ants in the house

If only people worked as hard as ants. These amazing insects cover the earth and perform essential tasks in our environment. Even so, there aren’t many people that appreciate them performing those tasks in their personal environments. Hope the following will help you. Eliminate food sources Ants are normally found in locations with a high food concentration - kitchens, so this is where we will start. Follow these steps to ant-proof (and cockroach-proof) your food: Store food in rubbermaid type plastic containers, jars with lids that have sealing gaskets, or jars with tight-fitting hinged lids. Refrain from storing anything in the open or in bags. Jars without sealing gaskets can permit ants to enter through the threads, so replace any that you find with the above mentioned containers. Clean out your toaster or toaster oven after every use. Clean (with soap) all of the surfaces in your kitchen at least once a week to remove crumbs and food residue. Sweep or vacuum the kitchen floor weekly. When throwing away food wrappers or containers, rinse out any remaining organic material first. Save all of your organic waste in a sealed container and dispose of it separately. Either compost it in your garden, or throw it in the trash bag as you take the garbage out. Use trash liners (bags) and ensure your trash can has a tight-fitting lid. Rinse out the trash can if it ever gets grime or garbage on it. Ant barriers Now that all of your cabinets are packed away neatly let’s take a good look around for anything else that may be attractive to the ants. Potted plants, unprotected pet food, open bowls of fruit or nuts are all possible targets. We can keep these things safe by erecting barriers that the ants can not or will not cross. Sticky ant barriers Sticky goo’s like Tanglefoot are normally avoided by ants. Use them on table legs and around plant platters and pots. They can also be used on the stems of plants that you wish to protect in the garden. Detergent ant barriers Detergent barriers are made by placing something (a potted plant or your pets food dish for example) in a larger dish or platter partly filled with a water and detergent mix to create a moat. The detergent will break the water’s surface tension causing any ants that attempt to cross it to drown. Other ant barriers Following is a list of substances that people have reported success with when used as barriers or deterrents: Baby powder Petroleum jelly Eucalyptus oil (a little on a cloth goes a long way) Bay leaves (Keep out of reach of children and pets!) Cinnamon Dryer sheets Tea tree oil Ant control: Colony management Once you’ve battled the ants back this far, consider stopping if the number of remaining ants is tolerable. With no more human-foods left, they will focus on picking up tiny organic crumbs that would normally be food for cockroaches and beetles. On top of that, they will also eat other pest insects like termites, bedbugs, fly eggs and larvae, flea eggs and larvae, silverfish and moths. The population size is relative to the amount of available food, and will actually help you keep the house clean. Moving ant colonies If you have a colony that is right next to your house, you can make the ants relocate by repeatedly flooding the earth where they reside. A soapy water mix works best as it kills some ants, and causes the rest to grab their stuff and go. If the ants aren’t inside of your home don’t worry about them unless they bite. Many species will repel termites, so it’s cheap insurance. If you are unlucky enough to have had a colony take up residence in a potted plant here is how to send them packing: Place the potted plant in a plate partially filled with soapy water (To keep the ants from leaving). Fill a bucket of similar size with loose, dry earth and place it also in a plate of soapy water. Create a bridge from the plant to the bucket with a ruler, some twigs, a length of tape, anything that the ants can easily cross. Begin flooding the plant. Flood it and let it drain - then flood it again and keep repeating. You will see the ants start to swarm out and clamor across into the bucket carrying their eggs and young. Continue flooding until you see no more ants emerging to escape. Take the bucket outside and dump it out away from your home.

If you don't want to use spray or traps, take white vinegar and mix it with water, then clean all the floors with the mixture. The ants can't stand the vinegar.

Hi springdragon. I solved this problem in the simple way. Look at the course they are making to comming to your house. After know their course you rub in all these course something that have a strong smell like vinegar or chlorine (I used chlorine). Rub it in the outside of the door or window the ants are coming from to make sure that they will feel the smell if they try to enter again. You will see the ants desappear. Good luck.

To get rid of ants I would do a few things. I get those ant killers that you put outside around your house then inside I would put those trap thingys where I see them the most like on the kitchen counters and around the sink and also I would spray vinegar around the sink and around the windows. Believe it or not vinegar works like a miracle!! It's the smell of it that makes them go away. I did that a few weeks ago and I haven't seen them come back! The vinegar works but it also makes it smell inside..so just use alittle and after a day or 2 clean it off and just use the ant traps and sprays they have in the stores. Good luck!!