How to Kill Farrow Ants
Farrow ants, also known as "pharaoh ants," are common pests, forming colonies that can contain up to 300,000 workers and queens. These tiny ants feed on a variety of foods and fabrics. They can spread disease, if not controlled. You can kill farrow ants with baits. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Know how to identify farrow ants. They are tiny, only about 1/16-inch long. Their bodies are light yellow to red, with darker markings on the abdomen, and a narrow waist. Instead of a straight back, their midsection is segmented.
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Inspect your house or building to find where the ants are entering. Look for ant trails, which indicate where the colonies reside.
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Choose a bait. Your choice of bait depends on what the ants are feeding on. Farrow ants thrive on proteins, carbohydrates or fats.
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Use only one type of bait at a time to determine whether your bait is killing the ants. Remove all other food sources.
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Purchase a slow-acting bait such as boric acid mixed with mint apple jelly (Drax), hydramethylnon (Maxforce), methoprene (Pharorid), bendiocarb (Ficam), propoxur (Baygon) or sulfluramid (Pro-Control).
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Place the bait where the ants are foraging and along the ant trails. Likely places are inside cabinets and along baseboards, edges of windowsills and door jambs. The foraging ants will take the poison back to other ants in the colony.
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Tips & Warnings
Even if the ants appear to be gone, continue placing bait for several months to assure you have eliminated all the colonies.
Don't spray or dust the ants. This can cause the colony to scatter and form new colonies, which may mean even more ants. Don't use fast-acting insecticides. They kill only the foraging ants, not the hundreds of others, including the queen, in the colonies. Place the bait out of reach of children and pets.
