If you have discovered a stream of ants pouring into your home, you may be wondering what you should do to stop them. While ants are often coming in because you have left out food, have stinky trash, or have your pet’s food bowls inside your home, you may have a difficult time keeping the ants out even after you have cleaned up the problem. There are some prevention measures you can take to repel the ants but these little bugs can be terribly persistent. If you have tried many different ways to get rid of the ants with no luck, it may be time to call in a professional ant control service to eliminate the ants for good.
Keep it clean
Ants are looking for food. They detect scent with their antennae and will travel up to 100 yards away from their nests. You may keep a relatively clean home but are missing some key areas that may be attracting ants. A few places to be sure to clean up are:
- Dog or cat food bowls: If you feed your pets inside the house, they may knock a piece or two of their food out of their bowls. If you routinely pick up the pet bowls if your pet does not eat all right away, you may miss some of the food that spilled out and was scooted under the table or out of sight. Ants will find it and soon their friends will follow. Make sure to sweep up and clean around where you set out pet food so you don’t accidentally miss a piece.
- Grease or butter splatter around the stove: Some ants are attracted to protein or fats. You may have ants coming for the residue left in your frying pan after cooking dinner. It’s a good idea to promptly clean cooking dishes after dinner and wipe down the stove and counter so ants don’t come looking for a meal.
- Trash can be full of old food, bottles or containers that held a sugary drink or dessert, or discarded apple cores. If ants are looking for something sweet, they will definitely perk up at a sniff of ;your kitchen trash can. Take your trash out as soon as it gets full to keep ants from coming inside. You may want to put a good lid on your outdoor trash as well to keep sweet, stinky odors from calling to the ants as well.
- In the heat of the summer, especially when there hasn’t been much rain, any leaks, drips, or highly humid spaces in your home may attract ants. The bathtub after a shower, your pet’s water dish, the basement, a tiny drip in one of your pipes may bring a trail of ants. Wipe up water, fix pipes, and use a dehumidifier if you think moistures is drawing ants into your home.
Call a professional
If the ants in your yard already found out they can find food or water in your home before you had some of these trouble spots on your radar, you may have a difficult time convincing them that the free food is not coming back. Call a professional ant exterminator to treat in and around your home for ants.
If you are in Rancho Cucamonga, give Bug Baron Exterminator a call today.
