If you find a trail of ants around your home or business, you might be concerned about where they’re coming from and how you can remove them. Ants are some of the most common pests in the area, and they are invasive and difficult to remove. While many ant species are simply considered nuisance pests, some of them are not. Ant species such as the Pharaoh ant can be dangerous to have around your Corpus Christi property, and this guide contains the information you need to know about preventing them.
Important Info About Pharaoh Ants
Pharaoh ants are quite small as they only reach around 1/16th of an inch and length. They are a light yellowish color with red or black lower abdomens, and they have 12-segmented antennae.
Pharaoh ants are generally found outdoors, but they will build nests indoors from time to time. They can create colonies in walls or under flooring, and they tend to invade businesses, including hospitals, grocery stores, and food handling companies.
Why Are Pharaoh Ants Considered Dangerous?
Most ant species in Texas will get into food sources, and anytime a pest gets into these items, you’ll need to throw them out. However, most other species aren’t known to spread any particular diseases. Pharaoh ants, however, have been found to spread deadly pathogens that can lead to illnesses like dysentery and salmonella.
Another disgusting fact about Pharaoh ants is that they tend to swarm in large numbers, and they will even get into the wounds of patients in hospitals if they are allowed to do so.
They are one of the most invasive ant species and create multiple different nest areas throughout buildings. Even if a colony is disturbed, the survivors tend to just break off to form a new location to build a nest. These nests can contain thousands of individuals, too. This makes eliminating them rather tricky. On top of all this, Pharaoh ants are so small that completely sealing up access points isn’t that easy, even compared to many other ants.
What You Can Do To Prevent Pharaoh Ants
For the reasons mentioned above, it’s not an easy task to deter Pharaoh ants, and it’s also really hard to control them. But, there are ways to keep them from coming around your property, such as:
- Cleaning up food and drink spills right after they happen.
- Regularly cleaning kitchens and food preparation areas. Be sure to sweep and mop floors and do dirty dishes.
- Making it more difficult for these ants to get inside by fixing broken screens, repairing holes in the walls and foundation, and installing door sweeps and weather stripping.
- Keeping pet food stored in sealed containers.
- Covering trash cans with lids and removing trash from around the property.
- Reducing clutter from around the yard and inside of the building.
- Seeking assistance from ant control professionals.
When To Contact Pest Pros
The truth is that trying to eradicate Pharaoh ants on your own is a losing game. These infestations are such a hassle to remove, and most DIY methods just aren’t effective. Instead, let the team at EnviroGuard offer pest control services you can rely on to remove these dangerous pests.
Get started by giving us a call today to request a quote.