Ant Infestation?
As the summer progresses, ants may find their way into your home, seemingly out of nowhere. Knowing how to get rid of ants safely and effectively can keep you and your loved ones from getting any unpleasant surprises when you’re settling down for a good night’s rest or preparing a meal. If you have a sudden influx of ants, here are some of the ways you can get these pests out of your home.
Why do ants suddenly appear?
You may be wondering, “why are ants in my house?” especially if you make a special effort to keep your cabinets clean and put food away in tightly-sealed containers. However, ants could be coming into your home to escape the outside weather conditions. It’s pretty common knowledge that ants will come into buildings during the summer to get out of the heat, but some ants also enter homes in winter to stay out of the cold. The type of soil that your home is built on could also affect ant infestations.
If you’re wondering why do ants suddenly appear, it could be because these tiny creatures have built homes in the soil under your home’s foundation as a shield from rain and wind. Some ants prefer moist soil, while some prefer drier soil or loam, so knowing which ants are native to your area could prove helpful when it comes to pest prevention.
When do ants go away?
Now that you have a few possible explanations for how the ants got into your home, you may be asking “when do ants go away?” This depends on the methods you use to rid your home of ants.
You could call an exterminator to get rid of the ants, but if you’re environmentally conscious, you should check with the company to ensure that they are using safe pest elimination methods that won’t emit harmful chemicals into your home. If you can’t get an exterminator to come the same day you make an inquiry or if you want to know how to keep ants away in between exterminator visits, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
A few easy tips to get rid of ants.
If there are holes or openings in the exterior of your home where ants can easily enter, fill these spaces with caulk or another filler made from latex. This provides a barrier of protection without having to use chemicals to get ants out of your home. You can also block doorways and windows with substances that ants don’t like. Ingredients like cinnamon, salt, coffee grounds, cayenne pepper, and spearmint are natural deterrents for the ants since the smell of these items can be particularly strong. Ants also hate lemon, so rubbing a lemon wedge along any openings that lead outside could prove helpful as well.
For the hard to get rid of ants.
If you still can’t keep the ants out, you may have to find some of the ant colonies in your yard and pour boiling hot water over them. You can also try a combination of borax and sugar; soak cotton balls in this solution and place the cotton balls around the areas where the ant infestation is the worst. The ants will be drawn to the sugar and poisoned by the borax. If you find that ants are coming into your home through a particular path, spray the path with vinegar. This confuses the ants since it eliminates the scent of previous ants and interrupts the trail these ants were using to get into your home.
Ease your stress and time!
Contact your local pest control company to help you. It is the quickest, easiest and least stressful of all your options listed to get rid of ants. NJ Pest Control is experts in removing all types of ants quickly and safely. The ant infestation elimination areas that we service include all of the northern NJ counties.
