Your best defense against ants is to keep your home thoroughly clean. Merry Maids® can help!
Keeping food out of reach, cleaning up every day and being neat is a great way to prevent ants from invading, but it's not always a sure way of keeping them out. Only a pest control company can do that.
Ants usually come indoors in search of food or nesting habitat. Even small amounts of food, like pet food crumbs, can attract hordes of industrious ants. Ants are one of Earth's most successful animals, and comprise more than 13,000 species.
Moisture: Ants require a water source to survive and can even store water for later within their colonies, so they will return to the same home again and again if there is moisture available.
Spray Tea Tree Oil
Like peppermint essential oil, ants can't stand the smell of tea tree oil and try to avoid it at all costs. Use the same peppermint oil spray bottle method or soak cotton balls in tea tree oil and place them at every entry point.
Peppermint is a natural insect repellant. You can plant mint around your home or use the essential oil of peppermint as a natural remedy for control of ants. Ants hate the smell, and your home will smell minty fresh!
An ant invasion is annoying, but it can also be dangerous to your health and your home, depending on the type of ant you're dealing with. And as with any pest problem, you definitely shouldn't ignore it and just hope it goes away.
It takes vigilance and a combination of treatments using both home and perimeter insect control, but an ant problem can typically be resolved within a week or two. Follow-up prevention is key to ensure that they do not return.
If the ant hills are found near the building or against walls, it is a cause for concern. If you notice ants both inside and outside, you should contact a professional to take care of the situation. Contact Preventive Pest Control Today!
Everyone gets the occasional ant in their house — it's only natural! Insects can sneak in through open doors or windows, so you're never going to prevent bugs enitrely. A sudden ant invasion, though, doesn't just happen randomly.
In most cases, it's the presence of food and water that brings ants inside. This applies in the bedroom just as much as it does in the kitchen. Clean your entire home thoroughly, washing your bedding and any dirty clothes in the room, then vacuuming thoroughly to remove food debris from the carpet.
Always remember that Vinegar is not a permanent solution to remove an ant infestation. It is reasonable to spread the solution thrice a week over the affected areas to remove ants slowly.
If piles of dirty laundry include any moisture, perfumes, or food stains, they can become overrun with ants looking to set up shop. Infant and baby clothing, in particular, can attract ants because of the smells of many infant detergents and the number of food particles on these clothes.
It is advised not to squash ants, doing so will only release pheromones and trigger more ants to come to the location and cause more trouble to you and your family. Ants are known to pack a deadly bite that causes excruciating pain for a short time.
Ants are among the most resilient creatures on Earth and exterminating them is very difficult. A regular pest-control maintenance plan is the best way to control them.
Natural deterrents.
Salt, baby powder, lemon juice, chalk, vinegar, bay leaves, cinnamon, or peppermint oil are a few items that you have around your home that will stop ants from coming inside. Lay these out in areas where you see ants, and they'll stop using that area as an entrance into your house.
If they are not causing any problems, you can leave them alone. Prevent ants from coming indoors by removing attractive food sources. Exclude them by sealing entryways with caulk. Keep ant populations in the garden down by eliminating food sources such as garbage, rotting fruit and insect honeydew.
You're Leaving Out Food
They are often looking for easy food sources, which is why infestations are extremely common in kitchens and places where leftover food resides. This is one of the main causes of ant infestations, but luckily, it's also one of the easiest to remedy!
Try pouring a line of cream of tartar, red chili powder, paprika, or dried peppermint at the place where you think ants might be entering the house; they won't cross it.
Windex, the glass cleaner, is a known insect killer. When you have an ant swarm in your house, spray them all with Windex and they will die nearly instantly. Windex can also eliminate some of the scent trails that ants follow to find food.
Salt-boil salt and water into a mixture and once cooled, pour into a spray bottle and spray nooks and corners. Oranges-half fresh orange juice and half water sprayed around your home will keep the pests out and keep your home smelling nicely. Essential Oils-used like lemon or orange juices.