Almost everyone enjoys the change of seasons that spring and summer bring. We may engage in more outdoor activities when the weather warms up, and everything naturally begins to become green once more. This great time of year has one significant drawback: the return of the bugs, which leads to new pest control issues. The ant is one of the more problematic and bothersome typical household pests in the south. These creatures start making their mounds and looking for food in the late spring and early summer, and if we’re not careful, they might even start living inside our houses.
You may have an ant-free home by just following these simple suggestions. Fortunately, there are several quick and simple ways to keep ants out of your home.
Pay Attention to Scout Ants
Scout ants are one of the first indications that ants are entering your home. Finding food sources for the colony is the sole responsibility of these rogue ants, who take the title of “scout” very seriously. If you see one of these ants rummaging around in your kitchen or other living spaces, it’s a sure sign that more ants may be on the way. Scout ants are a clear indication that you need to follow the other measures in this article if you come into touch with them.
Maintain Clean Surfaces Throughout Your Home
What is the one thing that every species needs to survive? , of course, food! Even though you and your family must eat, you shouldn’t leave traces of your meals lying around the house because ants are specifically hunting for this kind of thing! The main thing you can do to keep ants out of your house is to keep it clean. You should also make sure that any food waste is cleaned up and kept in airtight containers.
Dishwasher Cleanup: After a filling meal, the last thing we want to do is get up and start cleaning, but that’s exactly what needs to be done! In the event that leftover food and unclean dishes are not promptly cleaned up, they may attract ants immediately and turn into an ant buffet.
Regularly sweep and vacuum the floor to get rid of any stray food crumbs that would otherwise go missed. In order to stop those scout ants from discovering a food supply, it is crucial to keep your flooring clean in places where food is consumed.
Wipe Down Common Surfaces: Ants are drawn to sweet/sticky substances left behind by spills in and around our homes, in addition to food. To prevent ants from being attracted by spillage, wipe off counters, workbenches, and other surfaces using cleaning supplies or vinegar/water.
Keep Food in Airtight Containers
It’s crucial to store food (for people and pets) in closed, airtight containers because they tend to attract the majority of common household pests. By preventing ants from accessing food supplies, you can keep other pests out of your home who could be hunting for food sources at the same time.
Seal Off Your Home’s Cracks and Doors
After removing all food sources and blocking their access, you should start working on preventing ants from entering your house. Take on the role of your own scout and look for probable ant entrances in and around your house. Many of the visible entryways used by ants can be stopped by caulking cracks around windows, doors, and the home’s foundation. It’s advisable to keep an eye on them and reapply as necessary because these sealants will deteriorate with time and exposure to the environment.
Get rid of ant trails
To stop ants from entering your home again if you already have an ant problem, you must figure out where they are coming from and remove their paths. The ants will be dispersed and forced to take a different route to their food supply by a straightforward application of a vinegar/water mixture along the length of the ant trail.
Where one smell trail is found, there are often more nearby since ants create scent trails for other ants to follow. It’s crucial to keep an eye out for ant trails that branch off to other areas of your house while you’re spraying them down and to spray those areas as well.
Install Ant Baits Near Active Areas
It’s a good idea to start putting bait traps in the areas where you’ve noticed scout ants if you’ve been spotting them around your house. You can choose not to instantly kill the scouts. Although these baits might momentarily increase the number of ants in your home, their toxic baits will be brought back to the colony and can assist to eradicate the entire colony, not just the few ants that manage to get inside.
Ant colony management around your property
You will undoubtedly discover a colony (or several colonies) nearby if you have ants in your home. You must work to manage ants in your yard in addition to controlling them inside your home. Here where we are, there are more ants than anywhere else in the continental USA. So it may make sense that we feel we know our way around an ant hill, so to speak. Pest control in Melbourne, FL is actually our job. Feel free to check us out.
Apply exterminating products to the colony and the region immediately surrounding the colony as soon as you observe mounds forming around your property. Correctly eliminating these colonies will wipe out the entire colony and stop it from dispersing and establishing a new home somewhere else.
Inspect your home and apply an ant barrier
An effective ant barrier (insecticide) treatment around the perimeter of your home’s foundation will aid in deterring scouts and preventing ants from entering your home in quest of food. It is preferable to leave this to professional pest control firms because they have products that are more effective than those that can be purchased commercially, even though there are products available from neighborhood hardware stores that can aid.
