How to Manage Pests

Identifying characteristics

• Workers are all the same size, 1/16-inch long
• Yellow or honey-colored to orange
• Petiole with two nodes
• Thorax uneven in shape when viewed from side with no spines
• 12-segmented antennae with 3-segmented club

Behavior

• Feed on both living and dead insects
• Inside, feed on sweets, fats, and proteins
• Travel in set trails along carpets, countertops, cabinets, floors, and baseboards
• Found in places with moisture
• May use electrical wires and plumbing pipes to travel from room to room
• Colonies very mobile; workers, along with larvae, pupae, and even a few queens, may move to new locations if disturbed or if colony becomes too large

Nest type and size

• Nest in household structures such as wall and cabinet voids, behind baseboards, behind refrigerator insulation, inside hollow curtain rods, or in the folds of sheets, clothes, or paper
• Outdoors nest in debris or cracks and crevices
• Colonies with up to 300,000 workers with multiple queens

See also, pharaoh ant quick management tips.