Bye-Bye To Annoying Ants
Summer is almost over. You’ve just gotten back from your last family vacation before the kids go back to school. You open the door to the kitchen and you’re not alone! There’s an army of ants making a trail across your kitchen floor. The horror! Where did they come from? Do you have an ant infestation to take care of in addition to all the back-to-school preparations that await you?
Before you burst into tears or start fuming in anger, take a deep breath and read on. We have some tips that will get you back to an ant-free kitchen fast and efficiently.
The first thing to do is figure out exactly where the ants are coming from. Your first instinct is to simply sweep or vacuum them up, but they’ll come right back if you don’t discover what’s causing them to come inside in the first place.
Play detective. Instead of sweeping away ants immediately, you need to get to the bottom of what’s attracting them. Whether it’s a drip of honey down the side of a jar or a stray spoon in your sink, there’s always a source. Clean up whatever has attracted your new tenants (although there are probably more than ten!), and they just might move out on their own. Read the full post on MSN…
Once you’ve found the source and cleaned it up or sealed it properly, there’s a high chance the ants will disappear on their own and look for food elsewhere.
Another weapon to use against the ants is a common household liquid you probably already have. You guessed it! Good old vinegar.
Wipe down your countertops, cupboards and any other places where you’ve spotted ants with a 50-50 mixture of white vinegar and water. Repeat the process throughout the day to maintain the efficacy. In addition to repelling ants, vinegar is a great all-purpose cleaner. Why This Works: Two reasons, really: ants hate the smell of vinegar, and it removes the scent trails that they use to get around. Observe ants for a little while, and you’ll see that they all follow the same path in and out of your house. If you eliminate their scent trails, it will give you a serious leg up in the battle. Read full post at The Spruce…
Take a little time throughout the day wiping down surfaces with your vinegar-water mix. You’ll not only have a sparkling clean kitchen, but you’ll also have a pest-free one! Another mixture you can use is peppermint-water or lavender-water because ants hate these scents. You’ll have a fresh or laundry scented kitchen with no ants!
If the previous suggestions haven’t eliminated the ants, there’s a stronger option. If you have pets and their litter or food has attracted ants, then using bait stations containing pesticide is probably your best bet.
You can buy slow-acting pesticide for ants in bait stations enclosed in plastic, a handy, mess-free solution. But gel formulations, which come in squeezable or syringe-type tubes, are even more effective, according to Michael Potter, a University of Kentucky entomologist who is often called in to advise pest-control companies. “Oftentimes the squeezable gel formulations are more versatile in that you can put out lots of small dabs of bait wherever ants are trailing (along cracks, edges, both horizontal and vertical surfaces, etc.),” Potter wrote in an email. Read full post at Washington Post…
Most of these bait stations or gel baits can be found in your local supermarket or pharmacy. Make sure you use them as directed and don’t be alarmed when the ants increase at first. They are being attracted by the gels and bait stations. Once they eat the bait and go back to their nests, they’ll die, get eaten by other ants, and soon your ant problem will be over.
Since spring and summer are peak seasons for ants, you may benefit from the treatment and prevention programs we offer at Backyard Bug Patrol. Call us today!