Ants are annoying, but only dangerous in exceptional cases. The pharaoh ant is different. We will tell you in a nutshell whether an infestation needs to be reported and how you can remove the animals.
Notifiable or not?
If you discover pests in your own four walls, the first thing you will think about is how to get rid of the animals as quickly and easily as possible. But wait! Whenever pests pose a threat to the lives of the residents, the infestation must not simply be fought quietly and clandestinely. Instead, you have to report the occurrence of the animal species to the responsible health authority - the pest species is "notifiable".
This is exactly the case with the pharaoh ant, because, contrary to numerous other, harmless ant species, it is considered to be the carrier of innumerable diseases that are dangerous to humans:
- Streptococci
- Staphylococci
- Salmonella
- typhus
- meningitis
- Pneumonia
- Food poisoning
- Wound and urinary tract infections
NOTE: There is no lower limit for the reporting requirement.
You must report this if the infestation is low or just beginning. This is the only way to initiate an early fight and, if necessary, to be accompanied by the responsible office!Fighting oneself is not very successful
The big problem with pharaoh ants is their very small body size of 1.5 to 2.0 millimeters in combination with their high affinity for protein or starchy foods. On the one hand, they specifically seek proximity to people with what they consider to be inexhaustible and often very easily accessible food. On the other hand, because of their small size, they are able to disappear into even the smallest cracks, joints and crevices and establish a nest there.
Often you only notice an infestation when the population has reached an enormous size. While a single one of these small animals can hardly be seen on the floor or on the wall, the typical ones fall Ant trails also easily catch the eye with the predominant light yellow-gold body colors of this ant species.
Every attempt at elimination is particularly difficult, since pharaoh ants tend to use the common ones
Home remedies, especially baking powder or baking soda, do not work. Bug spray etc. shows only short-term success, however, since only the visible individuals are killed. The population living in the hidden nest, on the other hand, cannot be reached by sprays and can compensate for the decimation within a short time.How does the pest control work?
Professional pest controllers face the same problems with effective action against the pharaoh ant, of course, as it has already been written for you as a layman. Therefore, the professionals take a different approach here and rely on contact poisons that are brought to the animals in the form of food bait. The difficulty for the experts is to design the feeding baits in such a way that they appear more attractive to the ants than the food that is already available.
What do pharaoh ants eat?
In order to be able to understand how bait can be made attractive for the pharaoh ants, the first thing that matters is what the animals actually feed on. Overall, the preferred nutrients can be divided into two basic categories:
1. Proteins / egg whites
- meat
- Meat products, e.g. B. sausage
- Dairy products (quark, yoghurt, cheese)
- other dead insects present (e.g. B. existing pest infestation)
2. carbohydrates, especially in combination or as high sugar products
- Pasta
- Pastries
- Sweets
- Flour, lentils, potatoes, sugar etc.
Note: Experiments and observations have shown that the pharaoh ant generally prefers proteins to carbohydrates. However, the races also tend to supplement their diet with the other group.
So that the animals really accept the bait offered and transport the poisoned food to their nest, where they can find theirs Can have an effect on the entire colony including the offspring-producing queens, the pest control measures proceed as follows before: You identify the already existing food sources and create baits that target the other nutrient group serve. The infestation in butcher shops or bakeries can be cited as a striking example: In the butcher's shop, there are mainly proteins, so the bait is filled with sweet carbohydrates. In the bakery, these are in abundance anyway, so the protein-based baits work.
Order as a home remedy
In your own four walls, the food supply is of course never as one-sided as in the examples given. This is where you come into play as a resident who is able to create the best possible working conditions for the professionals:
Eliminate as many food sources as possible so that the ants find fewer, but above all more one-sided, food sources. Reduce the number of open foods as much as possible.
TIP: Since the complete isolation of carbohydrate-containing foods is hardly possible or only possible with extreme effort in the average household, concentrate on protein-containing foods. Then the professionals can use targeted protein bait to target the infestation.
