Ants may seem like a less intimidating pest when you compare them to cockroaches or mice, but ants travel in large colonies, and spotting a few often means you have hundreds of them in your house. And though the typical black ant does not bite or carry disease, ants travel through dirty places and can contaminate your food. It’s best to get rid of them as fast as possible to preserve the sanitation of your space.
Preventing Ants
You can try to prevent ants by taking a few measures of general cleanliness. Such habits include: sweeping up crumbs in the house, securely sealing food containers, regularly wiping counters, keeping the sink free of dirty dishes, and making sure there aren’t any cracks or holes around doors and windows.
Getting Rids of Ants on Your Own
Even after these measures, ants may still make an appearance in your house or property. Here are a few tips to help you understand how to get rid of them on your own:
- Ants leave an invisible trail to guide the rest of their colony to the water or food source in your house. Start by wiping up the ants you see and cleaning off the trail they’ve left.
- Borax, chili powder, cinnamon, and vinegar can all be used as repellents to keep the ants away.
- Clean up any exposed food and contaminated sources. Use airtight containers for all of your food in the pantry.
- Try an over-the-counter ant spray. This will kill existing ants and act as a repellent, but will not kill the whole colony.
When It's Time to Call a Professional
As stated above, most of the do-it-yourself methods for getting rid of ants will only repel them, not kill the whole colony. There are also ant species that are more troublesome, such as carpenter ants and red ants.
If you try the above methods and still keep seeing ants, it’s time to call in a professional pest control company. Professionals can set up bait traps that will entice the ants to take the poison back to the queen and colony.