Having ants inside of your home can be a real pain to get rid of, and not everyone knows the best ways of how to get rid of ants. This how to article will help you asses your pest problems and give you a few solutions as to how to get rid of ants in your house.
Do You Have Ants In Your House?
The first thing that you should do before you decide how to get rid of ants is to make sure that you have ants in the first place, and not some other type of similar bug. Probably the most commonly mistaken bug for ants is the termite. Although similar to ants if you look very closely at the two pictures below you will notice the differences between the two of them and not make the mistake of trying to get rid of an ant problem when you really have a termite problem.
How To Get Rid Of Ants By Ant Proofing Your Home
The best way to get rid of ants is not to get them in your house to begin with. By ant proofing your home you greatly reduce the risk of a serious infestation down the road. Another great benefit of ant proofing your home is that it also helps to eliminate all those other pesky bugs that seem to find their way into your home as well.
Here are four simple steps that will help you asses your ant problem and determine how to get rid of ants that are crawling around your home.
1. How are the ants getting in your home? By taking a quick look around the inside and the outside of your home you should have a pretty good idea as to where they are coming in at. Often times it is a crack or small hole in your house and can be sealed up with either spray foam in a can or a tube of good quality exterior caulking.
2. Where is the ant nest located? Knowing this is will help you with figuring out the best way as to how to get rid of the ants. It is pretty easy to get rid of ants that have a nest outside, but if you determine that the nest is located somewhere within the walls of your house it makes them a lot more difficult to get rid of.
3. What kind of ants are they? Try to determine white kind of ants you have as soon as possible. This will be helpful once you star the removal process because some ants bite and can cause an allergic reaction in some individuals. So you don’t want to find out that you are allergic to the ants after you have been bitten several times.
4. What are the ants eating? This is probably the most important thing to find out. Knowing what the ants are eating in your home and eliminating it is probably the easiest way of how to get rid of ants.
How To Get Rid Of Ants In The Kitchen
Most people who are looking for how to get rid of ants are actually looking for how to get rid of ants in the kitchen because that is where most ants seem to show up. The reason for this is that the kitchen is the main source of food for all critters that just happen to be calling your house home. Here are few precautions that you can take that will help you to eliminate ants in the kitchen.
- Proper Food Storage - Always store your food in plastic containers with snap on lids, or glass jars that have rubber gaskets to seal them air tight. Never store food in open boxes or bags this is just inviting the ants into your kitchen.
- Keep Your Kitchen Clean - Keeping your kitchen clean on a regular basis will also eliminate any possible food sources for the ants. As simple as it seems just washing the counter tops off, sweeping the floor, and keeping items like your toaster crumbs cleaned out after each use is one of the best ways that I know of when it comes to how to get rid of ants in the kitchens.
- Use A Separate Container For Food Waste - Don’t throw your food scraps in the garbage. Instead use a separate container with a secure salable lid to store them. I use an empty coffee can with a plastic grocery bag that can be lifted out once full and then thrown away on garbage day with the rest of the trash, or if you happen to have a compost pile outside for your garden they can be added to it instead.
- Use A Trash Can With A Lid - By using a trash can with a tight fitting lid it will not only keep the ants out, but it will keep odors out of your house as well.
How To Get Rid Of Ants Naturally
There are several ways how to get rid of ants naturally that people have come up with over the years. Some of them sound a little weird, but might be worth a try if you want to stay away from poisons and pesticides. Here are a few of the ways that people have come up with to get rid of ants naturally.
- Baby Powder - You can use baby powder in front of the areas where the ants are coming into your home. They for some reason don’t like the baby powder sticking to their feet so they will avoid it. Chalk can also be substituted for baby powder.
- Cayenne Pepper - According to some people ants don’t like the smell of cayenne pepper and will stay clear of it. So just sprinkling a little of it around where your ant problem is might just be enough to get rid of your ant problem.
- Tea Tree Oil - Tea tree oil when mixed with water and vinegar makes a good cleaning solution that can be used to clean areas of the house where the ants seem to frequent.
- Cucumber Slices
- Bay Leaves (Crushed UP)
- Petroleum Jelly
- Eucalyptus oil
- Cinnamon
How To Get Rid Of Ants When All Else Fails
When all else fails and you can’t figure out how to get rid of ants naturally then it is time to call in a professional exterminator to get rid of your ant problem. When many people think of hiring an exterminator they think of someone coming into their house spraying ant poisons and insecticides, but things have changed in the last few years. Many insect and pest control companies now days have migrated to more natural people and pet friendly products and baits for ant control. Plus the pros have been trained in not only how to kill ants, but in getting rid of ants permanently as well.
I hope you found this article useful. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to get rid of ants in the house, and the steps that you need to take to keep them away.