Your home should be a place where you can relax and unwind. But finding ants in the home can be a major annoyance. Whether in search of crumbs in the kitchen or a drop of water in the bathroom, ants will scavenge for their needs and make themselves comfortable while they’re at it.
The trouble is, once you have ants in your home, they can quickly multiply.
A few ants can quickly be followed by many more and soon you’ll be spotting ants all over your counters and floors throughout your home.
In this article, we’ll talk about ant control so that you can get solutions in place. We’ll also talk about ant prevention so that you won’t have to deal with this problem again.
Why Do I Have Ants in My Home?
Understanding why ants are coming inside in the first place can help you address ant control. Ants live outdoors where they build colonies that have anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000+ workers. Ants who come inside are typically in search of food.
If you’ve noticed a single ant in your home, that’s most likely a scout ant. That ant’s job is to find food for the colony. Once the scout ant has located food, they release a pheromone that alerts their friends.
In addition to food, ants in a home are also in search of water. While the kitchen is probably the number one place to find ants, bathrooms are a close second. You might find ants hanging around your shower, bathtub, or sink, and that’s because of the access to water.
How to Address Ant Removal
People want to know, What gets rid of ants immediately?
There are a lot of solutions out there that claim to be the best way to keep ants out of your house. A simple Internet search will reveal plenty of ideas for homemade and even store-bought sprays that will supposedly deter household ants.
The trouble is, these DIY ant control solutions rarely work very well.
In fact, you might have even tried some of these solutions only to find that the ants keep coming back. Maybe you took care of a few ants but they just seem to keep coming.
That’s because there is likely a much greater number of ants around your home than you might even suspect. Ants keep coming because there are so many of them! Taking care of a few ants hardly addressed your issue when a colony outside of your home might have thousands more.
That means that even if you address the ants that have already found their way in, you can be sure that more will keep coming.
You can use ant traps to immediately address the ants currently in your house. But you’ll need a longer term solution going forward. You’ll need to also control ants in the landscape around your house.
Effective, Long-Term Ant Control
So, how can you get rid of ants in your house…and keep others from coming in?
The best solution is to work with a pest control professional who can perform a thorough examination of your home (both inside and out) and determine where ants are coming inside in the first place. You’d be shocked at the smallest cracks and crevices through which ants enter your house!
It is in these locations that a pest control professional will apply a bait product that will be taken back to the colony. This is truly critical since the ants in the colony are the source of your ongoing problem.
It’s also important to note that a pest control professional will only apply products where it is truly necessary inside. Along with that, they’ll use products outdoors that will put up a “shield” around your home to keep ants out.
At Joshua Tree Experts, these comprehensive indoor and outdoor services are part of our Pest Shield Premium program. In addition to covering ants, this program covers many other common pests including roaches and rodents.
How to Address Ant Prevention
Investing in an ongoing pest control program is one of the best ways to practice ant prevention.
As we mentioned, an ongoing pest program will also take care of other creepy crawlies. Although you might currently be focused on how to keep ants out of your house, there are other unwanted pests like spiders, centipedes, and crickets that are likely also looking to come inside for food and shelter.
There are also a few steps that you can take yourself to promote ant prevention. These efforts will work in conjunction with your investment in pest control.
Clean up crumbs. Ants are in search of the tiniest morsels of food. But making an effort to clean up crumbs can help. Wipe down counters and run the vacuum regularly.
Limit eating to a single room. To prevent having crumbs all over your home, try to limit eating to a single room, like the kitchen or the dining room. That can help make cleaning up easier. Crumbs in crevices of couches and other furniture are sometimes less likely to get cleaned up.
Keep food sealed. Keep food in sealed containers with lids. If you are serving food outside, still make an effort to clean up any spills and bring all food inside when the party is done. Outdoor parties and picnics are sometimes what draws ants toward your house in the first place.
Keep the lid on the trash. Indoor and outdoor trash cans might be another place where ants are scavenging for food. Keep the lids on these receptacles. Also, take trash outside regularly, particularly if it has food in it.
Seal cracks and crevices. If your home has cracks or crevices that can be sealed up, this will also help keep unwanted pests out.
Of course, even with all of these efforts, there are going to be pests like ants that still make their way inside. That’s why you need to pair these efforts with professional ant control. Professional pest control services are going to be your most effective option.
Choosing Professional Pest Control Services
If you have an ant problem, then you’ll want to turn to professional help. It’s simply not worth the risk of letting this problem multiply.
Once you’ve invested in pest control, the biggest benefit that you gain is peace of mind. At Joshua Tree Experts, our plans are customized to each specific property. We can address specifically what is going on right now and also make plans to help prevent future problems.
If this is something you’d like to learn more about, feel free to reach out. At Joshua Tree Experts, we got into this business with a desire to help homeowners. If we can answer any additional questions for you, we’re always here to help.
If you truly want peace of mind that you’re keeping pests away, investing in professional pest control is a wise choice. By taking the right steps, you’ll be able to get back to enjoying life as usual.
If you're interested in learning more about pest control services, give us a call at 833-JTE-TREE or contact us for a free pest control quote today!
