10 Ways to Prevent Ants from Entering Your Home
One of the most common pests we encounter almost daily is the ants. If you constantly see these pests in your kitchen or bathroom, you’re probably searching for answers to what attracts ants and how you can keep them out.
Ant infestation
Your home or business is one of your most prized possessions. Like most people, you don’t want uninvited bugs making your home a shelter of their own. Unfortunately, pests never ask for permission before invading our properties, which makes us killing them a part of our daily routine.
Though the purpose of ants has a major role in our ecosystem, they can be quite irritating and they can contaminate our food items and ants like carpenter ants has the capability to damage other precious house materials. So, it is important to evacuate them from our home.
Check out the reasons why ants invade your house and the ways you can control them.
What Attracts Ants?
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Unhygienic surroundings:
Not only ants are responsible for their entry into our home but we are also involved in it to some extent. Unhygienic surroundings, with food particles and drinks spillage, all over are ideal places for ants to invade and have a feast. Clean your home properly and don’t allow food particles especially sweets to spread around and especially keep your sink and kitchen clean as it attracts ants the most. Cover the foodstuff and the food which you store, must be stored in clean and dry containers. Furthermore, it would be better if these containers are airtight, so no smell could go out and intrigue the ants to come to your home.
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Water:
Besides food, like all living beings, ants also need water for survival and sometimes their quest for water becomes the key reason behind their invasion in your house. If the outdoor conditions lack the necessary water, they will sneak into your house for water. Ants usually make nests in the moist and damp places of the house and washrooms and kitchen sinks are ideal because of the excessive availability of water there. Clean washrooms and kitchen properly, get rid of any existing water pools and put a disinfectant to avoid ant invasion.
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Shelter:
Sometimes ants invade the house to protect themselves from the harsh climatic conditions outside. This usually happens during extremely dry or hot weather. They also seek shelter in your homes during floods or rainstorm.
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Germ-infested neighborhood:
Sometimes, despite all the cleaning and precautionary measures, we have to face the problematic ant infestation. The possible reason for this could be germ – infested neighborhood. If your next door apartments aren’t as sanitized as your home is, then there is a possibility that they will be facing ants swarming, and due to overpopulation they spread and might have made their way to your house. It isn’t much you can do in this scenario, except spraying insecticides and prevent them from entering your house again. Here’s how you can restrict their entry into your home.
How to Prevent Ants from Entering Our Homes
Here are 10 important actions you can try to keep ants out of your home:
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Blocking off Entry Points:
The 1st thing you need to do is to declare your home as a no-entry zone for the ants. These tiny creatures can find a lot of ways to sneak into the house. You just need to find out those entry points and then simply block them. Most of the times we see them in groups and colonies marching in and out of our home, you just need to follow their pattern, this will lead you to their entry and exit point. Next step is to simply seal those points so that they will no longer be able to enter your home again.
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Caulk Application:
As we know that it is a very difficult job to seal the entry of the ants because their tiny size aid them in sneaking into your house from smallest of cracks and holes, but still we can take a lot of precautionary measures. In order to seal the gaps, cracks, and holes, use Caulk. Caulk is a solution specifically developed to ensure the sealing of the gaps between the windows, walls or doors. So, as a precautionary measure, seal the openings before an Ant army attack the precious food of your family.
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Insecticides:
The next and quite obvious step you can take to ban the entry of these tiny ants into your home is the usage of Insecticides. You can spread several insecticides available in the market on the passage of these Ants. So whenever they pass through that passage, it will kill the ants. Diatomaceous Earth is one such effective insecticide which you can use.
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Adhesive Tapes:
Another simple and easy method to prevent the entry of the Ants is the usage of Adhesive tapes. Apply these tapes to the passage of the Ants and make sure that the ants won’t be able to pass under the tape. Ants when try to crawl over the tape, they’ll stick to it and you can simply throw the tape in the trash to get rid of them.
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Fragrant Barrier:
Another tempting way to prevent the entry of the ants to the house is the usage of Talcum Powder. Spray the powder on the pathway of ants, it’ll aid in solving the problem as it’s been proved to be a carcinogen for many insects.
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Vinegar:
Use a 50% solution of White Vinegar in water and use it for cleaning purposes in your house. Vinegar helps in removing the chemical smell released by ants to attract their fellows and it removes their trail. Furthermore, ants hate its smell and will avoid a place with vinegar scent.
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Lemon Juice:
The Lemon works the same way as does the Vinegar. Lemon juice is also an antiseptic, which means it will also kill the germs brought to you by the Ants. Lemon juice spray at the entry points of Ants will help in restricting their entry to your place.
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Kill the Scout:
Ants work in a special coordinated way. The scout ant goes out and checks the availability of food, if it finds food, it signals other fellows to come over. So, if you spot a single scout, kill it straight away, otherwise, it will go back to its colony and let others know about that food as well. So in such case, be ready to welcome the ants’ army.
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Attack the Nest:
If your house has constantly been ambushed by the Ants and you have taken a lot of measures to control them but still in vain. Then in this situation, you just need to enter their home. If somehow you will be able to locate their nest, then simply pour hot boiling water in their nest and you will be free from your problems.
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Kill the Queen:
If you want to take down the ant army, take their leader down. Yes! We are talking about the Queen Ant. It is the Queen who lays eggs and become the source of the army. Besides, the Queen uses to stay at the center of the nest. So, somehow if you’re able to locate the nest, take the queen down and you are good to go.
Contact a Local Exterminator Near You for Ants
With help of these preventive measures, you can guard your lovable place against pesky pests yourself. If you are facing serious ants infestation, it’s better to consult a professional ant exterminator than using these home remedies. If you are in need of a local exterminator near you, we can connect you with someone who’s more than qualified.***
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