Ant Fact Sheet

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Infestation Identification:

There are approximately 10,000 species of ants in the UK, the two most common are:

Black Garden Ants are up to 5mm long, the queen is up to 15mm long, they are black or dark brown in colour.  Their bodies are segmented with a smaller abdomen and 6 legs.

Pharaoh’s Ants workers are 1.5mm to 2mm long, yellowish brown with brown abdomens. The queens are between 3.5mm to 6mm long, dark red in colour and 6 Legs.

 

Common Names:

Lasius Niger (Black Garden Ant)

Monomorium Pharaonis (Pharaoh’s Ant)

 

Diet:

Ants are mostly attracted to sweet foods and drinks, such as; fizzy drinks, fruit juice, pet food, fruits and food containing sugar.

Black Garden Ant also feed on aphids for their honeydew.

 

Habitat:

Due to their very small sizes and climbing abilities, ants can be found nesting in any crack and crevice in the garden and home. Areas to check are; kitchens, living rooms, around window and door frames, between paving slabs and bricks, soil. Pharaoh’s Ants can only live indoors in the UK due to the weather.

 

Prevention:

To help prevent ants from entering your property is very difficult, however we recommend regular checks of your property, looking for any small cracks in external walls and gaps under window seals and doors. If you discover any holes, we recommend sealing them to prevent nesting.

 

Life Cycle:

Ant colonies contain thousands of workers who collect food, keep the nest clean and look after the young, and a queen who produces up to 3500 eggs in her lifetime. Eggs hatch after 1 to 4 weeks when the worm-shaped larvae emerge, larvae grow rapidly over 3 to 4 weeks and molt several times as they grow. The next stage is pupa, which look like small adults, depending on the species and climate this stage takes 1 to 3 weeks. Ants can live for several years.

During warmer summer months, Black Garden Ant winged adults appear and swarm in large numbers, the flying ants mate and form new colonies.

 

General Information:

Ants can climb on or up almost any surface looking for a food source, when they do, they leave a pheromone trail, guiding other ants to the food. One ant nest can contain between a few dozen to 300,000 ants, each ant has the ability to lift 20 times with body weight.

 

Treatments:

There are amateur ant products which are available to buy, however if these do no eradicate the infestation, we recommend using professional pest control services. Locating the ant nest is vital to successful treatments. Nests are treated using a contact powder, which is inserted into the nest or their access point of the property. The powder will coat the ants when they enter the nest, they will spread this powder throughout the nest and kill the entire nest. The process usually takes up to 4 days to fully eradicate a nest. Nests do not need to be removed because they will not cause any problems to your property, they are usually found in wall cavities and places where they are inaccessible.

 

 

Quick Facts:

• There are approximately 10,000 species of ants in the UK.

• Ants have the ability to lift 20 times with body weight.

• Larvae grow rapidly over 3 to 4 weeks and molt several times as they grow.

• Ants can live for several years.

• Ants are mostly attracted to sweet foods and drinks.

• Queens can grow up to 15mm.

• Nests do not need to be removed.

• There are approximately 10,000 species of ants in the UK.

• A queen can produce up to 3500 eggs in her lifetime.

• Ants can climb on or up almost any surface.