Keeping your House Clear of Ants

What with all the in-laws, relatives and acquaintances making unexpected visits this time of year, it’s easy to think of summer as the season of ‘uninvited guests’ – but some of the most unwelcome are ants, who seem to be an increasingly common pest.

Even people living in the cleanest households complain of ants. It seems as soon as summer rolls around, armies of these tiny little insects come swarming inside and start roaming the floors, shelves and cabinets in search of food.

Getting rid of ants isn’t easy – they’re relentless and organized, alerting other ants to the presence of food by spraying a ‘breadcrumb’ trail of pheromones in their wake (ironically, often leading to a real breadcrumb trail.) This is why one or two ants can suddenly seem to turn into dozens in the space of just a few seconds.

If you find your home getting invaded this summer, here are some tips towards pest control:

• Keep it Clean: Ants are generally on the search for food – and that will often bring them into the kitchen. In order to prevent attracting ants in the first place, make sure you sweep up scraps and crumbs regularly and keep food in your cupboards sealed in plastic bags or tupperware.
• Lose the Scent: Ants spray pheromones as they move, letting their family members know where the food is hidden. Once you spot ants in the house, thoroughly clean the floor with bleach and use household spray in the doorframes and along the edges of the room to wash their trail-scent away.
• Block the Entrances: Ants are so tiny that it’s virtually impossible to shut them out completely – but you can block up cracks, gaps and other ant-sized entrances to make it more difficult for them to get into your kitchen.
• Lay down traps: Ant bait leads the little fellows into a trap; and can help reduce the ant population as more of them get stuck. However, ants breed fast and ant traps will only contribute to dealing with an ant infestation – never deliver a complete solution.

Most people argue that the only way to truly end an ant infestation is to eliminate the source of the hungry insects. If ants are invading your kitchen, it’s clear that there’s a nest nearby - camponotus pennsylvanicus, the common American carpenter ant, will travel as are as 100 feet from their nest in search of food.

A good tree and lawn care specialist, like Aspenn Environmental Services, will be able to treat your ant infestation with a tailored treatment designed to eliminate existing nests and prevent ants establishing new ones.

In the long term, a year-round Integrated Pest Management solution will help prevent the return of ants; ant control is included as part of most pest control and insect control treatment programs.