The appearance in the apartment of small red ants can in no way please the permanent inhabitants of the dwelling. Insects that look quite harmless, in fact, bring serious trouble to the owners.
At the same time, they in no way wish to leave the chosen premises, leading all new generations of pests.
Appearance
Small red ants that can live in apartments or houses are called Pharaoh. They differ from forest and garden ones by a smaller body, the length of which does not exceed 1.8-2.2 mm. The covers have a light chestnut or orange monochromatic color. The abdomen is sometimes somewhat darker.
Working red ants are caught on the eyes most often, they are very small and wingless. The males are twice as large their body length reaches 3.3-3.6 mm, they always have transparent wings. Females (uterus) are the largest ants with a body length of up to 5.2 mm. They can be seen only by stirring the nest. There are wings of queens, which disappear after mating.
How to distinguish the home ant from the street?
If you do not look at the size of the body, apartment ants are easily confused with the forest. The latter are also painted orange, but the brownies are located across the abdomen of the brownies. In addition, if you look closely, you can notice differences in colors. Pharaohs an ant has the same tone on all segments of the body, while in street insects only the breast and the underside of the head are red. Top of the head and belly Painted in dark brown or black.
Photo uterus domestic red ants:
Lifestyle
These pests were first discovered during the excavation of the pyramids in Egypt, and therefore they are called Pharaoh's. They spread from Asia, in particular, from India and Pakistan. Very thermophilic parasites, not able to exist on the street, where they simply freeze. Therefore, ants and settle in houses and apartments, significantly hampering the life of residents.
Once in the right room, the ants begin to explore the space, looking for places for numerous nests. They prefer to live secretly. - under carpets and carpets, for plinths, under furniture or in genital gaps and openings. Discover their habitat is very difficult.
In food red ants perfectly unpretentious, any organic matter can be used. Because of this, parasites can exist almost everywhere.
Another significant disadvantage is the constant formation of new nests. This is what pests do all their time. Even if you find and destroy any one, the colony is almost not affected. Each new nest is closely connected with the main one, but at the same time it does not depend on it, feeding and developing absolutely independently.
ATTENTION! Literally in a matter of weeks, the anthill is actively spreading, covering all the premises.
The queen is usually found even in one nest, their life span is very significant - about 4.5 years. During this time they manage to produce several generations of pests.
In order to completely exterminate the entire population of pharaoh ants in an apartment, it will be necessary to combine several means at once, while processing the entire occupied area. Redhead domestic ants are considered the most difficult to remove parasites. Fighting them takes a lot of time and requires a lot of effort.
What harm do they bring?
Despite the fact that these parasites do not bite at all and do not come into any other contact with people, they cause considerable damage!
- food spoilage. Small sizes allow pests to penetrate almost everywhere. Ants can be found in cereals, sugar, bread and any other edible products. Even if they ate a little, no one wants to use the food that the insects have visited;
- active pollution of the premises. Leftovers, insect corpses, their excrement and other waste products of pests accumulate near the nests. Such "trash cans" are in hidden places, so people are rarely found. Due to this, they gradually begin to rot, attracting pathogenic fungi and bacteria, as well as the larvae of other domestic parasites;
- pharaoh ants can spread a whole bunch of diseases - from ascariasis to bubonic plague.
Where do the red ants come from in the apartment?
The reasons for the appearance of red ants in the apartment a lot. Insects are attracted by delicious smells and warmth, so they look for any crevices to get inside the house. So may wander not only house specimens, but also street for example red small ants. However, unlike Pharaohs, only individual specimens can appear in the apartment, and they will not stay long.
Small red domestic ants can appear in the apartment, enter the open door, get along with clothes or on shoes.
Red ants do not appear by chance. Most often, when it is impossible to live in an old place, for example, if there is a shortage of food or too high a population of a colony, the parasites begin to look for a new place of residence. They can crawl into the house from the neighboring apartments, from the basements, entrances or the rooms adjacent to the house. In the rarest of cases, individuals arrive on the clothes of the owners or objects.
About home red ants we can say that size does not matter! Tiny insects easily withstand war with large intelligent people, causing them a lot of trouble.
A photo
Next you will see a photo of red ants:
