apartment won’t do anything to address the underlying problem.

See Related: How to get rid of Carpenter Ants

How to prevent Pharaoh ants

Pharaoh ants don’t live outside in BC, but they can enter buildings along with food or items of furniture brought in from outside. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about that.

However, you can make your home less attractive to Pharaoh ants by maintaining good sanitation. 

  • Clean up food spills as soon as they happen 
  • Keep all food stored in sealed plastic or glass containers so that ants can’t get to it. 
  • Take care of any water drips or leaks – Pharaoh ants love water.
  • Keep pet food covered when your pets aren’t eating 
  • Use a dehumidifier or bathroom fans to prevent moisture build up inside 

At your apartment

If you live in an apartment, work closely with your building manager or condo board to address the Pharaoh ant problem, because you certainly won’t be the only person dealing with them. It may be possible to keep Pharaoh ants out of your apartment by excluding them using silicone caulk along wires and heat pipes. However, when you consider that these Pharaoh ants are only 1.5 mm in length, it’s not hard to see they can squeeze through some very small gaps.

These unusual ants may be interesting, but that doesn’t mean you want them in your home. Dealing with a large-scale Pharaoh ant problem is a job for a professional, so don’t be afraid to call for help if you need it. Learn more about our Pharaoh Ant removal services. 

Image references

*1 Creative Commons License via WikiCommons