How to Get Rid of Ants in the House and Yard?

One of the biggest nuisances you can have on your property is ants. Once they find a food source in your home or on your lawn, they will try to make a permanent colony. If you have noticed ants trying to move into your home, there are a few tips for removing ants from the house and keeping them out. 

Remove the Nest

If the ants have created a nest inside your home, you need to remove it as soon as possible. The nest may not be obviously found, so you may have to look beneath the floor, staircases, and even in the basement. Carpenter ants, especially, will create a nest out of strong wood pieces, often those that are load-bearing. You will need to spray it with an insecticide meant for ants to kill them instantly so that you can safely remove the nest. 

If you have a nest outside your home, you will want to spray it with pesticide. Ants may nest on the exterior of your home between bricks or holes in the structure. You want to make sure that you are spraying the ants when they are active, and you can kill the majority at once. 

Bait and Catch

If you have noticed one or two ants in a certain area, know that a colony of maybe a hundred or more is nearby. These ants were scouting for food, so you capture them before they report back to the colony. Spraying sweet or protein-packed foods with a form of ant poison will capture and kill the scouts, preventing them from heading back to the colony and bringing more ants back. You will also need to clean the trail they were using to remove their scent. Other ants may come searching for the scouts anyway if they can smell which way they went. 

If you set out bait next to a colony, either inside or outside your home, you will notice more ant traffic around the bait. That is a good sign because they are accepting the bait and returning to their colony to feed other ants with it. You will be able to destroy the colony from within using this method. 

Keep Your Home Clean

Ants are attracted to areas where there is food left behind. Food crumbs left behind on the floor for several days will attract the attention of a scout, and you could have a colony in your home as soon as a week.

This is also true for your yard. You want to make sure you keep the yard mowed regularly and not have trash lying around. Keep your trash securely disposed of until you are able to get to the recycling center. 

Do You Need Pest Control? 

At Pied Piper Pest Control, we offer solutions that lead the industry for pest control. If you have an ant problem on your property, contact us today for a quote. 

Categorised in: Bug Control

This post was written by Ken Perry