What should you know about Ants?
Due to their sheer numbers ants can become a major nuisance if they invade your home. It's estimated there are over 14 thousand species and 1 quadrillion ants in the world. Ant colonies can number up to 1 million insects.
Appearance
Across the world, there are numerous types of ant, each with their own characteristic appearance. Here in the UK, there are four main species of ant. The Garden Ant is dark brown/black in colour and about 4-5 mm long. The Pharoah's Ant is yellow-brown and 1.5-2mm long. The Roger's Ant is reddish brown and 2mm long whilst the Ghost Ant has a pale, translucent appearance and is 1.6mm in length.
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Garden ant
4-5 mm
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Pharoah’s ant
1.5-2 mm
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Roger’s ant
2 mm
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Ghost ant
1.6 mm
Feeding habits
Ants are generally foragers which means they hunt for food wherever they can find it. Ants such as the ghost ant and garden ant prefer sweet food and substances. The pharoah's ant loves high protein food and will feast on things like meat, blood and dead insects.
Ant colonies consist of 
workers soldiers drones a queen.
It's the workers who go out and search for food then bring it back to the nest. They often leave trails in and around food so it's easier for themselves and their fellow worker ants to find again.
Causes of infestation
Ants can be found absolutely everywhere. Inside and outside your home there can be tens of thousands of ants in nests. They are naturally drawn to food left lying around and will quickly find it any way they can. If there's sweet food especially, such as sugar or things like breadcrumbs, they will travel from a hive outside your home to collect the food inside your home.
Cracks and crevices in walls and floors can be perfect homes for the ants. Rotting wood in the garden or cracks in your driveway will often be teeming with ant movement. Warm surroundings in general are also where ants love to build their nests. They will often build huge colonies near to a regular food source.
Colonies of pharoah's ants, for instance can number
from a few dozen of ants to around
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How to detect them?
Ants can generally be detected quite easily. It can be as easy as regularly seeing one or two ants around your home to know you've got a problem. They don't hide during daytime hours and don't shy away from humans either. Ants often bury themselves underground. So if you see small mounds of dirt in your garden, or what looks like mounds of dirt in walls and crevices, you may have an ant infestation you need to deal with. Ants, such as the pharoah's ant also leave trails of pheromone which, apart from giving off a smell, can be seen under ultraviolet light. Put simply, the more ants you spot in your home, the more likely your property is infested.
Health effects
In entering homes and looking for food, ants can carry all kinds of unwanted detritus from outside. They're not regarded as a significant health risk as much as some other household pests. However, in addition to being a nuisance, they can cause damage to cables and wires. Although relatively small, their strong teeth allow ants to sever cables which in turn can be a fire risk.
What to do in case of infestation
- 1
The simplest way to combat an ant infestation is to remove any food source.
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Make sure all loose food is in sealed containers and securely locked away. Ants are intelligent, crafty creatures who will find ingenious ways to access food in your home.
- 3
Block any points of access to your home.
- 4
Pouring boiling water on a nest in your garden can limit the growth of the nest there.
- 5
Calling in professional ant pest control is also advisable as effective ant treatment.
