Ants

Dealing with Ant problems

The commonest species that invades houses is the Black Garden Ant, which is actually very dark brown (and will be between 2-5mm long), we also see the smaller Pharaoh ants (around 1.5-2mm long) s and the even less common Ghost ant (about 2mm long).

All ants have the main divisions of the body (head, thorax, abdomen) distinctly separated by very narrow waists and have a sharp elbow joint in their antennae. They are highly organised social insects. It is the foraging worker ants that invade buildings in search of food. These are from 2 to 5mm in length and are attracted to sweet foodstuffs which they take back to the nest to feed to the larvae and queen.

Correctly deployed products cause the workers to destroy their own nests, for example, sugar based liquid bait. The workers are attracted to the bait and carry the insecticide back to the larvae and queen.

Some centrally heated blocks of flats may be troubled by the much smaller tropical Pharaoh’s Ant, which prefers protein to sweet foods and has multiple, and often inaccessible nests within the building structure.

Ghost Ants are becoming more common in heated buildings.

These are a similar size to Pharaoh’s ants and is pale coloured with a dark thorax and head. Control must be left to professional operators.