Colony Size Makes Pharaoh Ants Formidable Threat
Most ants come inside northern New Jersey homes to forage for food but live outdoors in underground colonies. The Pharaoh Ant is a notable exception. A tropical transport, pharaoh ants cannot survive our chilly New Jersey winters and live exclusively inside homes and other buildings. Pharaoh ants live in massive colonies, “budding” to form new colonies nearby as populations grow. A mature pharaoh ant colony may house as many as 200 egg-laying queens and be comprised of dozens of satellite colonies.
The sheer force of their numbers is not the only thing that makes pharaoh ants a dangerous pest. These ants carry numerous pathogens and bacteria and are known to spread infection. A dangerous threat in hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, pharaoh ants crawl in and out of wounds and open sores and forage among discarded bandages, spreading pathogens from patient to patient.
Because of the huge size of their colonies, pharaoh ants can consume and contaminate vast quantities of food if they take up residence in your northern New Jersey home or facility. Although these ants prefer to feed on sweets such as fruit juices, soft drinks, cakes and breads, they will also feed on grease, fatty foods and dead insects.
Hard to detect due to their minute size (1/16 inch) and translucent yellow color, pharaoh ants are also difficult to eliminate because of their prodigious numbers and multiple colonies. Successful extermination of pharaoh ants requires the services of an expert northern New Jersey pest control firm.