It’s summertime, which means you’re probably seeing plenty of ants around your home. Getting rid of ants can be a difficult task because these insects have a stubborn way about them. Many products that you buy in the stores work directly on the ants to kill them, but you’ll have new ants at your doorstep the next day. This is why it’s important to adopt a plan that not only kills the ants on contact but also erases trails and wipes down new colonies.
With summer upon us, we’d like to offer the following tips for getting rid of
Tip 1 – Identify the Ants Properly
Many ants look the same, but you can learn a lot about the ones in your home if you find out what species it is. Take a close-up photo of the ant and email it to a local university, a local exterminator or do your own research online. When you identify the type of ants in your home, you can learn more about where they nest and how to get rid of them.
Incorrectly identifying ants is a big problem for homeowners trying to solve the problem themselves. If you are not sure what type of ants you have, call us today for an inspection to ensure a correct identification.
Tip 2 – Keep the Home Clean
Your best defense against ants and other pests is simple: keep your home clean. Sweep up food crumbs, wipe up spills, wash dirty dishes and have trash securely wrapped in garbage bags. This can be difficult when you have a full house of kids on your hands, so consider purchasing a small dustbuster that can get crumbs and spills off the floor throughout the day. If you have pets, spray a mixture of vinegar and water (three parts water, one part vinegar) around the food bowls to keep ants away without disrupting Fido’s schedule.
Tip 3 – Erase Ant Trails
You never see just one ant. Where there is one, there is a hundred more. This happens because ants leave a scent trail for other ants to follow, so even if you eradicate the ants you see on the floor, others will follow shortly after. Unfortunately, cleaning the floors isn’t enough to erase this scent. Instead, mix vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spray where you’ve seen ants. This should prevent them from continuing to look for food in your home and erase scent trails.
Tip 4 – Eradicate Ant Colonies
Unfortunately, using a vinegar and water solution isn’t enough to eradicate ants that are already living in your home. You will need a more powerful bait solution to take care of this problem. Interestingly, the ants you see crawling around initially are scent ants that are sent to scope out the area. Instead of killing these ants, learn from them so that you can wipe out the colony. Ants prefer fatty and oily foods in the summer, so purchase ant traps that are geared to this taste. Set out the bait trap and wait. You will see more ants at first, but don’t worry. This means more of the ants will eat the bait and share it with the colony. Ants have various taste preferences, so you may find that liquid bait works better one time, while solid bait works best another time.
Tip 5 – Spray Entry Points to the Home
Once you’ve been effective at using bait, you need to take proactive steps to make sure ants don’t return. Spray insecticides around doors and windows, and make sure that there are no gaps or cracks that lead into your home. These can be easily sealed up with caulk. It’s best to use insecticide sprays that contain permethrin or bifenthrin after you have used bait traps since they can interfere with them, and insecticides will not kill ants already in the home. You may also spray a barrier product around the perimeter of the home; look for products that say “barrier treatment” on the label.
Extra Tip – Call a Professional!
At the beginning of this article we promised 5 tips for getting rid of ants…but now we’ll offer you one free bonus tip!
Sometimes, ant problems get out of hand, especially when dealing with fire ants that are more resilient to traditional insecticides. In fact, many homeowners call us after unsuccessfully trying to get rid of ants on their own.
If this is the case, call our team of professionals exterminator at Dugas Pest Control in Baton Rouge, Louisiana if you want a solution that will erase an ant problem for good!