However, their abdomen is often much darker than the rest of the body. They are paler in color than many other invasive species – typically golden yellow to reddish brown. Pharaoh ants are tiny – think 1/12 to 1/16 inches long. How can you be sure that the ants infesting your yard or house are of the pharaoh variety? They are often mistaken for the Argentine ant. They can even infest maternity incubators and like to feed on the skin of burn victims! Identification They are particularly dirty and will crawl from the rims of toilet boils and inside drains back up to hospital food. Unlike most other species, they don’t need soil to live in, so they live readily in buildings in wall voids, electrical sockets, and even between sheets of linen. Their infestations are critical problems in both European and American hospitals. With their tiny size, it is virtually impossible to keep them out of hospitals. Regrettably, it is still a problem today. This issue was first brought to light in a 1972 article in the prestigious medical journal the Lancet, which described the ability of the species to carry pathogens. Since they have been found to harbor more than a dozen different human pathogens, including Salmonella, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, this is not a trivial matter. They are so aggressive in their quest for water that they have been found drinking from the mouths of infants in hospitals or even from IV bags in use. The ability of pharaoh ants to live inside extends from houses, apartments, and office buildings to hospitals and nursing homes. These factors make them such effective colonizers that the Texas Invasive Species Institute described their ability “to quickly invade and conquer new areas.” How They Spread Pathogens in Hospitals And the spread of colonies within a building makes it even more difficult to kill all of them simultaneously.

In addition, they frequently survive conventional treatments to kill them. If you disturb them, they can just move their colony to another place. Workers can develop one, and this makes it even easier for groups to separate and start new colonies.Īnd unlike other ant species, which typically fight to the death when in adjoining colonies, pharaoh ants tend to get along with each other. They don’t even need a queen to start with. , people have become so frustrated by infestations that they have considered selling their homes! Photo via Hashim mahrin /. According to a University of Florida publication by J.C. One of the main reasons that they can do this is the tendency of their colonies to spread by “budding.” What this means is that groups in one colony can just split off and start a whole new colony without having to swarm and start over. Pharaoh ants are very efficient at colonizing new territory and driving out the native species.