Pharaoh Ants Can Carry Dangerous Bacteria into Your Northern New Jersey Home
In northern New Jersey ants aren’t usually a problem until spring. Most ants live outdoors and are fairly inactive during the winter. However, the Pharaoh ant is a tropical transport to our state. Unable to tolerate cold northern New Jersey winters, Pharaoh ants live exclusively indoors in huge multiple colonies that may have as many as 200 reproducing queens.
A translucent golden yellow to reddish color, tiny 1/16-inch Pharaoh ants are difficult to see. Their tiny size allows these bacteria and pathogen-carrying ants to crawl inside food containers and contaminate food supplies. Also known as Sweet ants, Pharaoh ants feed mostly on sweets including soft drinks, fruit juices and breads.
Pharaoh ants can be exceedingly difficult to get rid of. Colonies multiply frequently through budding in which part of an existing colony relocates to a new nesting site. It is common for a home to be simultaneously infested by multiple Pharaoh ant colonies that can number in the hundreds of thousands.
If your home becomes infested by Pharaoh ants, it is important to immediately call in an experienced pest control professional. Home treatment efforts will only cause ant colonies to relocate, making eradication more difficult. For more information about Pharaoh and other types of ants, visit our new Ant Identification and Ant Information pages.