A majority of ant species present inside people’s homes don’t do any real damage. However, it can get really annoying when ants start roaming around inside the house, and that annoyance can quickly turn into a nuisance. Moreover, ants in the kitchen can also spread several unwanted bacteria. Even though they are small in size, these pests can become a big inconvenience when you are trying to make food. If you are seeing pests, give All Solutions Pest Control a call today!
Here are five beneficial ways by which you can successfully keep ants out of your kitchen:
- Identify ant trails – Ants that roam around in people’s kitchens are mostly pavement or pharaoh ants. Identifying the trails used by worker ants is the first step in eliminating an ant infestation. Ants roaming around your kitchen are trying to locate food, and once they find it, they return to their nest with it. The fellow worker ants then follow the chemical trail left by that ant and collect more food.
- Place baits for ants – Simply spraying pesticides on the visible ants moving along their trails might seem like a tempting idea. However, it won’t really be effective. Spraying pesticides might kill some of the visible ants. However, more ants will quickly replace them. A good way to permanently eliminate the ants is by placing ant baits and using the worker ants as a ticket into their hidden nest. Ant baits could be any edible material (sugary, sweet carbohydrates) combined with substances that have minimal toxicity to animals and humans but are toxic to ants. Some varieties of ant baits contain boric acid since it’s toxic to ants but completely non-toxic to humans and animals. Place the baits near the visible ant trails and keep the other surfaces clean to ensure that the ants are only attracted to the sweet bait.
- Be patient – Be patient as the worker ants do their work and take the pesticide bait back to their colony. However, eliminating the entire colony might take several days. If the colony has more than one queen or if the colony is very large, it might even take a few weeks to completely clear out the colony. Check if the bait stations are empty and fill them up regularly.
- Keep it clean – Maintaining proper sanitation is essential for the control and prevention of pest infestation. Just like humans, ants also require water, food, and shelter to survive. They leave their colonies in search of water and food. Don’t make this task easier for them by keeping your food in the open. Clean your kitchen regularly, sweep the floors, and keep the food items in airtight or sealed containers. Make sure that the trash can in your kitchen is covered. Dispose of the garbage regularly and clean out any residue if present. You also need to keep the space around the bait station clean. However, make sure not to clean their trail until the entire colony is eliminated since the ants will use these trails to go back to their nest. You can clean up the trail surface once the infestation has been eradicated.
- Seal entry points – Since ants are tiny creatures, they can easily enter your home through small crevices and cracks and roam into your kitchen in search of food. You can reduce their entry by sealing all wire, pipe, and cable entry points as well as doors, windows, and cracks in the floor. Check the foundation of your house regularly and try to find any such tiny tracks through which ants can enter your house.
While these steps can definitely help keep the ants out of your kitchen, if you suspect a serious ant infestation, reach out to an ant control expert. At All Solutions Pest Control, we will look for ants in your house, identify their species, and completely exterminate them in a proper manner so that they don’t come back again. Call us at 636-486-7888 or contact us at [email protected] to know more about ant infestations.
