How to Get Rid of Ants

Once ants have started to move in and make a home of your home, it can be difficult to encourage them to leave. Just when you think they are all gone you find another whole colony going crazy over a chocolate wrapper your child left under the sofa. Even if you do completely eliminate every one from your house, it seems almost impossible to keep them out permanently and you can feel like you are fighting a losing ant control battle. Ants may seem like useless insects, but they do have a role in the ecology of our environment. They are part of the food chain, they let oxygen into the soil and they also assist in breaking down organic matter. They will have ants in their colony or group who are sent to find food and water. When these hunters discover what they are looking for, they leave a scent trail so the gathering ants can find the way to the exact place. You may have been avoiding it, but it’s time to do a major spring clean in aid of ant control. You need to eliminate any existing odors or trails they have left around and any tiny drop of stickiness or oil that can attract an ant from miles away (so it seems!) You have to be pedantic. All those unseen spots you normally don’t worry about you have to clean now. You need to move furniture and electricals and make sure no surface goes untouched. It seems extreme, but if you are serious about knowing how to get rid of ants, this is the way. You have to invest in some airtight ant safe containers for all your bagged items that contain any sugar. This includes sugar itself, cakes, cookies and even savory snacks. When everything is clean and correctly stored, you should wipe down shelves, benches and doors as well as clean floors. A good ant control solution to use after washing is 1 cup vinegar to 2 quarts water to make sure there is no residue remaining. It may sound silly at first, but you should build a wall of sand in the pathways of the ants. If you try to block them out with something solid they will usually just file over or around it. With a pile of small grained sand or similar (talc, chili powder, turmeric, salt, etc.), it is much harder for them to get through, or so it seems, and they will often turn around and go back. This is an important step in the ant control process. If there are any ant’s nests or anthills anywhere, you need to go get them where they live. A great way you can do this is to locate their hills, and tip a few liters of boiling hot water down there. There are products on the market for this purpose, but often ants will just move away and not touch it. Boiling water is effective and does not cost anything. If they keep coming back, repeat it again and again and maybe increase the amount of water you use, as some nests go a long way underground. There are natural ant deterrents that are reported to work well. Plants they dislike are cloves, bay leaves, mint/peppermint and citruses. Ants leave a trail for other ants to smell and follow, so if you clean over with anything smelling like these deterrents (including vinegar), eliminate anything that could be attracting them and block them from getting in, it should prevent them from coming back.