You’re at home cooking dinner when you see a stray ant wandering across your counter. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you find a trail of them racing through your kitchen. Sometimes it feels impossible to keep ants out of your house, especially during certain times of the year or if you live in an area prone to bugs. Luckily, it’s not too hard to get rid of these ants from your kitchen once and for all. Pest control professionals from Pestworks in Sydney share how to effectively get rid of ants in your kitchen so you can reclaim your peace of mind.
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1. Let The Ants Do Their Work
It might sound counterproductive when you are trying to get rid of these pesky ants from your kitchen cupboards, to let them continue with their work. Strangely enough, this is the key to keeping them out for good. Anyone who has ever tried to dispose of this happily marching army of ants across their kitchen counter knows this won’t stop them from returning. You’ll need to destroy the ant queen and the entire nest, and this is not always easy if you don’t know where they’re coming from. The queen ant doesn’t leave her nest, so spraying all these ants you can see in your home won’t stop them from coming back.
2. Follow The Trailing Ants
The very first step in being effective in stopping ants is to follow their trail and look for where they’re coming from. Ants can suddenly invade your kitchen in search of food and water leaving behind a trail of scent so all the other ants can follow to the same source of food. Look for any areas of your home that might be letting in ants. There might be a gap in your window or a tiny crack in the wall that enables ants to enter. If you can find all these little cracks, gaps and crevices have them sealed permanently.
3. Avoid Spraying the Ants
It’s tempting to spray all the ants you see to kill them on the spot. While this might work short term, it doesn’t actually solve the problem. Spraying is a really ineffective way to remove ants from your kitchen. Pest control professionals don’t recommend doing it. Instead, in order to avoid having more ants coming into your home, you will need to find a way to get rid of the queen ant. You do this by setting out the appropriate bait and then sealing all the ants entry points.
The only time you should use sprays on ants is when the ant’s nests are located. They are usually found outside, often below the ground. If you find a trail that leads you to an outdoor nest, you can saturate it with an insecticide spray. Always follow the instructions to make sure you effectively eliminate all the ants and the queen.
4. Use an Effective Ant Bait
Because you shouldn’t just kill the ants you see, you need to use the right kind of ant bait. You can use ant bait stations along the trail to destroy the nest of ants. The worker ants you see in your home will take the bait back to the nest, likely killing the queen and stopping the stream of ants from growing any larger. Realize that this process takes time! Ants are small, and it will take them a while to bring a substantial amount of bait back to the nest. If the ant colony is large this could take even longer. Some ant species even have more than one queen. Check your bait stations periodically and refill if necessary.
It might not be pleasant, but avoid cleaning the area if you can. The ants have left their own scent and this is what they’ll follow to your ant bait. Without the trail, they’ll likely find an alternative route back into your kitchen.
5. Keep Your Home Clean
Once the bait has done its job, you should notice the ants have stopped coming into your kitchen. Now it’s time to clean your home. Ants are always looking for the basics of life like food and shelter. If you make it easy for them to find this in your home, that’s where they’ll go. Keep your home clean by always wiping counters after cooking and never leaving stray crumbs around your home. It’s also worth having a pest control specialist look around your home for points of entry. Even small cracks and crevices can let in pests and ants.
Finding ants in your kitchen is frustrating. No matter how clean you keep your kitchen and the rest of your home, sometimes ants will find a way in. As long as you consult the steps above, you should effectively rid your home of ants. When in doubt, contact a pest control professional who can make sure your home is free of pests and insects.