Pharaoh Ant Identification in Florida

Many Florida homeowners know all too well the sight of small ants marching in unison across their kitchen countertops and on their bathroom floors. If you're dealing with this and you notice that said ants are small and light-yellowish in color, you may be dealing with pharaoh ants.

Pharaoh ants get their name from the mistaken idea that they were one of the plagues of ancient Egypt. They're common worldwide and are known to be one of the most difficult household ants to control.

Pharaoh ants are one of the smallest ant species you might encounter in your house. Their size ranges from 1.5 to 2 mm in length, making them easy to overlook. Pharaoh ants are a yellow to light-brown color and often have a darker thorax.

Like all ants, pharaoh ant bodies are segmented, meaning they have two nodes between their thorax and abdomen. If you have a good magnifying glass and can look close enough, you'll be able to see that their antennae have twelve segments.

You might be wondering how much you should worry about a pharaoh ant bite. Luckily, pharaoh ants aren't known for causing painful bites or stings. While they do have pincers, pharaoh ants have mouths that are too small to cause humans much discomfort with bites.

As two common species of ants in Florida, pharaoh ants are often confused with ghost ants due to their similarities in size and coloring. Ghost ants and pharaoh ants also share the uncommon trait that both species tend to have multiple queens in their colonies. If you spot small, pale-colored ants in your home, you may want to be able to tell which species it is.

While pharaoh ants and ghost ants are both light in coloring, there are differences you can notice if you look close. Pharaoh ants tend to have lighter heads and thoraxes with a darker abdomen, while ghost ants will have slightly darker heads and thoraxes with an almost translucent abdomen. 

Aside from appearance, another way to tell the difference between ghost ants and pharaoh ants is by smell. It may seem like an odd thing to check, but ghost ants give off a smell similar to rotten coconuts after they’ve been crushed.

Pharaoh ants are more likely to be found in commercial food handling establishments, but that doesn't mean they can't make their way into your home. These colonies are especially hard to get rid of, so the best course of action is prevention.

• Seal all possible entry points around your home - including small openings around doors and windows.
• Keep floors and counters clean and free of crumbs or other food residue.
• Store food in airtight containers and regularly dispose of garbage.
• Remove any sources of standing water you may have outside.
• Keep tree branches and shrubbery trimmed and away from the house.
• Store any firewood at least twenty feet away from the house.

If you follow the above advice, you should be able to keep pharaoh ants from making their home inside yours.

Pharaoh ants are notoriously difficult to get rid of, so it may be in your best interest to call a local ant exterminator if you find these pests in your home. Luckily, the team at Native Pest Management is ready to help you get rid of any ants you may be dealing with.

Our professionally trained technicians can identify any pharaoh ant nests and use the proper gel and granular baits to eliminate the entire colony. We'll also caulk any ant-sized entry points we find to help prevent pharaoh ants from getting inside in the future.

All of our products are pet safe and eco-friendly and we focus on providing top rated service, so you can rest easy knowing you have the most reliable ant control in Florida. To learn more about our professional ant control services, reach out to us today to receive a free quote!