Ridding Your Home of Insects

Ants Trying To Set Up Home In Your House? Ways To Send Them On Their Way Out

by Ted Miller

Ants are a nuisance and it is common for them to come into homes in the spring. It can be difficult to get rid of these pesky insects, but it can be done. Below are ways you can wage war against them, and have a home free from ants.

Pest Control Company

The quickest and easiest way to get rid of the ants is to call a local pest control company (such as Edmonton Exterminators Ltd). To be able to get rid of them completely, you have to find the nest, and this can be very difficult to do. The pest control company, however, can usually find it and eradicate the ants.

Ants can enter your home through even tiny cracks. Once in, they seek greasy or sweet food and water. Only a few ants may come out first seeking food. Once they find it, they leave behind a chemical that the other ants can smell. This leads them to the food source, and more and more will start coming in.

The nest could be somewhere in your home, or it could be outside in walls, behind cabinets, on your lawn, etc.  How large the colony size is depends on the type of ant you have. The numbers could add up to the hundreds of thousands, which is why it is difficult to get rid of them unless you find the colony.

Once the pest control company finds the colony, he or she will use chemicals to kill the ants in it. Because they may not find all the ants, the company will likely come back to your home on a regular basis for a while.

Natural Ways

If you want to save money, you can try some natural ways to remove the ants first. There are several ways you can do this including:

  • Baby powder: Sprinkle a line of baby powder on the edge of the floors where you see the ants coming into your home. They will likely not cross this barrier, as they cannot breathe well when they do.
  • Borax:  Make a borax and powdered sugar bait. The powdered sugar will draw them into the bait, and when they start eating it, the borax will kill them. In a bowl, add three parts powdered sugar to one part borax and mix. Put the mixture in bottle caps, small lid cans, such as from a baby food jar, etc. Set them in areas that you see the ants coming in.
  • Vinegar: Vinegar may not kill the ants, but they do not like the smell of it, and it may deter them. Vinegar also removes the chemical smell so other ants cannot find it. Spray the vinegar daily where you see the ants enter into your home.

It is best to start using these resources as soon as you start seeing ants in your home. The quicker you start taking action, the faster you will take care of this problem.

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