Sunday, April 28, 2024

How to Get Rid of Ants, According to Pest Control Experts

how to get rid of house ants

You can also tap on areas of suspected nests to listen for hollow sounds of damaged wood. DIY methods rarely work because ants mostly live in protected spaces (such as underground or in walls). You might kill a few worker ants, but probably won’t harm the colony. If your ant problem has got out of hand, contact a pest control professional rather than attempting to deploy a bug bomb or similar insect spray yourself. Ants usually come indoors in search of food or nesting habitat.

Sugar

Fill all cracks with caulk, secure any loose baseboards, and patch any drywall holes. It's also important to walk around your home's exterior and examine the foundation for holes, cracks, or other potential entry points for ants and other pests. An ant bed or hill in the yard is a danger to anybody who steps on it—and an eyesore if you're a perfectionist about your lawn. It's important to get rid of outdoor ant beds if you have little kids or if the ants keep making their way inside. There is some evidence that the pharaoh ant can cause bronchial asthma and respiratory allergies. Ants are often drawn to a person’s home because they can detect easily accessible sources of food there.

Step Three: Create an Outdoor Border

To make sure ants don’t return, you must take preventative measures to support the effectiveness of your selected treatment methods. Though small individually, an invasion of ants can cause all kinds of household problems. They can contaminate food and spread diseases, and some biting and stinging ants produce allergic reactions in humans and pets. Further, some species of ants can cause structural damage and chew through household wiring.

Step Two: Wipe the Area With a Vinegar Solution

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According to Spicer, Saigon cinnamon can be especially effective when sprinkled around anthills, across their paths, on kitchen countertops and along floorboards. And cinnamon essential oil can effectively repel and exterminate ants, too. Ant traps and poison are a tried and true method when it comes to eliminating pests, but James warns that pesticides are very bad for the environment. Additionally, ant poison can be dangerous for pets and young children, so be careful when applying these chemicals in your home. To get rid of carpenter ants, resolve the problem that is causing the damp wood they love. Repair leaks, direct water away from the foundation of the house, and add circulating fans to dry the area as quickly as possible.

Bait stakes are an excellent defense against outdoor infestations. Placed directly into the soil, bait stakes zero in on ants you can see and those you can’t. Fast-acting TERRO Outdoor Liquid Ant Bait Stakes attract ants straight to the bait’s sugary liquid. Whether you decide to DIY with a natural home remedy or commercial product or call in a professional exterminator for help, read on to learn about the best ways to kill ants. A 2017 study found that clove oil was 88% effective at repelling carpenter ants.

insect traps

how to get rid of house ants

Insert the gel into cracks and crevices where it will be eaten by workers and later shared with the rest of the colony. Plus, these tips will help you to keep all pests away from your home. Scatter all-purpose flour liberally at door thresholds, on window sills and across foundations.

Keep Pet Food Away

Sometimes it takes many types of ant control to truly get ant populations under control. If you follow these guidelines, and keep up with preventative measures, you should be able to keep ants at bay. However, if the ant infestation gets worse, be sure to call a professional.

We spoke to a couple of ant experts to get some insight on eradicating ant infestations. Here's how to identify what type of ant you're dealing with and how to keep ants out of your house and garden. While little black ants don’t pose a threat to our health, they can be a nuisance and contaminate food.

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Make a homemade ant killer with Borax

If you are lucky, the ants will move out on their own once you remove the source of attraction. Ants are also a common household pest that are drawn to food. While each is typically half the size of a paper clip, a large infestation of ants, called an army or colony, can be an unsightly nuisance.

That said, certain items may not be safe to use around pets or children. Essential oils like peppermint, tea tree, citronella, lavender, or eucalyptus all have very strong scents and can act in much the same way that cinnamon does to disrupt pheromone trails. No matter how hard we try, sometimes we can't avoid pesky ants making their way into our homes.

Therefore, one of the best ways to deter ants is to ensure that no food sources are readily available for them to eat. Try sprinkling the freshly brewed coffee grounds on disposable surfaces (such as index cards) and leaving them in areas where ants congregate, such as pet bowls. It’s best to use neem oil around plants, especially where you see aphids or ants. Ants farm aphids (small sap-sucking insects), so poisoning the aphids with neem oil can take care of both types of pests. The boiling water won’t be enough to kill off the entire colony. For this reason, make sure to treat every ant hole you see within your home’s proximity.

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