Soldier ants belong to the ant type known for being aggressive and difficult to get rid of. These large, aggressive insects aren’t satisfied when they invade your home; they will also attack anything in their path, including people and animals. If you have soldier ants in your home, you have to take action to get rid of them as soon as possible. There are a few different methods on how to get rid of soldier ants, and the best way for you will depend on the infestation size and the ants’ location.
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Sweep up any ants you see and dispose of them.
Find the main ant colony and pour boiling water over it.
Place ant traps around your home.
Put a mixture of borax and sugar around the perimeter of your home.
Use insecticide sprays.
Call an exterminator.
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What Are Soldier Ants?
Soldier ants are one of the most important castes in an ant colony. They are the ones who protect the colony from invaders and keep it safe. Soldier ants are larger than the other individuals in the colony and have bigger jaws. They also have a chemical in their bodies that makes them smell different from other individuals. This chemical serves them to communicate with other insects in the colony. They only come out of the nest to protect it and they do not go out to look for food.
Do Soldier Ants Pose a Danger to Humans?
In some parts of the world, soldier ants are considered a nuisance because they can enter a home in large numbers and cause a bit of a disturbance. However, these insects are not considered to be a danger to humans. While they might bite when they feel threatened, their bites are not poisonous, and they do not carry any diseases that can be transmitted to humans.
Where Do Soldier Ants Live?
Soldier ants are found in many different habitats throughout the world. In tropical regions, they typically live in rainforests, while in areas with a temperate climate, they more likely prefer forests or grasslands. However, you can also meet them in urban areas such as parks or gardens. These insects typically live in nests that are built by workers. These nests are located in the ground, in tree trunks, or even in buildings. The size of the nest depends on the species of soldier ants, but it can range from a few hundred to several thousands of ants.
What Attracts Soldier Ants?
When it comes to soldier ants, there are a few things that attract them. One of the most important factors that attract these insects is the presence of food. If there’s any food on the spot, soldier ants will find this place hospitable. Another thing that attracts them is the presence of other ants. If they detect the scent of other individuals, they will also check on this area. Additionally, territories with a high level of moisture are also appealing to them. They need a lot of water to stay hydrated and usually dwell in areas where they can find it.
Signs of an Infestation of Soldier Ants
A soldier ant infestation can be a serious problem for any homeowner. These insects are large and aggressive, and they can cause serious damage to your home. If you suspect that you have a soldier ant infestation, there are a few signs to look for:
One of the most obvious signs of a pest infestation is the presence of large species in your home. These insects are much larger than regular ants, and they are often black or red. You might also notice that they are very aggressive, and they might even bite or sting you if they feel threatened.
Another sign of an infestation is if you see an ant nest in your home. These nests can be large and hardly noticeable, so you have to thoroughly check all the cracks and crevices around your home.
Finally, you can also indicate a soldier ant infestation by the damage that these pests can cause. They are known for damaging wood and other materials in your home.
How to Get Rid of Soldier Ants: Easy Extermination Guide
To completely get rid of soldier ants and minimize the risk of damage they can cause, you need a reliable algorithm that will support you on the way. I’ve compiled a detailed guide on how to get rid of these pests in eleven simple steps.
Step 1. Identify the source of the problem
If you have soldier ants in your home, they likely came from outside. Inspect your home for any cracks or openings that these insects could have used to get inside. Once you find the entry point, seal it up with caulk or another sealant.
Step 2. Locate the nest
Soldier ants live in small to medium size colonies with a main nest and satellite nests. Once you locate the main nest, you can eliminate the entire colony. If you only kill the workers and leave the main nest untouched, the colony will simply rebuild. These insects usually build their nests in soil, so look for any raised areas of dirt in your yard.
If you find the nest, you can destroy it by pouring boiling water over it or using an insecticide. If you find soldier ants in your home, vacuum them up or sweep them into a dustpan and dispose of them. Ensure to empty the vacuum bag immediately afterward to prevent ants from returning to your home.
Step 3. Using diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth it’s a white powdery substance that will kill soldier ants without poisoning your family or pets. This is a substance that works very effectively on ants, as it can penetrate their exoskeleton and cause insects to dry out. Use a powder duster to apply the diatomaceous earth to the ants’ nest. You can also sprinkle it around the doorways and windows to prevent ants from getting into your home.
Step 4. Using apple cider vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is the perfect natural solution to get rid of soldier ants. For this, you need to mix some water and vinegar in a ratio of 1:1 and pour this mixture on soldier ants. They will die immediately.
Step 5. Make sugar bait
One of the most effective ways to get rid of soldier ants is to set up a sugar lure station. To do this, simply mix some sugar, baking soda, and water and place it in a shallow dish. Then, place the dish near where you’ve seen the soldier ants. They will be attracted to the sugar and will start to feed on it. Once they are saturated, they’ll return to the nest and share the sugar with other ants. This will eventually kill the entire colony.
Step 6. Boric acid bait
If you don’t want to use sugar, you can also try setting up a bait station with boric acid. Boric acid is poisonous to ants and will kill them if they eat it.
Step 7. Using soapy water
Soapy water will kill soldier ants but it’s safe for your family and pets. Mix 1 tablespoon of dish soap with 1 cup of water. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray it on the ants’ nest.
Step 8. Using insecticide
Another way to get rid of soldier ants is to use insecticide. There are a variety of insecticides that are effective against these insects. Be sure to vigorously follow the instructions on the package, as some insecticides can be harmful to humans if you use them improperly.
Step 9. Using pesticide spray
I recommend choosing a product that’s developed specifically to kill ants fast, as many general-purpose pesticides will not be effective. Apply the spray around the perimeter of your home, as well as any areas where you have seen soldier ants.
Step 10. Using ready-made bait
Another method for getting rid of soldier ants is to use commercial ant bait. These baits are designed to attract ants and kill them when they consume the poison. Be sure to choose bait that’s specifically designed to kill soldier ants, as many general-purpose baits will not be effective.
Step 11. Seek help from professionals
If a permanent ant killer does not give results, you might need to call a professional. Pest control companies have access to more powerful pesticides and extermination methods that can be effective in getting rid of even the most stubborn infestations.
How to Prevent Soldier Ants
After the treatment, the pest control company will likely recommend that you take some steps to prevent soldier ants from returning to your home. These steps might include the following measures:
Seal up any cracks or crevices in your home where ants can enter;
Remove food sources that attract them;
Use ant baits or traps;
Eliminate moisture sources by fixing leaks and emptying standing water;
Reduce the amount of honeydew-producing insects in your yard with insecticidal soap or
horticultural oil sprays;
Remove outdoor nesting sites by trimming back vegetation and clearing away debris.
FAQ About Soldier Ants
If you come to this point, you already know the basic steps you should take to eliminate these pests and prevent them from entering your household territory again. However, some questions might still need clarification. In this case, read my answers below.
What do ants hate the most?
There are a few things that ants really hate:
The first is the smell of vinegar. Vinegar is a natural ant repellent, which will keep them away from your home.
The second is the smell of citrus. Lemons, oranges, and grapefruits are all great at keeping ants away.
The third is cayenne pepper. Ants can’t stand the heat, so sprinkling some cayenne pepper around your home will deter them.
What’s the best way to get rid of army ants?
If you have an infestation of army ants, the best way to get rid of them is to call an exterminator. Army ants are very difficult to get rid of on your own, and they can cause a lot of damage to your home if left unchecked. Pest control companies have the essential experience and equipment to safely and effectively eliminate army ants.
How do I get rid of black soldier ants?
The most effective way to get rid of black soldier ants is to use bait that contains boric acid. Boric acid is a poison that kills ants when they ingest it. Another way is to use a spray with pyrethrin. Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide that kills the ants on contact.
Do army ants bite humans?
Yes, army ants can bite humans, but they are not known to be particularly aggressive toward people. These bites usually occur if you accidentally step on or disturb an army ant nest. While army ant bites are not poisonous, they can be quite painful and often result in swelling and redness.
Make the Invaders Leave
Now that you know the battling ants’ measures, you will be able to keep your home safe from them. Though soldier ants are not a threat to humans, they can become a nuisance when they invade your home. Whatever method you choose, be patient. It might take a few days or weeks to completely eliminate soldier ants from your home.
I hope this article was helpful to you. Have you tried any of the aforementioned solutions? If you have other proven ways to get rid of soldier ants, please share them in the comments below.
If you are interested in plants that repel ants, this guide can help you. I will tell you in detail about those plants that keep ants away, as well as explain the reason why these insects are so afraid of them. You will also learn about how to choose the right plant species to repel ants.
I will share with you the information about how difficult it is to grow such plants and whether they require special care. Read this guide and find out how you can use these plants to control ants.
[wpsm_titlebox title=”Ant Repellent Plant Variations: Brief List” style=”main”] To get rid of ants, you can use a variety of plants and herbs with a pungent odor so that ants will bypass your place:
Lavender;
Mint;
Tansy;
Garlic;
Thyme;
Peppermint. [/wpsm_titlebox]
Plant Repellent for Ants: How to Scare Them
I’ve compiled this guide to help you find out what plant repels ants and which herbs repel them. Some of them can prevent their appearance and make them settle somewhere else. You can also force the pests to leave your home for good.
Step 1: Use plants to deter ants
Lavender has a great fragrance and is suitable for growing indoors. It is fairly easy to take care of, and with its pleasant scent and appearance, it can add freshness to your home. Unfortunately for ants, this plant’s smell will not let them get into your house and will scare them away as soon as they smell it. Still, you have to take care of lavender properly and find out some nuances before you grow it. It is among the best flowers that repel ants.
Geranium is great at killing ants, and its smell repels them. You can also use it in a dry form, which is available in specialized stores, by scattering the leaves in the place where you saw ants. Once the pests smell the geranium, they won’t want to sneak into your territory. Geranium is usually not demanding, and it can last for a long time, so this plant is very popular in the household.
Chrysanthemums are great plants for both your garden and home. These flowers come in an incredible number of varieties and do an excellent job of killing ants. People often grow them as an alternative to pesticide sprays to repel ants.
Marigold’s coloring is a spectacular mix of yellow and gold, but it’s not the only advantage it has. The plant is often used to repel ants as it is toxic to them. The flowers are rarely attacked by insects.
These plants that repel carpenter ants are common in the US, so you can easily get them in greenhouses and flower stores. This is a great solution for anyone wondering which plant repels ants.
Step 2: Use herbs that repel ants
To make ants leave your territory, you can place the following herbs in the spot where they have settled:
Though garlic might seem like a rather strange houseplant, it does a great job of scaring away ants and other insects. You don’t even require soil to grow it: All you need is a light bulb. It is enough to crush garlic so that it emits a strong smell and put it in the place where you have seen ants. This odor will make the insects leave their place of residence for a while.
Catnip also repels ants, and you don’t need to grow it to take advantage of its repelling potential. It is easy to get and take care of. You can also dry out the herb to scare away ants: It will help you store it for a long period. Place catnip in the place where you suspect the pests to settle down, be it a crack in the house or a window sill. You can easily remove it afterward, and its smell doesn’t bother the majority of people. Some types of mint can even repel mice.
Mint can also help you keep ants away from your home. A regular peppermint is also a good option if you like its scent more. Due to its beneficial features, you will also get the possibility to make delicious herb tea with a pleasant aroma from the mint. It is easy to buy seeds for growing mint, and you can also prepare soil mix to grow the plant at home. For it, you need drained soil. Choose the spot with indirect lighting. Mint is a great option because it isn’t whimsical to growing conditions, and you only need to water it when the soil starts to dry out.
Peppermint is another natural insect repellent with a potent essential oil. To use the latter, you should mix 10-15 drops of peppermint oil with water in a 1-liter bottle. Then, using a sprayer, spray the liquid in the place where you have noticed ants. If you don’t want to bother with growing peppermint, this option might be convenient for you.
Rosemary has a strong odor with a repelling effect. If you are interested in “Do ants like rosemary?” — you might be glad to know that these pests find it disgusting. Therefore, they will omit places with such a smell.
Tansy can also help you keep ants away, so it is also a popular solution for many homeowners. You should take care that its soil is not too damp: In this case, flowers can wither. For the best repelling effect, the plant needs not just leaves but also flowers.
Thyme is very similar to mint as it does not require direct sunlight. It thrives in moderately-lit rooms. You do not have to water it frequently, just pay attention when the soil dries out. This plant has a pleasant aroma to humans, but ants find it repulsive. To properly grow thyme, you have to ensure it is not too, since it will not tolerate minus temperatures.
These are effective options for dealing with ants if you don’t want to keep indoor plants and give them a lot of attention. All you have to do is buy these herbs and just use them.
Step 3: Try other methods
To keep ants from getting into your house or garden, you need to keep them clean. While these insects can help you get rid of some other pests in the garden, they can also hurt your plants. If you find out they have made their way inside, you should not leave any food on a table and regularly dispose of garbage.
If an ant sees that your house is a favorable environment, most likely, a whole colony will come to you in a few minutes. Therefore, it is crucial to keep it clean to prevent pests from appearing on your territory.
There are also other means you can use to get rid of these insects:
Ammonia can help you scare away a small group of ants. It can kill individuals on contact and often scares a large colony away for a while. Ammonia has a short-term effect, so use it if there are not many ants on your territory. All you have to do is mix it with water and spray it directly on the insects. This method will kill them in no time.
I also recommend salt to quickly cope with ants. It dries out their exoskeletons, which causes their death. You can mix salt with water to make a coarse saline solution and spray it on ants. After this treatment absorbs all the moisture, ants will not endure long.
You can also use soap the same way as ammonia. The advantage of this method is that you can always find it in your bathroom. Use it for small groups of ants. All you have to do is mix water and soap in a 50/50 ratio and spray it on ants to make them leave the inhabited area.
Use bait to eliminate ants. Leave it in the place where you have noticed the pests. You might need to use several types of bait to understand which one is effective in your case. The bait kills not only ants but also their larvae. However, you need to be careful and be aware that it can cause harm to a pet if you have any.
Plants or herbs?
What to choose to fight ants, herbs or plants? I will explain in detail what their advantages and disadvantages are, as well as how to use them.
To decide on the herbs or plants you need, you need to consider the place where you have found ants. If you want to prevent their appearance in your house, you can use the plants that I have mentioned in the above guide.
You can grow those options, the appearance, and smell of which are appealing to you. However, you should also be ready to take care of them, as ants can get to you without any problems otherwise.
Herbs are also effective for this purpose, but they also require a lot of time to care for. With their help, you can easily deal with ants anywhere in the garden, house, or greenhouse.
All you need to do is prepare the place where you can grow such herbs as geranium and lavender. You can also use the herbal mixtures I have mentioned above since they are easy to make, and you can easily get rid of dead ants without applying a lot of effort.
Overall, it is up to you to decide which plants or herbs you want to use. If you want your garden or room to look cozy and neat, you can plant ant-repelling flowers like rosemary or lavender. If you need to get rid of the pests in the shortest time possible or do not want to apply a lot of effort to scare them away, you can buy herbs in any nearby place.
Use them to quickly force the insects to leave your household or simply kill them. This method is perfect if you find ants in a hard-to-reach place: The pungent odor of herbs will make them look for another place to live.
FAQ on Plants That Repel Ants
At this point, you have learned about how you can scare away ants. Here I will answer some questions about what ants do not like that concern many homeowners.
Which smell do ants hate?
Ants do not like strong odors, especially strong citrus fruits. The most effective way to scare away ants so as not to harm them is to use the peel of a lemon or an orange. All you need to do is just scatter peels around the ant habitats.
Which herb gets rid of ants?
There are many herbs that can help you get rid of ants or prevent them. I’ve mentioned above that you can use mint or thyme. Scattering their leaves in places with ants can scare them away and make them leave as soon as possible.
What are plants that repel ants and mosquitoes?
All of the above plants can help you get rid not only of ants, but also mosquitoes, fleas, and flies. Some of them can help you scare mice in the same way, for instance, lavender, basil, mint, etc.
Natural Way to Get Rid of Ants
I hope this guide will help you in case you have ants and don’t know how to get them to leave. I have told you about how you can scare ants using herbs and plants. I have discussed many different methods that you can use in any place where you have come across ants.
They will help you get rid of the pests as soon as possible and prevent their appearance. Now you know that such plants and herbs as geranium, chrysanthemum, catnip, and rosemary can help you a lot in preventing ants from appearing on your site.
Which herbs mentioned in the guide seem the most effective to you? Which other plants can you recommend to scare ants? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
In nature and the suburban areas, ants bring tangible benefits: in particular, they protect plants from harmful insects (caterpillars, slugs, etc.). However, once they get into a room, from the defenders, they turn into pests themselves.
Ants are far from being as harmless as they seem at first glance and certainly will not bring you any benefits. On the other hand, there is plenty of harm.
Like other types of insect pests, ants carry many bacteria on their paws. The reason for this is their lifestyle. Endlessly scurrying around in search of food in garbage containers, they pick up pathogens there and then spread them around the objects and food in a house.
These insects store food supplies in our homes in secluded corners inaccessible to us. The consequence of this is the formation of fungus and mold in such “storages,” which subsequently cause significant harm to human health.
Despite the bacteria on their legs, ants are relatively clean insects. They take out the garbage and excrements from the nests, storing all this “wealth” in unpredictable places. They can choose a location near our foodstuffs or in the children’s room as garbage containers.
Therefore, if ants appeared in your apartment – you should start to sound the alarm and take all the possible ways to get rid of them. But if you have pets in your house, you may face a difficult task – how to get rid of insects and, at the same time, not to harm your pets?
Most insecticides are toxic for your four-legged family members. As an entomologist, I could not stay away from this question, so in this article, I decided to highlight the best, in my opinion, pet-friendly ant killers.
When you need to use any method to make your home or yard free from insects, be sure you know the substance you apply is harmful for your pets when they encounter it. Many products are not especially toxic, but if you don’t want to put your pet’s health at risk, in this section, you will find my short reviews of the best pet safe ant insecticides.
1. Pet Safe Ant Spray by Mdx Concepts
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It is a natural, fast-acting spray that kills pests on contact and repels new insects, providing long-lasting effect for your area. The formula of Mdx Concepts spray doesn’t contain any toxic chemicals and is based only on organic ingredients such as peppermint, rosemary, and spearmint oils.
The absence of dangerous poisons and harmful fumes makes this product completely safe for your family and pets, though it kills a wide range of invading pests. Mdx Concepts organic spray is effective against ants, roaches, spiders, earwigs, stink bugs, mites, silverfish, mosquitoes, termites, and scorpions.
All you have to do to cope with a pest infestation is just to shake the bottle and spray the product in the areas where the insects are found or may live and hide. Also, spray it in the cabinets and under sinks.
The pleasant bonus of this product is that it leaves a pleasant fresh fragrance after the application.
Pros:
Cons:
100% organic;
kills and repels a wide range of insects;
fast-acting and long-lasting;
non-staining.
you have to repeat the application for heavy infestations.
This indoor pest control spray is mild enough to be used daily for a family and pets of all ages because it doesn’t contain any synthetic pesticides or artificial fragrances and colors. The active eliminating pests and the long-lasting repelling effect is reached by a specifically created formula of this spray, based on the power of the cedar oil.
Wondercide pest control spray is effective against ants, wasps, roaches, spiders, fruit flies, mosquitoes, and many other types of flying and crawling insects. This product will be beneficial for the treatment and prevention of fleas, since it breaks the flea life cycle, killing adult fleas and eliminating eggs & larvae.
To kill and prevent ants effectively, apply it to ant trails, to surfaces where drink or food spillage occurred, everywhere where insects can enter the house (especially around doors and windows). For ongoing problems, spray it once in 2-3 days, for prevention and maintenance – it’s enough to apply the product once a month.
One bottle (32 oz) of Wondercide natural spray treats up to 400 square feet of area and provides an incredible scent up to your choice; manufacturer suggests four possible: rosemary, cedar, peppermint, or lemongrass.
Pros:
Cons:
doesn’t contain harsh chemicals;
kills on contact and repels;
works on different surfaces and furniture;
for active infestation and prevention;
four pleasant scents.
not registered by us epa.
3. Terro Liquid Ant Baits – Animal Friendly Ant Killer
This useful product will help you to cope even with the heavy ant infestation and take it under complete control less than for two weeks. To make this liquid bait work, you just need to open up the station and put it on a flat surface, giving the ants access to the bait inside.
Attracted ants after consuming the bait, leave a pheromone trail back to the nest. It helps new working ants find the bait on this trail. So on the first day or two, you may see even more pests than before, but it means the bait is working.
The active ingredient of Terro liquid ant baits is Borax. It doesn’t kill ants immediately on contact but is slowly killing the digestive system of pests, giving them time to visit the bait a couple more times. Ants take a dose of forage back to the nest after trying the bait, so it contributes to bait spreading and circulating inside the ant colony, killing even those insects you can’t see.
Terro created the improved design for bait stations, with a snap-off tab, which makes it easier in use. Such configuration of stations make them safe for pets since the insects can’t get the bait, only small species can get inside it. Also, sealed stations prevent liquid bait from drying out.
You can use this pet-friendly ant killer on windowsills, along baseboards, and everywhere you have noticed numerous ants. Just make sure you haven’t used other insecticides there before because ants can avoid baits then.
Pros:
Cons:
kills the whole colony of ants;
pre-filled and ready-to-use;
sealed stations keep liquid bait fresh before you open.
the product doesn’t help in a battle with other insects.
This spray is an effective pet-safe way to get rid of ants in the house, as you can use it both indoors and outdoors. Pests mostly get inside the house from the outdoor perimeter, and Orange Guard will help to solve this problem.
You just need to use a pump-up garden sprayer on stream and spray this product into the crack, where the siding meets the foundation. This keeps ants and other crawling insects out of the wall, so that they won’t get into the house.
You can likewise spray Orange Guard into cracks and crevices inside the house, and it will make all the hidden bugs come out immediately and not go back. The active ingredient D-limonene kills pests on contact by dissolving the waxy coating on an insect’s exoskeleton, which leads to suffocation. The water-based formula of this spray is fatal for insects but safe to be used around food, humans, and pets.
Pros:
Cons:
kills a wide range of bugs on contact;
effective inside and outside the house;
safe ingredients for humans and pets;
cleans and deodorizes.
don’t spray it on the painted surfaces, as d-limonene can cause the paint to peel up.
EcoSmart is a safe pesticide brand because all their products are based on essential oils, so are safe to be used around children and pets. While being non-toxic for humans, mammals, birds, and fishes, it remains dangerous for insects. This product kills and repels about 100 spices of home-invading pests.
EcoSmart is the perfect way to eliminate different household insects from your yard and not let them get inside your house. In they managed to get indoors, this essential oil ant killer will help you, as it can be applied inside too. Spray it all the areas in and around your home, where you need to control pests.
One bottle of this product (64 ounces) will cover up to 500 square feet of territory. It comes with a built-in hose and sprayer, which makes using an easy task in all areas you need.
EcoSmart acts fast and kills insects of contact, so soon after using it, this solution will help you to forget about ants, cockroaches, fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and other pesky insects on your territory. You can use it even to kill bugs on your plants in the garden and not worry about the chemicals contaminating the soil or groundwaters. This product is entirely organic, thus environmentally safe.
Pros:
Cons:
acts fast and kills pests on contact;
organic and non-toxic;
can be used inside and outside;
easy in use.
it has a strong, but natural odor.
Questions You Might Have When Choosing Pet Safe Ant Killer (Buyer’s Guide and FAQ)
When choosing the ant killer, you want to be confident that it won’t harm your pet. So in this section, I try to summarize all the vital information to help you understand how pet safe ant killers work and answer some frequently asked questions.
How to Get Rid of Ants Safely for Pets: Types of Ant Killers
For minor infestation, you can soak an absorbent sponge into the sugar water, place it near the ant trail, and leave it for a day. The next day you will just wash off the dead ants. It’s a homemade natural solution, which may not be effective in your case.
Thus, I recommend paying attention to professional products that are not toxic for your pets but contain the ingredients harmful for ants.
There are many different ant killers products:
ant traps (are the containers with the ant bait inside);
ant gels (come in a tube with a syringe, so you apply to crack and crevices, where ants noticed);
ant granules (more an outdoor solution);
ant sprays (come as aerosols, that kill on contact and act as repellents).
What Makes Ant Killer Safe for Pets
Most ant killers I mentioned are based on natural ingredients, such as essential oils. They are safe for humans and pets but fatal to insects. On the example of cedar oil, I’ll explain how it works: most insects have octopamine neurotransmitters, which are responsible for regulating the insect’s behavior, moving, and heart rate.
Cedar oil blocks these receptors, repelling insects from the territory, and on contact with pests directly make them suffocate and die. Animals and insects driven by sight, do not have such neurotransmitters so that they won’t be affected by cedar oil.
Ant traps are safe for pets because the animals can’t get to the poison inside the bait. It may be dangerous for your four-legged friend only in case of swallowing the whole bait.
FAQ
Do Pet Safe Ant Killers Work?
Yes, they work effectively against ants and, in many cases, against other insects as well. Most pet safe products contain essential oil extracts, which are non-toxic for humans and animals but are fatal for pests.
Is Boric Acid Safe for Pets?
Not really. Boric acid itself is not very toxic, but it might cause dangerous severe symptoms to your pet if it ingested or inhaled this substance. The smaller animal you have – the more severe problems you might get with your pet because of boric acid. When it gets inside, it decreases the acid balance in your pet’s body and can lead to renal, cardiovascular, or respiratory distress.
General symptoms of boric acid poisoning are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, physical distress, and disorientation. That is why boric acid should not be used in small applications, such as ant traps, if house pets have access to the treated area.
What to Do if Your Dog Eats Ant Bait?
If you noticed your dog eating ant bait or suspect it has eaten the bait before – you need to take urgent actions and not wait until symptoms of severe poisoning appear. You need to take your pet to the nearest vet clinic as soon as possible!
The order of the measures to take includes:
take away your pet from the poisoned bait;
don’t stimulate vomiting by yourself;
write down or remember what exactly, how much, and when your dog ate something;
call your vet and describe the symptoms (it will help the vet prepare the antidote before you arrive);
if there’s a chance, take a sample of the bait with you to show the doctor.
What Are Your Thoughts About Pet Safe Ant Killers?
If you keep your house clean, but ants still choose your home as their refuge, the best solution is to use the proven methods to deal with them. Natural remedies do not always turn out to be effective, and getting rid of ants with their help is a difficult task. A large colony of these insects can build many nests in different places of the apartment, and finding them all will be difficult.
At the same time, some natural solutions like boric acid will be hazardous for your pets. So if you face such a problem as ant infestation – don’t waste your time and choose a quality product for pest control, which will be a pet-safe way to get rid of ants. In this article, I have given a short review of how the best pet safe ant killers work and how to use them correctly.
I hope my thoughts and advice were helpful, and that you’ll share your opinion with me. Have you tried any of the products from the list above to cope with ants in your house? Do you believe natural methods are sufficient in killing ants? I am waiting anxiously for your feedback.
Studying how pathogens cause disease (U.S. Food & Drug Administration): https://www.fda.gov/drugs/news-events-human-drugs/studying-how-pathogens-cause-disease
D-Limonene: safety and clinical applications (National Library of Medicine National Center for Biotechnology Information): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18072821/
Octopamine-mediated neuromodulation of insect senses (National Library of Medicine National Center for Biotechnology Information): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17484052/
Ants with white bottoms AKA ghost ants may not seem like that big of a deal at first glance. In fact, you probably won’t even notice them with an unarmed eye…
Until you do.
When that time comes (and it will come sooner rather than later), the sight in front of you won’t be pleasant.
You see, these 1/16th of an inch buggers know that there is strength in numbers. Ghost ant colonies reach tens of thousands of workers “ruled” by several queens. Their royal presence allows colonies to branch over several nesting sites across your home within a week or so.
Luckily, an ant infestation is more of an unpleasant nuisance than anything else. These small white ants don’t typically cause any serious trouble. They are simply unpleasant and there’s a weird coconut-like smell coming from their colonies.
Still, they are unwanted guests, and the process of getting rid of them is rather dubious. Hence, I felt the need to write this guide.
Today we’ll learn about:
What these tiny buggers are;
How to identify a ghost ant infestation;
And, of course, how to kill ghost ants.
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Find the habitat of the ghost ants. Keep in mind that there may be several colonies under your wallpaper.
Use Syngenta Optiguard. It is a transparent gel – a bait against ants.
Use ant control pellets from AMDRO.
Use TERRO. It is one of the easiest ant baits on the market.
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What Are Ghost Ants and Where Did They Get Their Name?
Ghost ants were given their spooky name thanks to their petite size and a fairly decent camouflage. Their darker heads and white bodies are designed to blend with dark surfaces such as a tree trunk or a wall of a building.
These ants are also known as clear ants or sugar ants due to their dietary preferences. In simpler words, they have a sweet tooth, often preferring sugar to more nutritious leftovers.
While generally being well-spread across the Americas, ghost ants in Florida are a much more common sight simply because of all the moisture in the area.
Typical Behavior of Ghost Ants
Ghost ants build their colonies in areas with high levels of moisture. Once the little guys are settled in, you’ll be seeing bands of marching worker ants around your sink. One might even assume that there is a certain level of intelligence and careful planning that went to developing the marching roots.
That’s entirely false, though. Ghost ants are simply doing a nice job at tracking one another. If disturbed, these invisible ants transform into a legion of chaos running erratically without any visible patterns.
When inside, most nests will be located in the kitchen and bathroom areas, inside aluminum supports, and under flower pots.
Dietary Preferences of Small White Ants
On the bright side, these small white ants eat other insects, so there’s a chance they’ll do a little bit of pest control for you.
Alas, the ants will also feast on anything they can get their antennas on which includes bread, greens, and everything containing the slightest bit of sugar.
What Are the Telltale Signs of an Infestation?
There’s only one sign of an ant infestation, but it is very telling. If you’ve managed to spot a single worker ant, there’s a 99.9% chance he came from a colony nearby.
Check your front and back yards and pay special attention to dead tree limbs, firewood piles, or any laying stones. This simple inspection should lead you to the source of an upcoming infestation.
If the ants are already in the house, however, they are probably in the places we’ve mentioned above. Keep in mind that there might be multiple colonies roaming under your wallpapers.
Yucky.
What’s the Best Way to Get Rid of Ghost Ants?
The worst aspect of an ant infestation is the sheer volume of the pests living in your home. You can try keeping all the food sealed, but the rascals will probably find something else to eat. Physically destroying a nest won’t do a lot of damage as well. Ghost ants are extremely mobile.
More on the matter, I’ve observed them carrying eggs from one nest to another as a response to danger. A decent ghost ant killer such as Syngenta, TERRO, or AMDRO is probably your best shot.
Top 3 Ghost Ant Killers in My Opinion
In my experience, decent bait is the most efficient method of dealing with a ghost ant infestation. I’ve tried out many solutions offered on the market and here is my personal little top list.
Optiguard by Syngenta is a transparent ant bait gel designed for indoor and outdoor use. The clear gel-like structure of the solution attracts workers who bring the poison into their colony, effectively killing everyone feeding on it, including brood and the queen.
It is packaged in a syringe simplifying the application – you can easily get rid of ghost ants in your car without staining the fabric. So yeah, ghost ants in the car are no longer a worry.
The formula does not leave any marks, so you are free to use the bait indoors behind a wallpaper.
Optiguard is also quite flexible. It kills fire ants, carpenter ants, and phantom ants alike.
Pros:
Cons:
flexible in application;
multi-purpose;
does not leave stains;
remains palatable for up to two weeks;
approved for use indoors and outdoors.
the syringe is rather small, so you’ll probably need to purchase multiple baits to deal with a large infestation.
2. AMDRO Ant Block Granule – Best Ant Block Granule
The ant block granule by AMDRO is the best ghost ant control granule I’ve had the pleasure of working with. A single bottle is enough to cover 1,000 linear feet, and the solution has recommended itself as a spectacular queen (hence the entire colony) killer.
Do note that this granule is designed for outdoor use only. It will protect your home from pesky workers finding their way inside, but if they are already in, I’d recommend a solution with more finesse.
Pros:
Cons:
powerful bait that kills ants before they make their way inside;
a single bottle is enough to protect most households;
TERRO is one of the simplest outdoor ant baits on the market. One pack contains 16 stakes of bait you can place around your home to let the magic happen. The stakes have a built-in bait monitor that makes sure you know when it is time to replace the bait.
The logic behind TERRO bait is simple – the ants can’t get inside when they are dead. The stakes contain a long-running poison worker ants will carry into their colony killing everyone inside the ant house.
All in all, TERRO is a great ghost ant infestation prevention solution.
Pros:
Cons:
1 pack is enough to protect a household for a long period of time;
TERRO is simple in application;
the steaks are quite user-friendly thanks to the bait indicator;
the bait kills multiple species of ants.
outdoor use only;
the bait is scented to attract ants. The smell, however, may seem equally delicious to pets.
FAQ
Are Ghost Ants Dangerous?
No, not really.
Do They Sting?
No, they are too small to cause any harm to a human or even a smaller domestic animal such as a dog or a cat.
How to Get Rid of Ghost Ants Naturally?
There’s no surefire way to get rid of sugar ants naturally. They are resilient and mobile, but if you are meticulous enough, you can try to spot and physically destroy all of their nests. Also, keep all of your food sealed as a general rule of thumb.
You can also try mixing water with lemon juice and sprinkle it around the nest but, honestly, I’ve seen mixed results when using this method.
Summing up Our Ghost Ant Control Guide
Now that you know who the small white ants you’ve seen marching towards your sink are, what they eat, and how they act. You know where to find them and how to kill them.
That being said, I highly advise you to approach purchasing ant poison with due diligence. After all, these are poisons you are buying, so if you choose not to go with the options I’ve selected, please take the time to do your homework and always consider your surroundings.
For instance, you may not own a pet, but your neighbors might. Can the animal access your backyard? Will there be children playing around? Do you have any allergies? These are the questions you must always ask yourself before making an ant trap purchasing decision.
Ghost Ant (University of Florida): http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/ghost_ant.htm
Ant Infestation (UtahStateUniversity): https://extension.usu.edu/pests/uppdl/faq/ant-infestation
Ant Colonies: Culture or Personality? (University of Minnesota): https://manifold.umn.edu/read/ant-colonies-culture-or-personality/section/4fc74c4d-9520-4e4d-98a8-6b5ca726f44d
Garden pest control is the constant work of a gardener. Ants are not only the most common but also one of the most harmful insects. Their families grow exceptionally quickly, populating the surroundings, and attempting to plant your garden. Where the ants are, there are always a lot of aphids. In symbiosis, the work of ants and aphids can not only harm plantings but also eventually leads to their death.
Ant food is not just caterpillars. Ants eat the grown vegetables, fruits and greenery, creating tunnels in them. These pests also spoil the decorativeness of the site. Like moles, ants destroy the earth, filling it with endless moves. Because of the large number of tunnels in the soil, the air and water permeability of the soil are disturbed.
Fighting ants is a challenging process, a lengthy task that often does not bring long-term results. How to get rid of ants? Here I have an Amdro ant bait review. It helps you to find the most effective means to save your garden.
Amdro is one of the most popular brands on the market. It has a trustworthy reputation because of the effectiveness of its products.
Amdro ant bait ingredients are toxic and contain the poisons that eliminate the whole ant colony. The brand claims that their products are effective against 15 ant species. In this review, I’ll help you to find out everything about the baits and answer the main questions such as: is Amdro ant bait safe for pets? How to use the baits? What substances do these products contain?
Amdro Ant Block Granule — Amdro Ant Killer Granules For Outdoors
For over 40 years, the Amdro brand has been creating products that help to eliminate pests. This brand produces items for outdoor and indoor use. Due to them, you can get rid of spiders, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and different kinds of ants.
Effectiveness
Amdro Ant Block Granule works against 15 kinds of ants, including carpenter ants. It’s a granular bait, so you can combine it with other treatments and use it indoors. The treatment contains a poison of slow action. It eliminates the queen and the rest of the ant colony.
Hydramethylnon is an active ingredient of the whole line of the Amdro products. It confuses the energy generation of the cells in pests with the system of delayed toxicity.
The bait attracts the ants with its smell. The whole colony comes to taste it and shares it. That’s why it eliminates the entire group. Amdro Ant Block Granule is effective for up to three months.
Price
The price is quite affordable. You can purchase a 24 Ounce pack starting from $14. For around $7, you can buy a 12 Ounce pack. One 24 Ounce bottle covers about five times the average house area. That’s a real steal.
Ease of Use
It’s not a big deal to use the given product. Just follow the instructions. The soil should be dry before and after the use of Amdro Ant Block Granule. Distribute the treatment around the area and leave on the ground—no additional work needed. Besides, you can purchase special stations and try them.
Sprinkle the granules where you see the traces of ants or directly next to the anthill itself. Do not moisten the soil after use, otherwise, the soil will absorb the product.
Safety
Amdro active ingredient is a poison. That’s why it’s not safe for pets and children. Wait for a few hours before letting kids and pets go outside after the use of baits. Watch out for your household, and don’t let them touch or eat the granules.
Overall product score: 4.8
Pros:
Cons:
works against 15 kinds of ants;
affordable;
kills the entire colony.
dangerous for pets and kids;
ineffective on the wet ground.
Amdro Fire Ant Yard Treatment Bait — How to Use Amdro Ant Bait Against Fire Ants
Fire ants can harm not only your garden and the plants that are there, but also you. They also can attack pets and bite them. The ant sting injects poison, which not only hurts but can also lead to death.
The Amdro brand also has a product that can help you to manage these dangerous pests. You can use it for your lawn protection, garden, and ornamental areas. However, the substance shouldn’t be applied to the vegetables and other food crops that you grow.
Effectiveness
The treatment works due to the combination of the regulator of pests growth and the ant bait. The ants perceive the bait as treatment. That’s why they carry it to the mound. They feed the entire colony and the queen that can’t produce new ants after it ate the substance. So the colony starves without new ants and dies out.
As for the composition, this agent also contains hydramethylnon and methoprene. These toxic substances affect the nervous system of insects.
Price
You can purchase 2 pounds of Amdro Fire Ant Yard Treatment Bait for around $11. Five-pound pack is available for around $18. That’s a fair price for something that works.
Ease of Use
As was noticed in the previous Amdro ant killing bait review, the soil should be dry before and after the use. If you expect the heavy rain, don’t apply the substance. The best time for application is morning or late afternoon.
You need only 1 pound per 1000 square feet for a massive invasion. If the invasion is moderate, 1 pound per 2,000 square feet is enough.
The product contains a few types of poison. So, it’s not safe for your pets, children, and you. After use, you have to wash your hands properly and don’t let others touch or taste it. The poison is dangerous not only for fire ants but also for other types of living creatures after ingestion.
Pros:
Cons:
eliminates the ants in two weeks;
affordable price;
easy-to-use.
toxic;
effective on the wet ground.
Buyer’s Guide
One package of the product can be used up to five times. If you have a more serious case, take a 24 ounces pack of Amdro Ant Block Granule or 5 pounds of Amdro Fire Ant Bait. Amdro Ant Block Granule eliminates 15 types of ants.
If you have a problem with fire ants, you can try Amdro Fire Ant Bait. Use bait stations for better results. Remember that the baits contain toxic substances that are dangerous for you and your household.
Terro is a liquid substance, but the principle of work is the same. The liquid inside the bait station also attracts the ants; they eat the treatment and share it with other members of the colony. It’s based on the borax, unlike the Amdro with its hydramethylnon base.
Both baits are toxic and dangerous for humans and pets. This kind of bait also suits for indoors while Amdro can only be used outside.
Advance granules have the same action as Amdro products. They also contain the slow-acting poison. These granules are safe enough for pets and children because they are almost invisible. Advance works against different kinds of ants; it’s also easy-to-use. However, the main advantage of this substance is weather-resistance, so you can be sure that it works even after the rain.
One of the main differences between baits is that the Advance 375a needs to be placed on the bait station. Amdro can be spread around your lawn or garden area, so it provides better protection.
Target Species: Crickets, Earwigs, Fleas, Roaches (German and American), Palmetto Bugs, Water Bugs, Millipedes, Mites, Silverfish, Sowbugs (Pillbugs) And Other Listed Insects
Amdro and Spectracide have the same form of granules and the same method of use. Spectracide is toxic and dangerous for pets and children. The price of the product is quite affordable. Unlike Amdro, the given product kills the ants immediately.
Sounds good, but there’s an issue: the insects that ate the treatment die while the rest of the colony lives, including the queen.
FAQ
How Does Amdro Work?
Amdro contains a slow-acting poison that attracts ants. They eat granules and share them with the entire colony. Due to this fact, you can eliminate all insects even if you don’t know where they live.
How Long Does Amdro Take to Kill Ants?
The substance starts to work in a few days. It takes about two weeks to eliminate the whole ants’ colony.
Does Amdro Kill Carpenter Ants?
Amdro Ant Block Granule works against 15 different kinds of ants. The carpenter ants are included.
Amdro Ant Block Granule kills 15 different kinds of ants. However, if you want to have a narrowly targeted tool, try Amdro Fire Ant Yard Treatment Bait.
Choose a Bait and Follow the Instructions
Whether you have a year-round ant problem or they only appear during the hot months or, think using Amdro Ant Baits. This brand produces insecticides for a long time, and it’s trustworthy. With the help of the products in my Amdro ant bait reviews, you can eliminate the whole group of ants even if you don’t know where the colony is.
However, there are some rules of use you shouldn’t ignore. Wash your hands after applying. Don’t let pets and kids play in the areas that were processed. The most important part is not to moisture the soil before and after the bait use. You’re welcome to share your experience of exterminating ants in the section below.
While ants may be small creatures, their problem is big enough to ask for help. Once spring comes, the ants return and do not leave your household until the winter. In numerous states, these pests do not get a break at all. They can live in your garden and your home.
These small trouble makers are a hard-working unstoppable force that never sleeps. It is enough for you to leave bread crumbs on a table, and you will see the army of ants marching across your kitchen the next day. I am going to help you to get rid of them using all my knowledge and experience as an entomologist.
Everything You Want to Know About Ants
If you are looking for the best way to kill ants in the kitchen, it means that these insects have managed to attract your attention. I would have never called them parasites, as they are an important part of nature. However, I strongly believe that they shouldn’t be living in your kitchen. And once they appear in your house, you need to take measures immediately.
Let’s start at the very beginning. There are over 22 000 species of ants dwelling on the planet. That does not mean that they all will invade your kitchen one day. On the contrary, there are 5 common types of these insects that may be attracted to your kitchen. They are:
Black ants or Monomorium minimum, which are the most common for the US’ households;
All of these types are tiny in size, usually hardly reaching 1/8 inch in length. They all live in well-organized colonies, and barely can be seen separated from the group. After getting inside the house, they will quickly form the colony as well.
What Attracts Ants into Your Kitchen
You may be wondering why ants prefer to live in your kitchen instead of the bathroom, for example. The thing is ants have extremely good smell receptors. They feel the odor of the food from afar and are immediately attracted to it. In comparison, other insects have five times fewer odor receptors than ants.
These tiny creatures can notice even tiny spots from the spilled juice or crumbs from your birthday cake. And if you believe that the garbage can under the sink may save you, you are mistaken. Ants will crawl inside the can or package in case it is open. Even if your house is perfectly clean, you have to take care of throwing garbage in time.
Small insects need the source of water too. If your faucet has a tiny leak, ants will feel that. I have witnessed ants living under the leaky dishwasher multiple times. So if you need to prevent these pests from invading your house, you have to make sure that it is not only perfectly clean but dry. Don’t forget to clean the sink and remove the food from the table.
Inspection of the House
While ants can easily live indoors and outdoors, we are talking about the housing problem. It is important to find the roots of the issue, so you can act directly. If you can’t find the source of the ant infestation in the kitchen, you have to follow this brief instruction.
The steps to follow:
Take a flashlight and check out your sink, dishwasher, microwave, stove, refrigerator, cabinets as well as every dark and hard-to-reach corner of your kitchen;
Don’t forget to take a good look behind the refrigerator, below the dishwasher and cabinets if there is a space;
Take a jar from honey or peanut butter and place it near the place where you have noticed ants;
Place a small amount of peanut butter on one end of the lid and honey on another;
Leave this bait for the night. Check out where the traces go, and which bait is more preferable for them based on the marks left by ants;
You can follow their marks around the house.
The Most Common Ways to Get Rid of Ants
Ants are an easy target. They prefer to live in groups, and once you repel the poison on a few ants, they will bring back and spread across the entire nest. Sounds easy, right? Well, these insects have created an immunity to numerous natural and chemical poisons.
This is why it is important to use not one but several types of the weapon, and don’t forget to take preventive measures as well, including cleaning all your trash, fixing the leaks, hiding the food. The most known ways to kill ants are:
Natural and chemical-based repellents, including organic sprays.
Preventive Measures
If you don’t want to worry about how to kill ants in the kitchen in the future, you have to think strategically. Learn everything about your enemy, including the type of insects that live in your area. Find out whether they are immune to various poisons and don’t like the baits.
After that you have to do the next:
Plant the mint around your house. It may sound weird, but mint is the most hateful plant for many insects and pests in general;
Get rid of any moisture in the kitchen. Make sure that pipes are not leaking;
If you have sweets at home, put them in a jar or box that will be unreachable for ants;
Clean the entire house, as ants may feel even the faded odor of the juice spilled on the floor;
Get rid of the garbage in time.
FAQ
Why Do I Have Ants in My Kitchen?
There are different reasons why you experience the kitchen ant problem. Sometimes you have nothing to do with the appearance of this problem. For example, they can crawl from your neighbors to you. They can be lured by your plants in the garden and attracted to water in your kitchen sink. The most common reasons for ants’ appearance are:
The strong pleasant odor from the kitchen that attracts them;
Crumbs of bread or any other pastry;
Moisture in the kitchen;
Garbage.
What Are Signs of Kitchen Ant Infestation?
If you don’t see ants running in front of you, it does not mean that they are not living in your kitchen. However, numerous insects can be attracted to your kitchen as well. So, how can you say for sure that your new tenants are ants, without seeing them yourself? Here are a few things you have to pay attention to:
Leftovers look like they were bitten by small insects;
The food in your pet’s bowl is eaten but not by your pet;
There are small mountains in the corner of your kitchen, which is the nest.
Sooner or later, you will notice the stray of ants marching across the kitchen. They do not hide. You may also spot a few ants here or there. Even if you see one, it would be better to follow its trace.
Will Baking Soda Kill Ants?
A popular myth that many of us have heard before is that baking soda may kill the entire colony of ants. According to this legend, all you have to do is to sprinkle this mineral, baking soda, right in front of several ants. They will carry this ingredient to their nest, and… kaboom!
Baking soda is eaten by all the ants and exploded in their stomachs. Is it true? There is no scientific evidence of the efficiency of this process. No one has ever seen it before. I recommend using only trustable ant baits and poisons, but if you want to try, nobody stops you.
How to Kill Ants with Vinegar?
Vinegar is considered to be one of the natural remedies from these insects. Some people mix vinegar with baking soda for the best effect. What we know so far is that ants can’t stand vinegar for their reasons. So, if you want a DIY recipe here, just mix the vinegar and water in 50/50 proportion, and put it in a spray bottle.
Spray this substance on the ants, it will kill them, and remove the insects immediately from the surface with a paper towel.
Natural Ways: What Kills Ants in the Kitchen?
I have already mentioned mint here, which is one of the best ways to scare away ants from your doorsteps. If you don’t have a garden, you can simply use peppermint oil. Several homemade organic recipes may be useful for you:
Peppermint extract can be sprayed on the most suspected areas. You can leave the oil on the cotton ball;
Lemon juice can eliminate the scent of the food that ants are attracted to. So, if you don’t want to get deal with these insects, you can spray the lemon juice and wipe it around the house, especially near the doors;
Cinnamon is considered to be a killer of ants. The insect inhales it and dies. You may sprinkle cinnamon around the house, or use the ground cinnamon. If you don’t have one, use the oil. Mix it with the water and spray near the doors and windows;
Black and cayenne peppers are a tough mix even for a human. Ants hate them. If you have only one kind of pepper, that’s ok, it will work perfectly. Mix the pepper with the water or use the dry substance. Apply it near the nest;
Diatomaceous earth. You have to be careful with it. It kills numerous insects and pests and may irritate your eyes and skin. While applying, use the mask. Make sure that children and pets will not be able to get to this substance before the ants.
This is my list of professional ant killers for you. I tried to gather here different types of ant killers, from organic to chemical ones, different developers, and I hope everyone will be able to find the product they were looking for. If not, point out that in the comments.
1. Syngenta TRTD11568 Optigard Ant Bait Gel Box – Quick Way to Eliminate Ants in Kitchen
Optigard Ant Bait Gel Box by Syngenta kills different types of ants, including Argentine, ghost, and carpenter ants. It does not kill pharaoh ants, so you have to check out what types of ants are messing with you. The pack includes a syringe with poisonous bait. The little amount is enough to kill the whole colony.
This bait works well not only on workers but kills queens and brood. You can apply it both indoors and outdoors. The main ingredient is Thiamethoxam. Apply the small amount of gel close to the nest. Ants will carry it to the colony and infect others.
Pros:
Cons:
the powerful formula kills the insects immediately;
savvy product;
kills multiple types of ants;
works over 14 days since applying;
destroys the whole nest.
it does not kill pharaoh ants.
2. Ant Killer: Terro Liquid Baits – Liquid Trap for Killing Kitchen Ants
Ant Killer: Liquid Baits by Terro include 3 packs with 18 baits in total. It kills various household ants. Each trap contains Borax. They are already gathered, so you don’t have to prepare traps by yourself. The main actions of the user are to find a place that is unreachable by children and pets and put these baits there. Once the insect feels the bait, it carries it to the nest.
This product usually kills the entire colony of ants. To make sure that all the insects are killed, you can place one more bait at the same place. The bait attracts ants immediately. The odor of the bait is strong for these insects, and it has a long-lasting effect.
Pros:
Cons:
there are 18 baits in the pack;
easy to install;
can be placed in hardly reachable places;
kills the entire colony of ants;
extremely effective.
it contains chemicals.
3. MDX Concepts Organic Home Pest Control Spray – the Best Natural Spray for Ant Extermination
No products found.
Organic Home Pest Control Spray of MDX Concepts is a natural solution to your problem. It is safe for children and pets. Besides, this spray can be used not only for ants, but fleas, roaches, bugs, spiders, mites, and even scorpions. Although I have never tried this item on scorpions, I checked it out on ants and roaches. It was created from non-toxic ingredients and passed all the quality controls.
The spray has a long-lasting effect. It helps not only to get rid of ants but actually to keep them far from the house. There is a guarantee of money back in case the spray turns out to be ineffective. The main ingredients of the spray are peppermint, rosemary, and spearmint oils.
Home Defense Insect Killer by Ortho is a 1.1 GAL pack of liquid poison. It does not have any disturbing strong odor and dries really quickly without leaving stains. Apart from ants, it kills fleas, cockroaches, ticks, and spiders. This product acts for a year after applying. It creates some kind of a barrier that prevents insects from getting into your house.
There is a wand for easy application. Decide where you want to apply the substance and spray it there. Make sure this place is unreachable for children.
Pros:
Cons:
affordable price;
it does not have an odor;
the effect lasts for 12 months;
the pack is savvy;
it kills numerous insects.
must be kept away from children and pets.
5. Advance 375a Select Granular Ant Bait – the Savvy Leader Among the Best Ant Traps for Kitchen
Advance 375a Select Granular Ant Bait by Home-Outdoor offers an effective killing mechanism. It contains Abamectin 0.01 percent and is considered to be extremely powerful. This product works on various types of ants, including pharaoh, little black, argentine, thief, fire, carpenter, acrobat, bigheaded, fields, and harvester species.
You can use the bait both indoors and outdoors. However, you have to be cautious when applying the bait in your home. You have to keep away the bait from children.
Pros:
Cons:
affordable price;
effective components;
kills all the possible household ants
acts immediately.
the bait must be kept far from children and pets
Which Bait to Choose
I recommend you to take a good look at all the products from my list. I have chosen some of the most affordable propositions on the market, which I have personally tried. I hope I have managed to explain to you how to prevent ants in the kitchen with both DIY baits and professional items.
If you have more questions, you can ask them in the comments below. I believe that you are able to buy several items from the list, depending on your own preferences. If you have children and pets at home, pay attention to my warnings.
Once you have used a particular item from the list, tell me how do you like it? Which one is your favorite?
References:
Ants (Illinois Department of Public Health) https://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/environmental-health-protection/structural-pest-control/ants
Ants (University of Minnesota Extension) https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/ants
Ants in the Home (Colorado State University Extension) https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/ants-in-the-home-5-518/
Ants don’t have to be a bother inside. Get rid of ants naturally (Metro News) https://www.oregonmetro.gov/news/ants-dont-have-be-bother-inside-get-rid-ants-naturally
Many people have come to me expressing their frustration regarding ants in their residential settings. Well, for many individuals, these little insects are very irritating, and getting a strategy to eliminate them is priceless. Prior to becoming an entomologist, I also had my own share of struggles with ants, and never knew of any 100% effective way to get rid of them. I received suggestions, but none had satisfying results.
I tried several poison products, and though some ants died, the products were not effective in eliminating entire colonies. The ants kept reappearing after a short period following treatment. Now I have the expertise needed, and I’ve helped numerous clients eradicate ants and other insects from their homes and places of work. Today I understand better why contact poison never worked, and I recommend using baits to kill ants.
What makes baits effective in getting rid of ants is that they not only have the poison but also have luring ingredients which make ants leave their hiding. Basic contact poison will work only when ants happen to come across the poisoned food, and they leave chances for some ants to survive. In that case, if you’re wondering, “do ant baits work?”, the answer is yes. Still, there are numerous ant baits around, and some are substandard products that do not promise satisfying results.
You might be wondering how you can understand which ant bait is pleasingly effective and safe to use either indoors or in an outdoor setting. Well, it is the reason why I decided to do ant bait reviews of the most effective products on the market and to provide infested homes owners with an informative buyer’s guide.
With the wide range of ant bait products available out there, there are ant baits whose effectiveness is short-lived, and there are others that last for months. Some are weather-tolerant, while others become ineffective under certain weather conditions. Some are environment friendly, and others are not. Everyone wants to get value for their money, and therefore these reviews highlight the best-selling and most effective baits and their features.
1. Syngenta TRTD11568 Optigard – Best Ant Bait Gel
The Syngenta TRTD11568 is a versatile ant bait as it is suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications. It features a mix of the lethal active ingredient and a luring attractant, and this makes it a very effective bait for eradicating entire colonies. It has a unique syringe design with which the bait gel is administered. The thin nozzle makes it possible to get inside hard to reach areas such as cracks and holes, and this enhances the speed at which ants are wiped out.
It also has enticing elements that attract ants to their death. The ants do not die immediately after ingestion, and they have enough time to get back to their colonies where they contaminate others, and the entire colony is eliminated. Thiamethoxam, which is the active ingredient, interferes with the digestive system of the ants. The bait saves you months of ant frustration as it is powerful, and the effect lasts a couple of months. It is a product I’ve used on several occasions, perhaps the best ant bait gel I’ve used, and based on the satisfactory results, I would recommend it to anyone.
Pros:
Cons:
It is easy to target ants in hard-to-reach areas;
It has a highly alluring formula that attracts ants from their hiding;
The active ingredient can be easily passed throughout the colony by contamination;
Suits both indoor and outdoor use;
Its effectiveness lasts for long.
It is somewhat pricey.
2. Terro T300-3 Ant Killer – Best Liquid Ant Bait
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Specifications:
Style: Liquid Bait
Item Weight: 14 ounces
Number of Pieces: 6
Item Dimensions LxWxH: 4.75 x 3.5 x 7 inches
Target Species: Ant
Terro T300-3 is a powerful liquid ant bait that contains borax as a poisonous element, and it affects the digestive system of the insects. I think it is one of the top efficient and easy to use indoor ant baits as it allows ample time for poisoned ants to contaminate all members of the colony. The attractant in the liquid draws ants from their nests and hideouts, such as cracks. Therefore it can wipe the entire ant population from your residence in a short while.
The bait can be placed under furniture, appliances, and even on top of surfaces, depending on where the ants are concentrated. The liquid bait lasts for several weeks, and it eradicates ants for up to a 3 months span. Over this period, the liquid remains fresh and active, thanks to the stay-fresh tab, which is designed to ensure that the liquid does not dry. Another notable feature that facilitates easy usability is snap-off design. It makes opening the bait effortless as one does not need scissors to do it. Ranking among the best liquid ant bait stations, I would recommend it mostly for use inside the house.
Pros:
Cons:
It has a luring formula that attracts ants from their nests;
It is great for indoor use, especially in places not easily accessible;
Its effectiveness spans up to 3 months;
It has a stay-fresh tab that keeps the bait liquid fresh and effective;
It has a snap-off design that makes it easy to open and apply.
Not very suitable for outdoor settings.
3. Advance 375a Select Granular Ant Bait – Protein Ant Bait
If you’re looking for a bait suitable for application in yards where kids and pets play, the Advance 375a Select Granular bait is an excellent option. It’s one of the best ant baits, and the first feature that makes it suitable for outdoor applications is weather tolerance. Its effect on ants is not affected by varying weather conditions.
It is also easy to apply as the granules can be broadcasted or placed as a mound depending on the location of the infestation. It is an easy-to-apply protein ant bait. Containing food-based attractants, this bait will lure ants from their nests, and its effect will last for several weeks after a single application. Again, it effectively eradicates a wide selection of ant species, and these include sugar ants, argentine ants, and carpenter ants, among others. The bait is odor-free and isn’t easily noticeable after treatment. It is also my most recommended bait not only because of its efficiency but also because it does not pose a threat to humans and pets.
Pros:
Cons:
Its effectiveness lasts for weeks;
The bait is weather-resistant;
It is easy to apply;
It is effective for controlling a wide range of ant species;
Contains food-based attractants for luring ants.
The packaging is a little bulky.
4. Amdro Ant Block Granule – Best Outdoor Ant Bait
The Amdro Ant Block Granule bait is one of the baits I highly endorse for outdoor use based on its superiority and ability to withstand different weather conditions. It is a powerful bait product for controlling ants in the compound before they invade the house and cause havoc. If you are interested in long-term effectiveness, then this bait should be among your top considerations as it eradicates ants for a duration of up to 3 months.
Being one of the most effective ant baits, this Amdro Ant Block Granule bait works on an extensive range of ant species. It is effective in destroying over 20 ant species. A single bottle of the bait is enough for multiple applications up to five times on an average home perimeter. It has a sweet ingredient that attracts the ants and a fatal active ingredient that kills them within a short while. It is easy to apply as the granules can be scattered in your yard or placed in mounds at strategic positions inside the house.
Pros:
Cons:
It is powerful for clearing entire colonies before they invade the house;
The treatment is effective for up to 3 months;
It is weather tolerant therefore great for outdoor use;
It is effective in eradicating over 20 ant species;
It is economical as the 24 Oz bottle can be used more than five times on an average home perimeter.
Some report packages not being completely full (haven’t happened to me though).
The Advion bait station is a product of Syngenta, one of the top manufacturers of safe and high-quality insecticide products around. Their Advion ant bait arena contains bait stations that have indoxacarb as the active ingredient and is lethal to ants when ingested. Its effect is not immediate, so it provides some room for poisoned ants to infect other colony members, including the queen.
Shortly after treatment, ants will swarm to the bait stations from their hiding, thanks to the luring elements in the bait that ants can’t resist. Looking at the usability aspect, its simple design makes it easy to use. Besides being safe to humans and pets, this bait is odorless and does not leave residues after application. Considering how powerful the active ingredient is, the effectiveness of this bait spans several months. It also destroys ant larvae. Considering that it is great for use both inside and outside the house, it is also among the most effective outdoor ant bait stations.
Pros:
Cons:
Has a slow-acting active ingredient that allows baited ants to contaminate other ants;
Another of Syngenta’s competitive products is the Advion Fire Ant Bait. It is a powerful bait that contains fast-acting constituents, which are effective in killing a wide variety of ant species. It makes the best choice if you want to get rid of fire ants. It is intuitive to apply as you can broadcast the bait on your compound or place molds near nest entrances. Noteworthy, this bait also destroys larvae, therefore ensuring that the next generation of ants is eliminated from your compound.
The bait is safe to apply on lawns and other outdoor areas as it does not pose any threat to humans after application. The alluring formulation attracts swarms of ants, which are then killed by the active ingredient. Larvae are not spared even as the bait works on worker ants and the queen. The bait gets rid of these nuisance insects for a duration of up to three months.
Pros:
Cons:
Contains a powerful and fast-acting formula;
Offers flexibility as it can be applied through broadcast or mound treatment;
Effective on ants at all life stages;
It is odorless and safe to apply for lawns and gardens;
It has an alluring formulation that ants can’t resist.
Not effective on all ant species.
7. Maxforce Carpenter Ant Bait – Gel Ant Bait
No products found.
The Maxforce Carpenter Ant Bait is a bait specifically tailored for eliminating carpenter ants, though it is also effective in killing several other species. It contains a luring honeydew solution that ants cannot resist. It is one of the sweet ant baits, and ants are attracted from their nests to their demise.
It features a syringe design that has a narrow nozzle for accessing hard-to-reach places. Also, this design fosters easy usability as an application of the bait isn’t strenuous. The bait is fatal in its effectiveness as it does not spare larvae. As to the duration of effectiveness, this Maxforce Carpenter ant bait keeps ants away for up to three months. It does not have an unpleasant odor, and, therefore, it can be conveniently used indoors. I would recommend it to homeowners.
Pros:
Cons:
Effective on all carpenter ant colonies;
Contains an alluring honeydew solution that attracts ants;
Contains powerful active ingredient for killing entire colonies;
Great for application in hard-to-reach areas;
Efficient for both indoor and outdoor use.
Not effective for all ant species.
Ant Baits Purchase Guide – What to Look For
Considering the extensive variation in ant baits by different manufactures, here are important aspects to consider when purchasing for purposes of effectiveness and great results:
Target ant type
It is justifiable to say that there is no single best ant bait for all infestation situations, but it is vital to choose one that best fits your circumstances. The first thing to consider is the type of ants you are targeting. There are numerous ant species, and different baits have been manufactured to eradicate different species. However, there are baits that work on a wide range of species, some over 30 ant types. You can check the manufacturer’s guide to see whether a bait is good for your target species.
Location of infestation
Whether the ants are outside or inside the house is an important factor to keep in mind. There are baits that have been specifically designed for outdoor use, others for indoor use, and some can be used in either setting. Most outdoor baits can withstand different weather elements, and therefore if you use an indoor ant bait in your yard, it might not produce satisfying results due to fluctuating weather elements. For example, liquid indoor baits are susceptible to drying when exposed to sun and therefore are not ideal for outdoor use.
Type of bait
Depending on the nature of the infestation, this should help you determine which bait type to go for. There is a number of bait types, which include liquid, granule, gel, and powder baits. Infestations can range from intensive when you are dealing with a large swarm to light with just a few ants with several nests around.
Granule and powder baits are typically efficient when dealing with a large swarm as the bait can be easily broadcasted over a large area. Noteworthy, these two types are most efficient when dealing with ants in an outdoor setting, as the application is easier. Gel and liquid baits are great when you have identified the exact locations of the nests, more so in an indoor setting. It is easier to apply these types of baits at the nest entrances, in cracks, and under furniture. Most gel baits come packed in a syringe-like container, and the narrow nozzle enables one to place the bait as close as possible to the colony.
Active ingredient
Different manufactures use different elements as active ingredients in their baits. Though not a major consideration, the active ingredient can be something you might want to reflect on when buying an ant bait.
How to Use an Ant Bait
Many people are not sure of how to use ant baits to obtain the best results. If you want to properly apply a product, it is first important to understand “how does ant bait work?” Ant baits are created to get rid of entire colonies, and that’s why most are slow-acting to allow exposed worker ants to contaminate other members of the colony.
The first thing to do is to observe the swarm’s movement. You can look for their favorite scavenging ground to understand where they enter your house and where their nest is. Getting this information will help you place the bait strategically for efficiency and effectiveness.
Considering there are different bait types as regards the packaging, different manufacturers give a step-by-step guide on the bait placement procedure. Check out the recommended procedure and follow it accordingly. Nonetheless, a general strategy that applies in all settings is to place the bait closest to the nest entrance. Doing this, you’ll press in the ants’ scavenging radius, and therefore ants are likely to find the bait faster.
FAQ
How long do ant baits take to work?
It takes approximately 48 hours for an ant to die after consuming the bait. Within this timeframe, the exposed ant goes back to the nest carrying the bait, and this way, it contaminates the entire colony, which eventually dies.
How do ants pass bait to each other?
Once a worker ant has ingested a bait, the effect is not instant, and therefore the ant goes back to the nest. Considering a worker ant’s job is to look for food, they take contaminated food back to the colony where other ants, including the queen, feed on the contaminated food.
What happens to ants when they eat ant bait?
Ant baits typically affect the digestive system of the ants. The sweet lure attracts the ants, which then consume the poisonous bait. When the bait is ingested, the active ingredient contained interferes with the internal systems, and this eventually leads to death.
Are ant baits safe for pets?
Ant baits are generally safe to use around pets. However, it is important to remember that different baits have different substances as the active ingredient, and some of them, such as boric acid, are toxic to pets. An animal would need to consume large amounts of the bait for it to be affected. Despite the little risk, it is important to exercise some precaution regarding where to place the bait.
Looking at some of the widely used active ingredients in baits, borax comes as a white powder and is mostly used with food-based attractants in ant baits. Thiamethoxam is another active ingredient in many ant baits, and one of the safest, having shown minimal effects on humans and pets and approved by relevant authorities. Indoxacarb is another widely used pesticide constituent, and it is considered by the EPA as a ‘reduced-risk’ active ingredient, so it is suitable for use in domestic settings.
Ants can be such a nuisance, more so in swarms. The use of baits is the most efficient strategy to eradicate them as it makes it possible to reach and kill the queen. Worker ants take the poison to the queen without the need of her coming out, therefore ending her colony and future generations. However, it is vital to purchase the right bait depending on the place and nature of the infestation.
Whether or not to go for an indoor bait or an outdoor bait depends on whether the swarm of ants is inside the house or in your compound outside. Also, consider your target ant species, as some baits have been specifically manufactured for killing specific species.
What ant baits have you used and seen satisfactory results? Can you recommend any effective products? Share your opinions in the section below.
Food preference and foraging activity of ants: Recommendations for field applications of low-toxicity baits (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206238/
Amongst farmers, pests rank high in terms of the challenges they have to deal with. They are expensive to eliminate and can cause huge losses if not dealt with. But, unfortunately, pests are also a threat to everyone and can invade your home.
Fire ants are one of the most stubborn pests you will ever have to deal with. These tiny creatures can cause huge damages within a very short time, by devouring almost anything they encounter. Besides, their stings are very painful and can cause allergies.
But how can you get rid of these troublesome pests? In my many years of experience as an entomologist, I have been asked to offer recommendations on effective chemical products that offer fast solutions. This has eventually triggered me to write on the best pesticides that can help you completely kill fire ants and their mounds.
I will also tell you about important aspects to consider when buying fire ant poison that works and give you some advice on how to apply red ant killers.
Speaking about how to kill red ants, I must admit that the most effective way to do it is to eliminate their entire colony and mound. How many pesticides are capable of doing this? Let’s have a look at the best products that can do the job.
1. Ortho Orthene Fire Ant Killer – Best Fire Ant Treatment Overall
Fire ants are very resilient, and many people, trying to get rid of them, often complain that the pesticides in the market don’t work. That’s why it’s crucial to understand how each pesticide is formulated to work and choose only products that have been scientifically tested.
In this respect, Ortho Orthene is the product that has proven its effectiveness in killing both fire ants and red harvester ants. The pesticide comes in a powder form so it can easily penetrate soil. When applying it, you will sprinkle enough of it on the ant’s mound and give it time to be absorbed. Its active ingredient is acephate, which effectively kills the ant queen, affecting its nervous system. If you want to achieve better results, you should apply this pesticide during periods when the ants are active.
The treatment will continue to remain effective in the soil for up to six months. It’s a huge advantage because, during this period, it will thwart any efforts by the ants to reconstitute themselves and have a new queen.
Pros:
Cons:
Can be used for killing both fire ants and red harvester ants;
Remains effective six months after application;
It’s in a powder form that allows it to penetrate the soil better;
It will start killing the ants within the first few hours after application.
Very strong and can be irritating to certain users and vegetation around.
2. Ortho Fire Ant Killer Broadcast Granules – Best Fire Ant Bait Lawn Protector
Here is one of the most effective Ortho pesticide products – the Ant Killer Broadcast Granules. This product is famous for its ability to help curb the spread of fire ants in your lawn or garden. The working mechanism is quite simple.
You’ll need a broadcast spreader to help you effectively sprinkle it on the target surfaces. When applied according to the specified measurements, the pesticide can help you control ants in an area of about five thousand square feet.
Once applied into a mound, these fire ant yard treatment granules will effectively kill the ants and destroy their habitats. Moreover, the pesticide remains effective for six months after application. This added advantage makes it impossible for the ants to form new mounds or to infest other areas close by.
Pros:
Cons:
It helps control the formation of new mounds or infestation of ants in the neighboring areas;
You don’t need to use water to make the pesticide effective;
It can help you control ants in a wide area.
Smell.
3. Amdro 100099072 Fire Ant Bait Granules – Effective Fire Ant Granules for Outdoor Use
This is another of those pesticides that work through baiting the ants and luring them to consume the granules. Everything about them, including their shape, is made to deceive the ants that it’s food. This is one of the characteristics that make this pesticide an appropriate choice for eliminating fire ants that have invaded your house.
You can sprinkle the granules on the pavements and leave them to attract the ants that have invaded your indoor space. The treatment will also remain effective when the worker ants take some of the granules to the queen. You can be sure that the whole colony will be wiped out.
Pros:
Cons:
It’s effective in eliminating other species of ants too;
The granules will attract the ants, which makes them a good option for eliminating ants that have invaded your indoor space;
Once applied, it can remain effective for even up to three months.
It may be ineffective after rain or due to excess water such as through irrigation.
4. Advion Fire Ant Bait Insecticide – Best Fire Ant Control Granules
Those that are familiar with Syngenta as a brand will tell you that for years it has continued to serve them well. They are a renowned company when it comes to manufacturing reliable animal and plant care products. Therefore, if their track record is to go by, you have all the reasons to trust Advion Bait insecticides.
As its name suggests, this insecticide works through a bait and kill technique. It has been made with a chemical that attracts fire ants by imitating the smell of their favorite food, and they eat the poison. The insecticide has been made to be slow-acting so that there is enough time for the worker ants to carry the poison back to their colony.
The effectiveness of Advion Ant Bait is improved because it adapts to the behavioral patterns of these insects. This also offers you more guarantees that the pesticide will eventually wipe out the whole colony. It has been made to specifically target small insects and is not harmful to your pets.
Pros:
Cons:
Not harmful for your pets;
It will help you eliminate fire ants at any stage of their life-cycle;
Safe to use even on pasture lands that are grazed by your domestic animals;
Very effective because it works by baiting the fire ants.
Can be rendered ineffective if the land is irrigated/ watered within 24 hours after application.
5. Surrender Fire Ant Killer – Effective Fire Ant Killer for Lawns
Humor aside, I don’t think I would have come up with a better name for this product. Simply including the phrase, “Surrender” makes you think it will not have any problems when it comes to exterminating ants. From a user experience perspective, I can tell you that this pesticide works.
In most descriptions of this product, you’ll notice that the manufacturer is keen to inform you that it contains acephate. People who have used pesticides with this chemical component can tell you it kills even those pests that hide under the soil surface. Its water solubility nature means that it can seep even below the soil. So you can use it to eliminate those fire ants that burrow deep tunnels to hide their queen.
How does it kill the ants? The acephate will systematically poison them, thereby weakening them to death. This process also explains why it can continue killing these pests and their mounds months after its application.
Pros:
Cons:
It has an acephate chemical component that works by systematically poisoning the pests;
Can be used to eliminate a variety of pests;
Once applied, it will remain active for long.
Its smell is not pleasing at all.
6. BioAdvanced 502832A Fire Ant Killer Dust – Pet Safe Fire Ant Killer
No products found.
A common challenge with most of these ant killers is that they tend to have irritating smells. This makes it harder for you to apply them in areas close to your pets or homestead. But BioAdvanced has a low-odor formula and kills fire ants fast.
This dust is also friendly to vegetation around. This means that you can apply it evenly around your flower beds without fear. The pesticide works by destroying all the mound and killing the queen together with her colony.
Pros:
Cons:
Doesn’t have irritating smells;
Effective in destroying the mound;
Easy to apply because you just need to sprinkle it.
Certain customers have complained that it causes ants to migrate as opposed to killing them.
7. Advion Plungers Cockroach Insecticide – Multi-Purpose Fire Ant Poison For Inside
The Advion Ant gel has gained a good reputation among the professional exterminators for its effectiveness in the elimination of various ant species. It’s a popular product and for a good reason. The gel contains a chemical ingredient known as indoxacarb that works well by baiting the target pest and killing it by damaging their nervous system.
There is a lot of research in the field of animal pharmacology about this fire ant killer. Some findings reveal that it is effective in killing many other pests. That’s why I also recommend this product for roaches. The thing is that you can expect similar results even when using it to eliminate fire ants.
Pros:
Cons:
It works by first baiting the target then poisoning it;
It can be used to eliminate different kinds of pest infestations;
It’s very cost-effective.
May be toxic to your pets.
How to Choose the Best Product to Kill Fire Ants?
When it comes to best fire ant killer reviews, you will always get mixed feelings about the different brands. Certain customers will be complaining that a product they used did not yield the expected results. On the same page, you will find others raving about the same product. Opinions can vary because some people failed to follow the recommended instructions. So how do you get to know which pesticides are guaranteed to yield you good results if used effectively? Below is a list of factors you should take into account.
Types of Ant Killing Pesticides
Different brands use different methods when making their pesticides and manufacture them in different forms. But it doesn’t mean that one form is inferior to others. The decision which form is suitable for you depends on where you are going to apply the pesticide and the tools available for application. So let’s discuss types of fire ant insecticide in detail.
Ant granules
This form of pesticides utilizes the bait technique to trick the ants to consuming them, hence poisoning them. Due to the social nature of the ants, they will carry the granules back into the mound just like any other food. This works to your advantage because eventually, the queen and larvae will consume them, thereby ending the whole colony. This form of fire ant killer is generally suitable if you are looking for a pesticide to apply outdoors, for example, your lawn, fields, and yards. Granules can remain effective for a long time, even when they come in contact with water.
Ant Sprays
An ant spray is a liquid fire ant killer that usually kills the ant once it comes into contact with it. This makes sprays very effective. Based on how they work, this form of fire ant killer is best used when you want to eliminate ants that have camped in your house. It’s also a good option if you are trying to find a fast solution to eliminate a high population of ants.
Ant gels
These are ant killers that come packed in tubes. The packages are shaped like syringes that make it easier for you to apply them on surfaces. Gels can be a good option for applying on cracks and holes that the ants use to get into your house. They attract ants as bait so you can apply them in areas around your pavements.
Safety Concerns
The process of eliminating ants should not cause more damage than intended. You do not want a situation when you may end up eliminating pets together with the fire ants. Therefore, always look for products that have a minimal negative impact, if any on pets.
Time the Red Ant Killer Needs to Start Working?
How bad is your ant problem, and how fast do you want it to solve? It will depend on the type of fire ant killer you choose to buy. You should read the manufacturer’s instructions on the pesticide to understand how long it takes to experience tangible results.
Common Questions About Fire Ant Insecticide
I hope now you have a clue about how to purchase an effective pesticide. The next step is to understand how to use it to get the expected results. In this section, you’ll find answers to questions that arise on the use of fire ant killers.
How Does Fire Ant Killer Work?
Most of these fire ant killers are poisons that affect the ant nervous system and eventually kill them. For example, granules work by gradually poisoning ants until they are dead.
Unlike sprays, most ant killers are not meant to have an immediate impact. The idea is that the worker ants will take granules and powder to their mound so that even the queen and larvae can consume it. Therefore, it may take hours or even days before you can see the results.
How to Apply Fire Ant Killer?
Begin by establishing where the ant mound is located and their trail. Find their home and determine which paths they use to get there. Once you have established this trail, you should apply the ant bait granules there and wait for the worker ants to take it back to their colony. If the ants have camped inside your house, you can apply the bait outside to attract the ants outdoors. Alternatively, you can directly apply the ant sprays on their mounds. The gel should also be applied near the mound and their paths to have a better impact.
Are Fire Ant Killers Safe Around Vegetables and Pets?
Most of the fire ant killers are poisons. They may have a negative impact on your pet and vegetation around which they are used. Therefore, always read the manufacturer’s instructions to see any potential harm they may have on your pets and vegetables. Always keep the ant killer packages away from your pets.
Already Sure On the Most Effective Fire Ant Killer?
I have given you information and recommendations on how to choose an effective fire ant killer, which I hope will help you make an informed choice. If you ask me, I always give my preference to the Syngenta Advion Insecticide. But it’s up to you to decide which product to buy, and you should take into account your specific circumstances. For example, if you have many pets, you should purchase a pesticide that will not harm them. Also, the situation may be quite different for you if the ants have set camp inside your house.
Have you ever used any fire ant killer? Was it effective? Can you recommend any other methods that can help get rid of ants? Share your ideas in the comments!
Regardless of where you live, you must have encountered ants. These are species that are found in all regions except the places that are too cold like Antarctica.
They are mostly found in colonies, just like wasps. These creatures love living together so that they can work for the success of the whole colony. There are precise roles that are played by each of the ants in the colony.
How do you know that the creatures moving around your home are ants? They have distinct characteristics, including their bodies being divided into 3 parts, having six legs, and bent antennae. However, their sizes differ depending on the species.
Ants can be a nuisance in your living space. There are times you may want to hatch methods on how to get rid of ants, but you do not succeed because you are not an expert or you don’t use correct ant control products. With my expertise, research, and experience in this area, I have compiled the information you need on these creatures. In the end, ant removal should be an easy thing for you.
What Are Ants?
You cannot deal with something that you do not know. Before you learn how to eradicate ants, you should learn what they are. They are social insects that are classified in a family called Formicidae. Their scientific order is called Hymenoptera. The ants have a close relationship with wasps and are also known to live in colonies.
When you compare ants to other insects, they are fairly easier to notice. This is because of their distinct features. One thing that distinguishes them from other insects is their bent antennas. Moreover, you will notice that they have a big head and the mandibles that they use for chewing.
How do you differentiate ants from other insect species? They have three body parts with a head, waist region, and lastly, the abdomen. Unlike spiders that have eight legs, ants have six. Their bent antennas separate them from termites.
Ant love natural ecosystems where they can get food and build their homes. However, population pressure and encroachment by humans in ant habitats have forced these organisms to interact with humans. You will find them in pavements, lawns, and homes. When they find a good source of food within your indoor environment, they leave a trail that other ants can follow. Within no time, you may find many ants within your living space. It is for that reason that you should know how to get rid of ants in the house and outside as well.
Common Ant Types You Should Know
There are 10,000+ species that are known. However, some do not pose any harm to humans. The ant species are distinguished based on many factors, including how they look, habitat, and region of origin. The common types that you are likely to encounter around your home are like the ones below:
Acrobat ants
How do you identify these ants? Their length is between two and a half and three millimeters and has two nodes. While some are brown, others are black. They like living in moist wood or other wooden structures that are damaged.
When they are under threat, you will see them turning into a scorpion-like shape. That is where their name “acrobatic ants” came from. They are known to sting. You are more likely to find them in yards as opposed to an indoor environment. They are mostly found in the Eastern parts of the United States of America. The scientific name of this ant is Crematogaster.
Black ants
These ants are small and black in color. The smallest ones are 2mm long while the longest ants in this category measure 4mm long.
Argentine ants
These ants only have one node and are between 2.2 and 2.8 millimeters in length. They have different variations of brown from dark to light. During winter, you are likely to see them in different areas while they prefer places with shade in winter. If your indoor space has voids, you are likely to find them there. This is an important piece of information if getting rid of ants in the house has been a problem for you.
When you step on this ant, you will feel a musty smell. However, they do not sting. What are the regions where these ants are common? They are mostly found in Hawaii, the Southeastern part of the United States as well as California. Scientifically, the ant is called Linepithema humile.
Asian Ant
The ant has a length of five millimeters and has one node. Its body has a combination of brown and black colors with orange mandibles. You are more likely to find it in moist outdoor environments. Although it is not known to be aggressive, it is likely to sting you if it comes into contact with your skin. Alabama and Virginia are the places you are likely to find these ants.
Ghost ants
Also known as Tapinoma melanocephalum, they are mostly found in the Southern parts of Florida. They have a length of between 1.3mm and 1.5 mm.
Ants with white bottoms AKA ghost ants may not seem like that big of a deal at first glance. In fact, you probably won’t even notice them with an unarmed eye… Until you do. When that time comes (and it will come sooner rather than later), the sight in front of you won’t be pleasant. […]
There are the most widely known structural pests. They do not feed on wood. Instead, they damage them in a bid to create the space where they live. The ants are 6 to 13 millimeters long. They are mostly found in outdoor environments where there is wood. Their most preferred indoor environment is the roof.
The ants can cause much damage to your home’s structural parts, making it necessary to find ways to get rid of ants. There are species of these ants that are known to sting when they feel threatened or disturbed. Scientists call them Camponotus. Learn more about carpenter ant control.
Carpenter ants don’t cause as much damage as termites and other pests, but they can be quite problematic. They usually leave ashes of wood lying on the floor and even might bite you when you accidentally get close to them. Carpenter ants damage arises from their need to create nests in wooden items like desks […]
Are you struggling with carpenter ants in your house? I know how challenging it can be to deal with these insects. There are over seven hundred ant species in the world, and carpenter ants are among the highly difficult ones to remove in case of an infestation. These insects don’t feed with wood around, but […]
As the name suggests, these ants are attracted by sugary foods. They also feed on proteins. Their lengths range from 7 to 11 millimeters. You are more likely to find them in Australia. Check my detailed guide on sugar ant control methods.
The word “ant” makes us think about a hard worker, carrying supplies to its anthill. Even when you see such a small insect in your sugar bowl in the kitchen, the idea that you are attacked by pests does not come into your mind at once. Well, can this little sugar ant even eat that […]
The length of these ants is between 2.1 and 3 millimeters and only have one node. They are black-brown. What differentiates them from other species is the fact that their antennas and legs are extremely long. They do not choose where to live. You will see their colonies in dry environments, and they also like moist spaces.
When outdoors, they mostly love garbage and soil. Their attractive indoor space is below carpets and houseplants. Although they do not sting, they are known to make crazy movements in case they are disturbed. This is the characteristic that earned them their name. The ants’ scientific name is Paratrechina longicornis and is mostly found in Florida.
Hi, guys! This is Nicholas Martin back here! Today I want to tell you about one of the most dreaded types of insect intruders sprawling across the southeastern American states – Rasberry crazy ants. If you are not from Florida or Texas, there is a good chance you have never encountered one of those in […]
Also known as Brachymyrmex patagonicus, the ants have an average length of 1.5 millimeters. They have a dark color with one node. When outdoors, you will find them in grass edges and parking lots. Because these ants love sweet liquids, they are a common scene in the kitchen.
They love moving in a large colony, which makes them troublesome creatures. Their stubbornness means you need to learn the best way to get rid of ants indoors. However, they are not known to sting. They are common in Arizona and Mississippi.
European ants
These ants are scientifically called Myrmica rubra and have a length of between 4 and 5 millimeters. They love outdoor environments such as lawns during the warmer periods. During the cold seasons, you are more likely to find them in warm indoor environments, including water heaters.
The ants are known for their aggressive nature, stinging any time they are disturbed. You should know how to get rid of ants in your home to ensure these creatures are not problematic to you. You will most likely find them in Canada and New York.
Field ants
These ants come in different sizes, with the majority of them measuring between 4 and 8 millimeters in length and one node. They also have different colors, with a majority of them being either brown or black. When outdoors, you will find them in greenery and woods. They are rarely indoors.
When they sting, they release formic acid, which makes the stings painful. They are mainly found in the North-Eastern parts of the United States.
Fire ants
These ants find their name from the fact that they sting painfully. They are reddish-brown and are mostly found in the Southern regions of the United States of America.
The above are the most common ant species. There are still more species that are less common. Knowing these ant types helps you when you are looking for the best methods to get rid of them.
Amongst farmers, pests rank high in terms of the challenges they have to deal with. They are expensive to eliminate and can cause huge losses if not dealt with. But, unfortunately, pests are also a threat to everyone and can invade your home. Fire ants are one of the most stubborn pests you will ever […]
Pests form an essential part of the ecosystem, but at times, they pose a significant threat to many people’s way of living. Fire ants are effective outside as they feed on other insects. They are essential when the pests they feed on are the harmful lots that work tirelessly to deny you a bountiful harvest. […]
What Foods Do These Ants Eat Within the Environment?
If you are looking for the biggest scavengers that are found within nature, ants are there. Most of the ants eat meat. That means they are always searching for places where they can get dead organisms so that they can feed on them.
Because of their sharp mandibles, they can comfortably break a dead lizard into pieces. Although most of the ants are known to exhibit carnivore behavior, there are a few examples like Leaf-Cutter, which only eats plants.
There are also cases where the ants search for live animals to feast on them. For instance, driver ants are known to do an aggressive search for food devouring small insects and other animals.
In homes, ants are known to attack sweet foods such as candy in swarms. It is for this reason that you are likely to find the ants in cupboards and kitchen counters. It can get to a point where the whole of your kitchen space is covered with ants if you are not careful. Therefore, you should learn to kill ants in your house.
The fact that they are scavengers also brings some benefits to humans. This is because they can help people clean dead organisms within their living space, act as natural methods of controlling pests, help in eliminating garbage, among other roles.
However, they may soon grow out of control and create many problems for humans. Even if you feel they are useful to you, it gets to a point where getting rid of ants in your house is something that you have to do.
What do ants eat and drink? The super-simple answer is everything. Drop an ice-cream cone in the middle of the park or leave a slice of pastrami on your porch and you’ll see ants gathering around it within an hour or so. Don’t the tiny buggers care about their diet? Won’t they feel sick from […]
What Are the Things That Attract Insects Within Your Space?
Ants are annoying insects when they invade your living space. Although there are different species of these organisms, they are attracted to the home by common things. Before it gets to a point where you have to look for that natural ant repellent, you should know why the ants are invading your home so that you can reduce their numbers.
What are ants attracted to? Why are they in my house? Such questions are actually common for a lot of people. These insects have been thriving on our planet and slowly learned how to survive in our spaces. Since we share the environment with them, we need to understand what causes them to visit the […]
What are these things that make the ants find your house as an attractive place to live? Here are the main ones:
Availability of Food Where You Live
Ants are always looking for something to eat. You will notice that they always attack food remains in swarms and can actively feed on them for hours. Ants mostly love foods that are sugary such as honey. Therefore, any spills within the place you live will attract them. That is why they love kitchen counters and tables where there are food leftovers.
The other area that acts as a source of food to the creatures is garbage. When there are food leftovers in your garbage bin, you will most likely see ants. This is because these food pieces emit strong smells that attract the ants. It just begins with one ant before it attracts the others. Within no time, your whole kitchen space is full of ants.
While ants may be small creatures, their problem is big enough to ask for help. Once spring comes, the ants return and do not leave your household until the winter. In numerous states, these pests do not get a break at all. They can live in your garden and your home. These small trouble makers […]
For proper survival and building the colonies, ants need a constant supply of water. That is why you will notice a colony of ants in areas where there is stagnant water, moisturized, or in a space with leaking water pipes. When you closely monitor the tiles in the bathroom and the sinks in all the areas of the house, you will see ants.
Once they know that there is a place where they can always get water when they need it, the ants will always come back.
If you notice ants in a dishwasher, you have to start acting immediately. Ants prefer to live in big colonies, and if you give them a chance to settle down in your kitchen, they will never leave. If you don’t know how to get rid of ants in dishwasher, read my recommendations here. Don’t worry, […]
Most people usually scratch their heads, trying to figure out how to eliminate ants in shower rooms. Some try different methods such as manually killing ants whenever they spot them or even through common insecticides, but they keep coming back. As such, many people give up in despair. However, you don’t need to endure the […]
Most plans within the home emit attractive smells. Although most ants do not feed on plants, they are attracted by the scent of these plants. These are things that you should not ignore as you strategize on how to get rid of ants naturally.
Safe Places in Your Home Attract These Insects
Ants are known to build their safe nests underground. However, there are also times they may find your home as an ideal place to build their habitat, especially when your walls have cracks. They also love wood fixtures within the home.
Use of Pesticides Outdoors Can Attract Them
The general belief is that pesticides are used for the control of pests. However, there are cases where these pesticides remove the ants from the yard and make them seek refuge inside your house. This is because the ants find the house safer compared to outside.
How Do the Ants Work Together and Increase Within Your Home?
The communication between ants depends on the species. However, most of them are known to convey their messages through chemicals. They secrete a chemical called pheromones close to the food sources. This is a form of communication to the other ant species to follow the trail so that they can reach the food. Where there is a threat, the ants also release distress chemicals to the others.
There are also times when the ants use sound to communicate. To put it simply, the mode of communication is determined by the species and the situation at hand.
Ants work as a community to achieve their goals. The first group of ants is called the scout ants, and their role is to search for food sources. Once they identify a source, they communicate with the worker ants who take the food to the colony.
How Do You Know There Is Ant Problem in Home?
When you notice a few ants around your living space, it doesn’t necessarily imply that you have a full-blown infestation. But there are a few specific signs that point to an ant invasion:
Live Ants in Many Areas of Your Property
Although a few ants do not mean that there exists an ant invasion within the home, there are times you may notice that the numbers are beyond normal. A huge number of them in your living room or kitchen is an indication that there is a large colony somewhere nearby. The ones you see around may be looking for food to take to the colony.
Marching Ants in Your Home Space
Ants are known to move in trails. The line movement is an indication that they are being attracted by pheromone. They only settle once they have reached the food. It is the trail that assists in their movement towards and away from the colony.
The Bowl Used by Your Pet Is Attacked by Ants
Ants do not select the type of food they eat. They love the fresh food you have cooked, and they are attracted by the food that remains from your pet. If you notice ants in the bowl that is used by your pet, that is an indication that there are other ants around.
In nature and the suburban areas, ants bring tangible benefits: in particular, they protect plants from harmful insects (caterpillars, slugs, etc.). However, once they get into a room, from the defenders, they turn into pests themselves. Ants are far from being as harmless as they seem at first glance and certainly will not bring you […]
When there are ant piles anywhere around your house, you should be cautious as the ants are likely to attack your house. It’s because your home is a source of food for them. The closer they are to your house, the higher the chances of invasion. Therefore, you should be working on finding solutions to how to get rid of ants outside and ensure that you are safe.
What Damage Can Ants Cause to Your Home?
Many risks are related to an ant infestation. That’s why you should seek ways of getting rid of them. Ants pose a danger to your home and health in many ways.
Contamination of food
Apart from being a nuisance to you, there are also health risks they may pose to your family members. The first thing you should know about them is that they can contaminate your food. As the ants move along, they collect bacteria from different areas, including the floor.
After that, they move to your utensils and food and leave the bacteria there. And don’t forget that these ants also move through garbage and washroom floors.
All these germs are then transmitted to your food. Therefore, you should be cautious. Always ensure that the containers you use for storing your foods are sealed so that ants can’t penetrate them. Your kitchen hygiene should be top-notch as a natural way to get rid of ants.
Stings and bites
You should not underestimate the stings from the ants. Most ants are known to bite humans as a way of defending themselves when they feel threatened. There are cases where you can get an infection after the bite if you do not clean the bite area as expected.
Some ants inject venoms during their stings. Depending on the chemical that the ant leaves on your skin, you may experience complications such as dizziness and diarrhea.
Allergic reactions
Ant stings can make you sick. You are likely to experience things like skin irritation and nausea. It is crucial to seek the assistance of a medical professional in such situations.
Property damage
Carpenter ants are known to cause severe destruction to the home. For instance, they are known to damage wood in a bid to establish their colony. If you do not notice and eliminate them on time, they can even bring down your whole building. That’s why you need to know how to repel ants completely from your space.
Ways to Kill Ants in House Effectively
If you already have the ants in the house, you should look for ways of killing them. Do you know how to get rid of ants permanently from your house? Baits, sprays, and gels are the most effective approaches that will get the job done fast.
If you’re intending to prevent ants from attacking your home, get rid of anything that would tempt them to pay a visit in the first place. Seal and put away all your food sources, remove crumbs and juice spills from the shelves, wash all the dishes and clean out the sink on a regular basis. […]
When you have ensured that your home sanitation is proper, it’s time to seek solutions to how to kill ants that are already within your house. There are ant baits that may help you through this process. Using baits increases the chances of removing the ants completely from your home.
Ant baits or traps are insecticides that are combined with liquid or food to attract ants. The worker ants will carry it to the nest where it spreads throughout the colony, killing the queen and larvae. Baits offer a long-lasting solution since they eliminate all the ants. Besides, some commercially available baits eliminate other bugs too.
Put the bait in a place where you have noticed the activities by ants. However, do not put the bait on the actual trail. When they realize it is around, they can take a route that is away from the bait. Instead, place the bait a distance away from the activity or trail.
What are the ideal places for the bait? Place it on the kitchen cabinets, where there are pipes that may provide water for the ants, and near bathroom fixtures. Monitor the process and make the necessary adjustments until you notice that there is no longer any ant activity. Check my Terro Ant Bait review. This thing works like a charm.
Many people have come to me expressing their frustration regarding ants in their residential settings. Well, for many individuals, these little insects are very irritating, and getting a strategy to eliminate them is priceless. Prior to becoming an entomologist, I also had my own share of struggles with ants, and never knew of any 100% […]
Ants are definitely worth our attention. These insects are intelligent, they communicate using pheromones, and the population of their colonies is divided into castes. Moreover, ant is probably the only insect type spread around the whole planet Earth. Still, there’s nothing cool about ants when they appear in your kitchen. Speaking about indoor ant invasion, […]
There are cases when the ants may avoid baits. Then you should use ant sprays. The non-repellent types will be more effective because the ants may not notice them. Moreover, the ants can carry them back to the colonies. Since sprays don’t kill ants immediately, many other colony occupants will be affected by such insecticides.
Are you tired of seeing ants all over the place? Do you want to get rid of them instantly? Have you tried lots of ant elimination methods without any success? If the answer is yes, then make a point of reading about the 5 best ant sprays that will repel ants from your place. My […]
Gels come in tubes with a syringe. You can apply them directly in the places where the ants enter the house and on the ants’ tracks. The most effective gels have a combination of slow-acting poison and a strong food attractant. The ants will carry the gel back to the nest, and, eventually, the entire colony will be eliminated.
Natural Ways to Eliminate Ants Inside
There are some natural methods to eliminate ants, but they are not as effective as using baits/traps, sprays, or gels. Some home remedies to get rid of ants include:
Vinegar
How does this remedy work? You should carefully wipe the places where you have noticed ants with a solution that has water and vinegar in the ratio of 50:50. You should repeat this procedure several times a day.
The ants go away because they do not like the scent of vinegar. Moreover, the solution removes the trail used by other ants, so they do not have an idea about where the food source is located.
Chalk
You can draw a chalk line within the location that the ants are using to access your house. You create a barrier, and the ants find it hard to enter your house. The trick works because the chalk contains calcium carbonate that prevents ants from picking up on the scent of other ants.
Use borax
Another way of removing ants from home is by applying the borax mixture in a place where you are sure the ants will locate it easily. This mixture contains mild toxins, so you should put it in places where your pets and kids cannot reach it.
Borax kills the ants by interfering with their digestive system. Moreover, it destroys the ants’ outer skeletons. Therefore, the ants can die in the long run. You may also use baking soda to kill ants as an alternative.
Ants are a great example of workers, but if their work is to steal food from your house, hardly is it worth your admiration. Instead of awe, you may rather experience curiosity about how to get rid of ants with borax (if you have some or have heard about this method). Yes, indeed it’s possible, […]
Baking soda is a non-toxic way to get rid of ants. We put it in our pastry, which means that it is totally safe for our home, children, and pets. It is also one of the cheapest ways to kill insects. Baking soda costs less than any other baits. If you don’t have lots of […]
If you are a coffee drinker, you can use coffee grounds to repel ants. Sprinkle the coffee grounds in the areas where you notice ants, and the scent may drive away these creatures.
How to Prevent Another Ant Infestation in the House
It is crucial to put in place both outdoor and indoor sanitation measures to ensure that you do not experience another infestation. Here is what you can do to reduce the chances of ant infestation within the house:
Remove Food Sources from the House
The first thing you can do to control the infestation of ants is to ensure that your sanitation measures are top-notch. Regardless of the elimination measures you put in place, proper sanitation is critical. Otherwise, you may kill the first bunch of ants only for the next to be attracted by the food you leave carelessly.
Removing the food sources that attract the ants is a good prevention measure. How should you do this? You should properly clean all your kitchen appliances and cabinets because food spills around them provide a perfect location for these ants. Therefore, ensure that you clean your refrigerator regularly, inspect your microwave, clean the toaster and all the other appliances.
Another important measure is to ensure that your food is always kept in sealed containers. Because of their small nature, ants always find a way of accessing food that is kept in loose boxes or bags. A proper seal makes it hard for them to find the food source.
Designate one room where people eat. That way, you limit the areas where you can experience ant infestation. If there are food spills in this space, deal with them properly.
Always ensure that your kitchen is very clean before you go to bed. Ants typically come out of their hiding places at night to search for food. When they find nothing to feast on, they move to other areas. Always clean the countertops and wash up after meals.
Moreover, you should ensure that all the other areas where food is not handled are clean. Sweep the crumbs that may have strayed and eliminate any ants that may secrete pheromones to attract others.
Remove Water Sources That Attract Ants
Ants love water, and it attracts them to your home environment. Although you may not remove all these sources, it is important to ensure that you eradicate as many of them as you can to put yourself in a secure position.
What measures can you take to reduce the water sources which attract ants? If there are leaky pipes around your home, you should fix them immediately. Leaving them the way they are means that you are attracting ant invasion. Every night before you go to bed, make sure that all the sinks are dry, the showers and taps are not leaking, and the bath tabs are completely drained.
For those who use dish rags, store them in airtight containers. Alternatively, you can hang them in outdoor environments so that they can dry completely. Empty all the bowls where you put water for the pets if they are in the house. Dry any other trays that can bring an ant problem in the home.
Damage all the Ant Entry Points
Ants are known to prefer safe areas as their hiding ground. By removing them, you will make your house an unattractive place for them. For instance, a crack in the walls attracts huge ant colonies. If your house has any cracks, block the entry of the ants by doing repairs. If flying ants are constantly trying to enter your home, use nettings before you identify and destroy their colony outside.
Tips on How to Get Rid of Ants in the Yard
Some ants crawl in the exterior parts of your house. They are the ones that end up in the house after a while. Therefore, it is crucial to find ways of eliminating them. You can only cope with this problem if you make your house unattractive to these ants. There are three conditions which lead to ant invasion; availability of the food they need, adequate moisture to help them survive, and shelter. If you break this chain, you are on the path towards making the area around your house ant-free. Getting rid of ants in the yard involve these methods:
Outdoor Ant Baits – Effective Approach of Getting Rid of Ants in Yard
Outside the house, most ants live in locations that can’t be easily noticed. In this case, using baits/traps is an excellent remedy. Baits will attract all the ants and eliminate the entire colony. Moreover, the baits can help you eliminate ants before they reach your property.
While some people use liquids, others use grains. You should use both so that you can capture all the ants. Check regularly if the bait is working as required. If something doesn’t work as it was expected, fix it immediately.
Outdoor Ant Sprays and Insecticides
There are many insecticides available on the market. You should pick the one that works effectively depending on the ant species that have invaded your home. Sprays work instantly and thus are a quick fix for eliminating ants.
Natural Methods
You can as well opt for natural approaches to removing ants. However, note that these methods are not as effective as using baits and insecticides. Therefore, they only provide short-term solutions. Some of the workable natural techniques include:
Boiling Water
Pouring boiling water on the ants will instantly kill them. This method, however, only kills the ants that the water comes into contact with. Therefore, those inside the deeper areas of the anthill will not be affected.
Improvement of the Outside Sanitation – Eradicate Ants without Incurring Many Costs
Sanitation goes beyond just removing the food sources that the ants love. Rather, you should focus on eliminating the conditions that make your yard good for ants. The first step is to monitor the pathways the ants use as they enter your house. There may be trees that act as bridges for the ants to follow from the yard. Ensure that the branches of these trees do not come into contact with your house at any point. That means you should trim them.
Within your yard, there may also be a moist area that provides water for the growth of these ants. Remove the shady condition that contributes moisture for the ants to survive.
Do not leave your lawn in a state that encourages the multiplication of ants in your space. As such, you should mow it frequently and maintain the area so that it is clean and hygienic.
If you keep your trash bins outdoors, you should know that they work against your intention of killing ants indoors and outdoors. It’s because they serve as shelter and source of food for these pests. To ensure that you are safe, they should not be too close to your house. Moreover, you should find tight-fitting lids to close them. To ensure that they are clean, wash the cans with ammonia solution regularly.
Do you have trees with sweet fruits within your compound? They can also lead to ant infestation. Ripe fruits that fall down is a recipe for ants. Therefore, you should collect all of them.
If you want to keep your garden insect-free, one of the first questions is how to get rid of ants in the garden safely. No matter if it’s a natural garden or a raised garden bed, ants are ubiquitous. There are methods to keep them at bay, though, both natural and industrial. How serious are […]
Ever noticed piled-up soil in your yard? It is highly likely that there are unwanted guests in your compound. Most people give a blind eye to such signs and pass up on clearing these piles. Ants are a nuisance and will give you a hard time with their painful stings when you will be trying […]
There are many species of ants that may invade your home. Knowing the type helps you know the remedy that may work for you. What is appropriate for one person may not be good for you. Therefore, you should assess your situation carefully.
Do not assume the ants as harmless organisms. They can cause a lot of harm to you, family members, and even to the environment where you live. Therefore, you should not overlook them. A serious infestation is harmful to your health.
From the content above, I have given many ways that you can use to tell if there is an infestation in your house. The best remedy, however, is to use baits/traps, sprays, and gels. These methods give quick and long-term results.
You should always do a regular check to ensure a huge colony does not find you by surprise. The earlier you begin dealing with these organisms, the better for you.
There are many home remedies for ants outside and inside. Check them carefully. Getting rid of the ants is not something that you can do in a day. You should be patient and apply the methods consistently. More importantly, choose a methodology that works in your situation.
Have you ever experienced an ant infestation? What techniques did you use to eradicate them? What is the most effective method in your view on how to prevent ants in house? Share your opinions by leaving a comment.
References:
Ants (University of Minnesota Extension): https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/ants
A Guide to House-Invading Ants and Their Control (NC State Extension Publications): https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/a-guide-to-house-invading-ants-and-their-control
Stanford researchers found an algorithm that explains how ants create and repair trail networks (Stanford University): https://news.stanford.edu/2017/10/02/algorithm-ants-create-trail-networks/
Pest control in the home (Victoria State Government) https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/pest-control-in-the-home
Ants Managment Guidelines (UC IPM): http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7411.html
Dealing with crawling ants in your home can be nerve-racking. Now imagine living with those creepy pests with wings flying around your kitchen or some few flying ants in bathroom. That will be a hell of an experience. That’s why you need to learn how to get rid of ants with wings to make the extermination process easier.
Through my 25 years of studying the control of these pests, I have acquired skills and expertise, and I can help you with the best strategies on how to kill flying ants.
Learn more about these pests and things that cause flying ants in your house, as well as the best way to kill them.
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Find the nest of flying ants. Get rid of flying ants as soon as you notice them.
Use baits, sprays, Zappers, flying ant insecticides.
Use natural remedies: dishwashing detergent, natural peppermint, use sticky tape, create a trap of borax and sugar.
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What Are Flying Ants and How They Look?
The flying ants you see are not a unique species. They are members of different ant species like carpenter ants, fire ants, sugar ants, and many others that develop wings when they are ready to mate.
Such ants are regarded as the reproductive members of the colony. Every ant species usually have the flying members who come out for a brief period to mate and increase their population.
The flying ants are usually made of males (drones) and females (queen). After mating, the males die while the females lose their wings and look for nests to start a new generation. It’s common to see flying ants swarming in thousands because colonies send out many flying ants at one go.
This is because only a small number out of these will survive the mating stage and start a new generation. The majority of them are eaten by predators like birds, while some end up dying from lack of food and water.
So what do flying ants look like? Well, most people confuse flying ants with termites due to their size and wings. But identifying flying ants shouldn’t be hard for you. Winged ants have a pinched body between the thorax and the abdomen, whereas termites have a straight-sided body.
Also, ants have four wings with unequal lengths with the two front wings being longer and the two back wings being shorter. The termites’ wings, on the other hand, are of equal length.
How Long Do Flying Ants Live?
The queen and the male ants are the only flying ants in a colony. The queen can live for more than ten years. Male ants, on the other hand, die shortly after mating with the queen, which is usually a day or two after the nuptial flight.
Do Flying Ants Bite?
Flying ants are relatively harmless, and they are usually interested in looking for a place to nest. As a result, they are highly unlikely to bite people.
It has been reported that some flying ants do bite or sting. These are, however, sporadic occurrences. Besides, the bits are not harmful.
What Causes Flying Ants?
Winged ants can be seen during the hot, humid weather. It’s possible to encounter these ants outdoors or even inside your house. If you notice flying ants at home, especially during the winter, it could mean there is an ant colony in your house that wants to expand. Shelter, food, and water are mostly what attracts flying ants to your home during the cold months. However, their primary goal is always to mate.
If that’s the first time you see an ant in your home or if it is during the summer, there is a likelihood the winged ant must have gotten in through an open door or window. Whatever the case, make sure you exterminate your home to prevent the winged ant from building a colony in your house.
It’s common to see swarming ants outside during the hot, humid weather. This is the time when flying insects seek to build new colonies. Make sure you prevent any flying ants infestation near your home, because if they manage to build a settlement there, they may end up damaging your property.
So do you know how to kill flying ants outside and prevent an infestation? Well, the best way to go about it is to find the nest and eradicate it. You may also have to spray bug barriers for maximum protection.
Can Flying Ants Do Damage?
Flying ants can cause substantial structural damage. Carpenter ants are the most destructive species. They punch holes in the wooden foundation of your home to create a colony. These harmful pests can burrow through the wood to make tunnels, a situation that can get ugly if they attack your furniture. In addition, if they manage to build a colony, you may have a bigger problem to deal with.
I advise you to start treating flying ants immediately you spot one. This is the best way to prevent a massive infestation as you may end up killing a queen who is about to build a colony and start a new generation in your home.
How to Get Rid of Flying Ants
While ants with wings are harmless, they can be a nuisance. Getting rid of flying ants should be a priority. There are many ways to kill these pests. In this section, I will discuss the main flying ant treatments as well as natural methods to kill ants that are readily available at home.
Main Methods
These methods are the most effective in killing flying ants. The following are some of the main techniques you can use in your home.
Baits are slow killing but extremely effective methods of getting rid of flying ants in the house. When ants pick up the poison bait, they transfer it to the colony. As soon as the queen eats the poison, it dies, and since carpenter ants cannot survive without the queen, the entire colony is eliminated eventually.
Also, ants usually make a beeline for sugary food, and other ants follow the bee-line to the source of food. This is what makes bait an effective flying ant killer.
Sprays are more toxic methods of killing flying ants inside house. These commercial insecticidal sprays kill the winged ants on contact. For the most part, sprays work best when you are dealing with a few flying ants. This is because this method can only kill one pest at a time unless you are using the sprays that leave behind a residual effect.
Flying ant sprays with residual effects are better applied around the perimeter of your home. This will kill the ants before they get into your home.
Zappers can be mounted both indoors and outdoors. These electronic devices produce very bright light to attract insects and then kill them using an electric grid. Some bug zappers also contain chemicals that kill the ants. If you are buying zappers to mount outside the house, I recommend purchasing the waterproof zappers to keep them protected from the rain.
Insecticides are effective flying ants treatment provided they are labeled for use against ants. There are different classes of insecticides, depending on how they affect the insect. Some kill on contact while others are incorporated in plants and kill the insect when it ingests the chemical found in the insecticide.
Insecticides can be toxic, so it’s essential to follow all the instructions on the labels to avoid misusing them. Failure to do so can harm humans and pets.
Natural Remedies
Natural ways of killing flying ants are usually non-toxic and keep your family members as well as pests safe. They are also less expensive compared to the main methods of ant extermination. However, natural remedies are not as effective in killing winged ants as other methods like zappers and insecticides. Read on to find out top hacks on how to get rid of winged ants using some standard natural methods.
Dish Soap
It only requires adding dishwashing soap to the water to make this spray for flying ants. Dishwashing soap usually sticks on the body of the ants and dehydrates it, killing it in the process. All you need to make this spray is dish soap, water, and a spray bottle. The good thing about this spray is that it’s non-toxic and can be used anywhere in the house without worrying about your children or pets.
Natural Peppermint
Natural peppermint makes a good spray for ants with wings. Peppermint oil works by suffocating the ants to death. The spray will work better when you mix peppermint oil with dishwashing soap and water.
Add a few drops of natural peppermint oil with water and liquid dish soap and mix thoroughly.
Use Tape to Trap the Ants
Sticky tapes also make good flying ant traps. The tapes should be placed near surfaces where these ants land to feed. Also, since flying ants like to hover around sources of lights, putting the sticky tapes near bulbs, lanterns or lamps can help you catch most of these ants.
Create a Trap Using Borax and Sugar
Borax is toxic to ants. So, you can create flying ant bait using borax and sugar. By mixing the borax with sweet-smelling sugary bait, the ants will not notice the borax. As a result, they carry it to the colony for every ant to feed. Once they feed on the borax, the queen, together with the worker ants die.
To make this trap work, make a paste of borax and sugar and place it in the infested area. This trap can be used inside the house or outside. However, ensure the borax is kept away from pets and children as it can be toxic in high dosage.
Concluding Thoughts
You can easily kill flying ants. However, the problem will not be over if you don’t destroy the colony. I advise people to identify the nest and use their preferred method of killing the flying ants. If you can find the underlying cause of the problem by killing the queen, then flying ants’ infestation will never be a problem for you. It’s important to use different ant killing products to get the desired result in a short period.
Have you ever experienced flying ant infestation? How do you kill flying ants? Is there any other method that works best besides the mentioned ones above? Let me know in the comments section.
How to Identify a Queen Ant (wikiNow): https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-a-Queen-Ant
Insects in the City (Texas AgriLife): https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/ants/ent-2012/
How to keep flying ants away, do they bite, and how long do they live for? (Metro): https://metro.co.uk/2018/07/05/keep-flying-ants-away-long-live-7685444/
How Insecticides Work (Living History Farm): https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe70s/pests_06.html
Are you tired of seeing ants all over the place? Do you want to get rid of them instantly? Have you tried lots of ant elimination methods without any success? If the answer is yes, then make a point of reading about the 5 best ant sprays that will repel ants from your place.
My name is Nicholas Martin; I am a professional in the entomology field. I merge the insect analysis work with consultation for exclusive pest control organizations. Now I will guide you through the list of ant sprays for you to choose the best ant spray killer.
With that said, I will teach you how to fight these harmful crawling insects in a vigorous and effective way. Repellents remove all the trails, thus ensuring that not even the ants’ trace will bring them back to your place.
You may ask: where these ants do come from? The common cause of ants’ invading our homes is the fact that they also tend to get hungry! That’s why they come to our places, starving and looking for food.
Once they spot areas with food, the working ants come out in large numbers known as the army of ants, steal food from us and bring it back to their anthills. In most cases, they come to the kitchen area as it stores plenty of sweets and food leftovers left behind without cleaning.
That is why you will need to be well-prepared and get the best ant spray to eliminate ants instantly, as they will continuously bother you in your home.
What is the best spray to get rid of ants? When is the safest time for using ants spray? If you are asking these questions, then you are in the right place.
I will help you to get rid of ants almost instantly, guaranteeing that no ants will find their way back to your house. Using the right kind of ant spray will allow you to kill the unwanted ants. I will discuss the most effective insecticides that will help you to solve your problem.
Have you used home remedies like a mixture of peppermint and lavender to repel troublesome ants to no avail? Or have you put water and vinegar to get rid of them, but ants always came back?
Then this review will help you to choose the best spray for ants based on its pros, cons, and how effective it is for solving your problems.
When I talk about instant elimination and killer ant spray, Terro Ant Killer is the first to come to my mind. This spray is good for both indoors and outdoors usage. It works perfectly for killing ants and other nagging insects. It is proved to last up to six weeks.
Due to the aerosol spray, it kills ants on the spot and continues to work after being sprayed outdoors for up to a month. It is claimed to be one of the best outdoor ant killer spray repelling ants and other bugging insects like spiders and cockroaches. The volume of spray is big enough to last for a long period of time.
Spray the product outside on the ant trails, cracks and fissures to make sure you finally eliminated the whole colony and gave yourself the satisfaction of them not coming back for good.
Spray the product indoors along the path where you first spotted ants to destroy the pheromone that they use to attract more ants. Thus you will kill the insects that are already in your house.
Terro Ant Killer is very easy to use. You only need to twist the top of the can to open it. It also has a spray nozzle, which makes it easy to target and kill the ants. The can is of an extremely convenient shape, which allows you to reach your aim easily.
Pros:
Cons:
kills instantly on first contact;
acts as a repellent for a month or two;
easy to use;
kills not only ants, but spiders and scorpions as well.
it has a strong and chocking smell;
can be harmful for kids, pets and plants.
2. Hot Shot Ant and Roach Killer: Universal Ant Killer Spray
The best feature of this spray is that it has no fragrance and can be easily used inside the house without any blocking effects. It can be used even when kids are around in the house. It doesn’t have any ozone-draining substances or any lasting chemical smell. It is eco-friendly and can be used both outdoors and indoors.
Hot Shot spray has been on our shelves for decades; it is most effective to be used on ants and cockroaches as it kills them during the first contact. It’s effect works for a month. Make sure to spray between cracks and crevices, including the outdoor areas.
Hot Shot is very easy to use: shake it well, then hold the can upright pointing the spray where you have spotted ants, press the spray button targeting at the ants and spray directly. Spray generously and wait for the ants to die. For the best effect, repeat the same procedure outside your house and around the place to make sure no colony of ants goes unsprayed.
Pros:
Cons:
kills ants and cockroaches instantly;
repels ants for a month;
has no chocking smell and leaves no lingering chemical smell;
environment-friendly.
you keep on repeating the procedure every 4 weeks, so it’s not a long term solution.
This is the best ant spray for indoor usage. It kills cockroaches and ants inside the house quickly and easily. This spray destroys ants’ trails in the kitchens, cabinets, bathrooms, basements and around doors. It acts as a perimeter barrier for three months repelling ants and other crawling insects from getting into your home.
The spray does not leave a filtrate layer as it dries fast and does not stain along with the perimeter barriers. It is odorless and doesn’t have a choking effect as you use it. The barrier is long-lasting offering protection against ants, bugs and other insects if you respray after every season.
The Ortho spray comes with a spray wand, which is easy to use and reduces hand fatigue. The wand helps in reaching out for all the hidden spots that are usually hard to reach. The wand is reusable and works effectively, even after numerous usages. Once it is dried, the product is safe for infants and pets around your household.
Pros:
Cons:
kills ants immediately;
provides a lasting barrier that keeps the ants and other listed insects from getting in the house;
easy to use and effective with quality value.
quite expensive;
has toxic chemicals that can cause allergic reaction.
4. Mdxconcepts Organic Home Pest Control: (Currently Unavailable, Try Hot Shot Instead)
With this organic home pest control, you can safely spray the repellent because it doesn’t have any chemicals and hence is very safe to use around your family and pets. Mdxconcepts Organic Home Pest Control is environment-friendly and does not have any harmful effects.
It kills ants, spiders and bees immediately. It repels any kind of insects which can cause harm to your household. This organically made pest control is not harmful to humans and cannot cause any health issues hence being the best spray for ants in the house. It is made from organic products like peppermint, rosemary, and spearmint all in oil formula.
It is very favorable, especially if there is an invasion of ants. This product will stop them immediately during the first contact. It has a slight odor that repels ants away. It is easy to use.
The spray is good for both outdoor and indoor usage. Shake well, target at the ants’ trail and spray it around. You will get quick and instant results that you are looking for. Make sure to spray all corners and cracks.
Pros:
Cons:
eco-friendly as it is made from organic extracts;
can be used both indoor and outdoor;
safe to use near children, plants and pets;
kills ants instantly.
leaves a small filtrate layer.
5. Talstar – Best Pro Outdoor Ant Repellent Spray
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This is a very strong and powerful insecticide that contains bifenthrin that is commonly used in most insecticides. Bifenthrin kills ants and insects as the chemical paralyzes the ants’ nervous system and spreads out to the entire bodies, hence spreading further to other ants in a colony. The residual effect lasts for 3 months, repelling and acting as a barrier so no ants can get into your place.
Talstar is used both indoor and outdoor, but it should be mostly used outdoor as it acts as a barrier around the house perimeter. It is truly significant in reducing the population of ants around your house. The bifenthrin chemical is very harmful to pets and children; hence, it should not be used around them.
Talstar is not very easy to use, but you can follow the instructions, and you will be good to go. You need to dilute 1.0 oz of the Talstar insecticide in one gallon of water. Apply the solution from the dilution to cracks, crevices, and other areas where you have spotted the colony and trails of ants.
The best target should be the ants’ nest to treat the ants’ infestation completely. You should always re-apply Talstar insecticide every two months to make sure that you deter all ants and other insects from coming back.
Pros:
Cons:
kills ants and other nagging insects;
acts as a repellent and a barrier;
can be used both indoors and outdoors;
best used for commercial and noncommercial purposes.
Talstar insecticide is very harmful if swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin;
very expensive;
not easy to use.
FAQ Section
How Does Ant Spray Kill Ants?
All sprays for ants or other insects killing contain special chemicals, such as boric or borax acid, that are harmful to insects. Imagine, a spray for ants is like a nuclear bomb for humans.
Death occurs almost instantly. Moreover, the action from the bomb continues to last even after it is dropped. The same thing happens with the spray effect: it continues to be fatal for the ants for several more weeks.
How Long Does Ant Spray Smell Last?
It all depends on the manufacturer. Sometimes the smell can last for several days. My recommendation is to choose organic substances without a strong smell. They can cost a little more, but they do not provide such harm to human health.
How Safe Is Professional Ant Spray?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions. I can’t say that all professional sprays are safe, however, most of them are absolutely harmless not only for adults and children but even for your pets ( not if they’re ants, of course :)) Take a look at Mdxconcepts Organic Home Pest Control and Ortho remedies.
Enjoy an Ants-Free Environment
Finally, I have come to the end of my review, and I am sure you have learned a lot about the best ant sprays that will help you to eliminate and deter ants away from your house through creating barriers. All the information above is very important and reliable if you want to prevent ants and their colony from getting into your house.
Now you know about ant spray safe for pets and, hopefully, have already chosen the best spray for ants. You have also learned about the different insecticide included in ant sprays used inside the house and the best ants spray for outdoors.
Also, remember that you should avoid spilling and leaving food in your kitchen. Clean the counters and shelves by removing crumbs and spills. Always make sure that you did not leave dirty dishes in your sink. Never leave your trash indoors when the trash can is full; otherwise, ants will certainly come back.
Always put out barriers that will repel ants and other threatening insects. Spray well around the cracks, eliminating any signs of ants’ trails and colonies with the best outdoor spray for ants. Feel free to leave your comments in the comment section below. Do you still feel unsure when the best time to spray the ants repellent is? Do not be dismayed, ask your questions, and I will gladly answer them with references to my personal experience.
Pests form an essential part of the ecosystem, but at times, they pose a significant threat to many people’s way of living.
Fire ants are effective outside as they feed on other insects. They are essential when the pests they feed on are the harmful lots that work tirelessly to deny you a bountiful harvest. However, when close to your home, oils and sugars may quickly draw them into the house.
Their stings gave them the name “fire ants,” and I know they aren’t much of the friendly lot you want to be frequently visiting. Their harmful effects have compelled me to come up with a guide to educate you on how to get rid of fire ants in your yard with ease and what fire ant killers to use.
Reviewing the Best Way to Get Rid of Fire Ants
If you are wondering how to kill fire ants outside, here are multiple ways of dealing with these, at times, disturbing bugs. The methods vary in efficiency, cost, and ease of applicability. Analyzing the different techniques accessible will enable you to pick the most suitable one that meets your needs. But before that, let’s get familiar with fire ants.
What Are Fire Ants and How Do They Look?
Fire ants are known for their dull red body and the painful stings they inflict. They are six-legged and have a pair of antenna. They likewise have a stinger. Fire ants have a segmented body that takes an oval shape. They are common in the southern part of the U.S. They nest in the soil in open grounds or near buildings.
Many people refer fire ants as insects that bite human beings, but that’s not the case. A fire ant stings instead. The stings are painful, and the effect is more severe to those allergic to animal “bites.”
But, what would prompt the pests to attack you?
Many people get the wrath of these small creatures when they accidentally or intentionally disturb them in their hives. Fire ants live in large numbers, and interfering with the nest will leave you nursing multiple stings.
What Other Damage Do Fire Ants Cause?
From invading plantations and grass, fire ants can cause more harm than good. When they live near a building, they can easily attack during the rainy seasons and end up seriously injuring children and the elderly. Nevertheless, that is not all. Fire ants have been known to make their mounds, which end up damaging mowing equipment.
Besides that, they are easily drawn by electric currents, and they end up making a nest in switches. By doing so, they easily lead to short-circuiting, which in turn leads to fire break out. They significantly damage telephone lines and transformers. Thus, fire ant control is crucial.
How to Get Rid of Fire Ants Permanently – Four of the Best Methods
When analyzing the best options when it came to getting rid of fire ants, I found baits and insecticides to be the most efficient method. The use of slow baits makes it possible to infect a large number of ants, including the queen, thus perfectly taming their reproduction. The option, however, takes a while to work, but when it does, the problem is solved once and for all.
Sprays, traps, and natural remedies are less effective but also an option to consider given their diversified use. The main con on these methods is that you won’t be in a position to stop their breeding, and thus, the problem will bounce back after a while.
How to Get Rid of Fire Ant Hills Using Insecticides
A known trait in insecticides is their speed of action as they suit killing fire ants instantly. The only problem is you do not get a chance to suppress the colony since it is hard for insecticides to reach the ants’ breeding core.
All in all, if you are wondering how to get rid of fire ants in the house, insecticides should be the first option to consider. You will be required to drain the treat deep the mound to ensure it hits the central target that is the queen. Fairly, when taking such a step, it is wise to put on protective clothing to prevent the “guarding” fire ants from getting the best of you.
However, using the item over a long period and killing the visible ants will work as a driving force as the rest may be compelled to look for sanctuary elsewhere. Most liquid insecticides contain Fiprinol and Pyrethroids. The only challenge is the way their effect doesn’t last for long. They are likewise easily washed away by rain.
Dust insecticides have almost a similar composition as liquid insecticides. They, however, edge over liquid insecticides as they have a longer-lasting effect. When eliminating ants, look for those dust sprays that are waterproof.
This will enable you to use the item in almost all settings, including outdoor. It will also not get washed away as a result of rain. You can cover the nest with the dust because that’s how to kill fire ant mounds swiftly. Besides killing, it acts as an insect repellent with an 8-month lasting effect.
The products are perfect to use on many insects, thus offering a solution on how to get rid of red ants. They contain Fipronil and Pyrethroids as the main ingredients. They are a better choice but require use with bait for a complete fire ant extermination.
How to Kill Fire Ants – Use of Baits
The method’s efficiency in fire ants eradication is unmatched. It suppresses the whole colony though you need to be a bit patient with the results. It is likewise the best way to kill fire ants, as it surpasses the use of dust and insecticides in many cases. Here you place significant chunks of bait in areas easily accessible by ants.
When in contact, ants bite and carry a chunk into their hives, making them the most effective vessel for poison distribution. This enables the bait to reach the nest’s deepest places inhabited by the queen. Attack the queen, destroy the ant colony! That makes the method work like a charm.
It takes 3 to 7 days for the ants to die, but the effect starts close to 48 hours upon contact with the poison. The item’s packaging ensures pets and children cannot access this toxic fire ant solution. It suits use on all insects.
For this fire ant killing technique to work ideally, make sure you keep changing the bait regularly. Besides that, the most important ingredient to look for in baits is Borax and Indoxacarb. Though the toxicity of these two is high, they are likewise highly effective.
There are a few tips to consider for optimal results when using baits. First, you need to apply the treat when the ants’ activity is high. This is so when its fairy sunny and not during the rainy seasons.
How to Keep Fire Ants Away – A Natural Approach
Though they are the least effective, people insist on using natural means even though they ideally fit repelling ants. Peppermint is among the known solution that keeps fire ants away from your home. Lemon juice and vinegar are likewise standard homemade fire ant solutions. Cinnamon is known for killing fire ants. The scent is strong such that when ants inhale it, they suffocate and die. The product is versatile and also provides a solution on how to kill red ants.
Having gone through some of the best ways of exterminating fire ants, I hope you are now in a position to find the route to follow for optimal results. Fire ant removal methods differ in efficiency and speed of execution.
The most efficient method, though it takes some time to materialize, is the use of baits. When applying the process, patience is the key. It is advised against killing the insects that get into contact with the poison immediately, as this leads to an incomplete circulation of the poison in the colony.
This means that you need to refrain from applying insecticides and dust spray when you already have baits in place. Remember, the products are incredibly toxic and thus need to be carefully used. The case on the item is utterly made to prevent dogs and kids from contact.
Having highlighted the main active ingredients to look for in the best fire ant killers, I leave you to take the proper action on these attacking creatures. But before that, what’s your experience with fire ants control and eradication? Has any of the methods above worked for you? Kindly share with me your experience as it is of utmost importance.
Carpenter ants don’t cause as much damage as termites and other pests, but they can be quite problematic. They usually leave ashes of wood lying on the floor and even might bite you when you accidentally get close to them. Carpenter ants damage arises from their need to create nests in wooden items like desks and stumps. If your house is infested, then this piece will be of great help to you.
In this article, I intend to teach you how to get rid of carpenter ants in house and walls and what carpenter ant treatments to use in each case. Below, I cover some ways of preventing, identifying these insects, and ensuring they won’t disturb you anymore.
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Find a colony and place bait both indoors and outdoors.
Find the main carpenter ant colony and spray.
Use insecticides or natural remedies.
To prevent carpenter ants, disinfect your home all the time, eliminate moisture problems, and get rid of stumps that are near your home.
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What Do Carpenter Ants Look Like?
There are thousands of ant species in the world, but fortunately, not many of them attack homes. You might not be able to tell which type of ant is currently bothering you, and that can make it hard to remove these insects. Carpenter ants are easy to identify since they are the biggest household ants. Their lengths are between six to twelve millimeters.
Another way of differentiating carpenter ants from the others is by checking their waists. They have one node at the waist, while most other species have two. Carpenter ants also have rounded thoraxes, while other insects have unevenly shaped thoraxes.
The colors can be black or reddish of all or most of their bodies. Try to check for all these characteristics to ensure that you are not confusing a different type for these pests.
Carpenter ants do not typically fly, but you may occasionally spot one flying. Flying species arise in ant colonies that have matured, and they end up growing new colonies in other locations. A flying male carpenter ant will usually die after mating with a female, and after that, the female will become the queen of the nest.
Although certain carpenter ants have wings, you can distinguish them from termites. For one, the ants are larger than termites. These insects also have yellowish wings, while termites have white ones. The waists of ants and termites are also easy to spot since ants have distinctive waists that separate the abdomen and thorax.
Do Carpenter Ants Bite?
Carpenter ants can bite humans under certain circumstances, and it is important to learn about these possible situations to stay safe. Overall, these ants are not dangerous in the sense that they do not spread any diseases to human beings.
The one situation when carpenter ants can bite is when they feel that their nests are threatened. Just like bees, they will act in self-defense when threatened. If you try to kill them with a shoe or other object and end up missing, you may suffer some bites.
Also, if you get too close to the ants or their nests, they will bite you. You should note that these insects can also attack pets. However, you can learn how to get rid of carpenter ants in walls without getting bitten. You can contact pest removal services since they are trained to avoid attacks or perform the useful tips below by yourself.
I want to warn you that you can get attacked by large numbers of carpenter ants if you don’t know how to kill carpenter ants in house.
Carpenter bites are not very serious from a medical perspective. They will give you the sensation of a pinch and may lead to the drawing of small drops of blood. Afterward, you may get a small swelling and experience an itching sensation.
The ants are not venomous, but they leave some formic acid in the skin. This is typically not harmful to humans, but it can occasionally lead to the development of allergic reactions. If you experience such reactions, make sure to visit a doctor.
It is worth noting that you can live with carpenter ants for a long time without getting bitten, but it is advisable to get rid of these insects in case of infestation. The main thing is that you need to learn is how to control these species in your house.
What Causes Carpenter Ants and What Are Notable Carpenter Ants Damages?
All the times when I have encountered carpenter ants in a person’s home or office, it was in damp places that have aging wood. Carpenter ants usually feed on proteins and sugars that are lying in the house. These include meats, pet food, syrup, honey, jelly, and granulated seeds.
Therefore, you should keep your house clean to ensure that they are not attracted to pieces of food. These insects do not always create their nests in rooms that are next to their sources of food. This means you should not ignore the cleaning of all the rooms.
Contrary to popular opinion, carpenter ants do not eat wood and are not nearly as damaging as termites. They drill holes in furniture to make their nests. The extent of the damage caused by these insects will depend on the colony’s size and the period of staying in the property.
That is why it is advisable to get rid of them as soon as you spot them. Also, it is important to take steps to prevent the growth of their colonies since, at some point, they can be hard to eliminate.
How Do You Know if You Have Carpenter Ants?
If you spot some insects walking around your house, you may suspect you have carpenter ants. The chances of the ants being carpenter ants are higher if you live on the eastern side of the US or the southeastern side of Canada.
As all experienced professionals in the field know, carpenter ants are a lot more prevalent in these places. In this section, I will look at some signs of carpenter ants in house.
One sign that the insects crawling in your house are the carpenter ants is the appearance of wood shavings next to wooden items. As I have mentioned above, these ants do not eat wood but drill holes to make their dwellings instead.
If you see ants crawling in and out of crevices in your house, you can also conclude that you have a carpenter ant problem. The entrances to these holes are usually circular, and the insides will appear smooth.
You can also identify these ants by their faint rustling sounds, but that can be a bit challenging. I recommend checking the appearances of the ants to determine whether they match the descriptions I have offered above.
You should not ignore a case just because you have only seen a single carpenter ant. Over time, the colony will grow, and it will be a lot more difficult to control. Also, these ants do not usually go to search for food in groups. They send scout ants to find something to eat. Thus, they will only mobilize and travel as a group when they finally locate food.
Carpenter Ants: How to Get Rid Of?
I have dealt with pests on many occasions, both directly and indirectly. This experience has allowed me to learn the best ways of getting rid of carpenter ants in different environments. In this section, I will show you how to eradicate carpenter ants.
In my opinion, baiting is the most effective way of ant carpenter killing. Baiting can either be indoor or outdoor, although it would be better to combine these two methods.
For using baiting, you will need to identify an outside colony and an indoor colony. Usually, the indoor colony serves as the satellite one, and the outdoor group is the main colony. The ants will usually leave the main colony to go and search for food around the satellite one.
In this way, they will create a trail between the main and satellite colonies. The outdoor baiting method will exploit this trail to get rid of all the carpenter ants in both groups. The poison should be applied along the trails so that the ants pick it up as they move between the two colonies. You can apply the poison around the house, trees, stumps, and other places where carpenter ants appear to have set up a nest.
Indoor baiting is applied around cracks and crevices in your house where the carpenter ants are seen entering the structure. This form of baiting can especially help to prevent re-infestation in the future. You can reapply the poison regularly if you have a recurring ant problem.
I have seen many people making the mistake of using poisons that are old and mild. Carpenter ants will not fall for such baits. Such treatment usually spoils in a week and has to be replaced regularly. Similarly, if you leave food particles around the house, the carpenter ants will not fall for the indoor baiting. They will carry real foods instead.
It can be hard to determine where to place the baiting and which places to leave out. My advice to people with the ant problem is to apply the poison in as many places as possible. You should spread it in all places, which seem conducive to carpenter ants.
Some people also use sprays for carpenter ant control. For this method, you will have to locate the main colony of the carpenter ants, where the queen lives. Once you find the settlement, you will need to spray around it and along the trail of the ants.
I have seen many people going for repellent sprays in an attempt to get rid of carpenter ants inside the house. However, you should never use such sprays inside the house. This is because they will drive the ants away and will not have a major impact on the colony as a whole. Thus, you will only manage to kill a few exposed ants.
With repellent sprays, the carpenter ants will also detect that they are under attack. What usually happens in such cases is that the queen will instruct the ants to take the eggs and split as they create multiple satellite colonies. Their goal is to survive as a whole, even if some members will die.
This means that the repellent sprays will only worsen the problem as the ants become more spread out. Moreover, the queen will be prompted to breed faster to increase the chances of survival of the ants.
There are only a few ant sprays that can qualify to be non-repellent, and that is why I do not recommend the use of sprays to get rid of carpenter ants. It is also important to check whether the sprays are meant for indoor or outdoor use.
Using Insecticides
Insecticides are among the best methods of carpenter ant killing. These chemicals usually come with dangerous-sounding ingredients, but most of them are perfectly safe for household use. Some of the common ingredients used include DOT, abamectin, fipronil, and chlorfenapyr.
The only chemical on this list, which can be dangerous for humans and pets, is fipronil. Abamectin can also be toxic, but it is used in very low concentrations in carpenter ant insecticides, meaning it can’t cause any harm to humans and pets.
Insecticides can be in the form of sprays, mists, or foams. They are meant to be applied around the nests of the ants or along their trails. Some of these insecticides will even seep into the wood and discourage the ants from returning in the future.
Using Natural Remedies
If you have ever used natural remedies, you will agree with me that these are the least effective carpenter ant controls. The ants will take a long time before they disappear, so you will need to be patient. Also, there are high chances that they will not entirely disappear.
Boric acid is probably the most used natural carpenter ant treatment. But you can’t just use boric acid on its own as you should mix it with a tasty bait like sugar or honey. This acid poisons ants and damages their nervous and digestive systems.
The goal here is to make the worker ants take the bait back to their nests so that they poison the whole colony. I recommend placing the mixed bait in different parts of the house to make sure the carpenter ants pick them up.
Many people fail to understand that boric acid can still be dangerous to human beings. If you have children or pets in the house, you should avoid this bait.
An alternative option that is safer for human beings and pets is the food-grade diatomaceous earth. This is a natural powder, which will make carpenter ants dehydrated, and they will end up dying. This remedy is only dangerous to humans and pets if it is sniffed in large amounts.
I have never seen this happening, and I don’t think that such a risk is real. However, if you choose to use this remedy, make sure to be careful and go for the food-grade version and not the pool-grade one.
Before you use any carpenter ant extermination method, you should try to identify the location of the carpenter ant colony. You can spot the worker ants carrying food back into their colonies by placing baits as close as possible to the entrances of the nests.
The Best Ways of Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants in House and Walls
Now that you know the different pest control methods for carpenter ants, you are probably wondering, how do you get rid of carpenter ants in walls and around the house?
In walls
The best way of getting rid of carpenter ants in the wall is by placing baits such as the ones from Terro. This method will not just kill the ant workers but will get rid of all the ants in the nest, including the queen. This is because all the members of the nest feed on the items gathered by the ant workers. Also, the baits are usually made with the ants’ favorite foods, meaning they will naturally be attracted to the treatment.
In house
Getting rid of carpenter ants in the house will require a combination of different methods. You will need to use indoor and outdoor baiting since the main nest is usually located outside the house.
Once the indoor nests are eliminated, you can use insecticides and repellant sprays to keep carpenter ants outside the house. You can spray these chemicals along the perimeter of your house and around cracks and crevices.
How to Prevent Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants typically appear in the warmer seasons, so you should be the most attentive in those months. If you don’t want to bother yourself with methods of how to treat carpenter ants, you can take some actions to prevent them. Here are the methods you can use to prevent the emergence of carpenter ant colonies in your house:
Sanitize the house all the time
From my experience, carpenter ants don’t target houses that are clean and well-sanitized. They usually make nests in places with sources of food. If you leave pieces of food lying around your kitchen and living room, they will find places to build nests close to them and always be around to grab some food. Therefore, keeping your house in poor condition can also hurt your future efforts of getting rid of carpenter ants.
Correct moisture issues
Carpenter ants are attracted to moist environments, so you should make a point of fixing your plumbing, roof leaks, and other moisture problems. Leaks outside your house should also be addressed since they will lead the ants into your place. If you have any moisture-damaged wood outside your house, make sure to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Get rid of stumps that are located next to your house
These stumps serve as a bridge to your house, and they also offer carpenter ants locations for their main nests. Any tree branches that touch the exterior of your house should also be trimmed.
With this information, you should never suffer a carpenter ant infestation again. I have to mention that I strongly support baiting as the best way to get rid of carpenter ants. Ideally, you should combine indoor and outdoor baiting to get the maximum result in the shortest time.
Spraying can end up making it harder to get rid of the ants since they may get an incentive to grow their populations even faster. Moreover, carpenter ants can also spread out to different nests, making it harder to track them and get rid of these species.
Natural remedies are used in many households, but they work very slowly. It can even be hard to tell whether or not the problem is being solved.
I hope that my recommendations helped you to identify if you have carpenter ants in your house and what are the possible ways of removing them from your place.
How do you eradicate carpenter ants in your own house? Have you ever tried any of the methods mentioned in this guide? If so, please tell me about your experience and anything you may have learned in the process.
References:
How to Identify Carpenter Ants (Scott McCombe) WikiNow: https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Carpenter-Ants
Carpenter ants (University of Minnesota Extension): https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/carpenter-ants
Carpenter Ants (National Pesticide Information Center): http://npic.orst.edu/pest/carpenterant.html
Are you struggling with carpenter ants in your house? I know how challenging it can be to deal with these insects. There are over seven hundred ant species in the world, and carpenter ants are among the highly difficult ones to remove in case of an infestation.
These insects don’t feed with wood around, but only drill holes create nests. You must, therefore, get rid of these species until their colony grows bigger, and the damage caused to your furniture and surroundings gets stronger.
If you want to get rid of carpenter ants effectively, you must first find their nest. After locating it, use the best carpenter ant killer on pests, their nest, and traces.
I have studied the behavior of these pests and how to effectively control them for more than twenty-five years. So, I will use my expertise to provide you with tips on the best way to kill carpenter ants.
Below, I will provide descriptions of the best products to kill carpenter ants to assist you in keeping ants away from your house. Here, you will also find my suggestions for suitable treatments for outdoor and indoor applications. If you use these solutions, you are guaranteed to get rid of carpenter ants shortly.
Here is a list of the top eight carpenter ant treatment options that I recommend considering to get rid of these pests. The pros and cons of each item should help you select the best carpenter ant killer for your needs.
1. Basf Advance Granular Ant Bait – Best Product to Kill Carpenter Ants
Basf Advanced Granular Carpenter Ant Bait is the best product among our recommendations. This German company was founded in 1865, and it is the largest producer of chemical products in the world. It has subsidiaries in over eighty countries worldwide.
This Basf carpenter ant bait is made with an active ingredient called abamectin B1. This is a slow-killing ingredient that allows the carpenter ants to carry the poison back to their colony. What kills carpenter ants best than this product, which can destroy the entire colony together with the queen? Indeed, there is no better way to keep your home protected from pests.
This solution is a combination of protein-based attractors and large granular-sized baits. The baits can be placed anywhere around, and in the house, so you can spread the treatment not only in the kitchen and rooms but around the foundations in cracks and crevices. You should also put baits in areas where you have noticed the signs of ants to get desired results.
Pros:
Cons:
a highly-efficient granular bait;
can kill the whole colony;
can be used both indoors and outdoors.
not water-resistant.
2. Bayer Maxforce Carpenter Gel 4314807 (Currently Unavailable, Try Combat Max Instead) – Best Carpenter Ant Bait Gel
Bayer is the manufacturer of a highly helpful Maxforce carpenter ant bait gel. It is among the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Bayer produces some chemical products, such as agricultural chemicals, consumer healthcare products, and biotechnology products.
This advance carpenter ant bait is a sugar-based gel with a sweet smell to attract ants. It is also high in moisture to allow the ants to consume it easily. The gel can kill all the common species of ants, including carpenter ants, bullet ant, banded sugar ants, argentine ants, among others.
Maxforce gel contains fipronil. When an ant consumes this gel, the ingredient kills it slowly. This way, the ant carries the bait to its colony, which eventually results in killing the queen. This makes it an effective carpenter ant bait in getting rid of an entire colony because ants can’t survive after the queen has died.
This Maxforce solution removes ants completely from three to five days after insects eat the baits. This is the reason why I find this item the best carpenter ant killer for homes infested with ants. Put this gel on the places where you have spotted ants the most for even quicker results. You can apply it in crevices, pipes, or cabinets.
The Maxforce gel should not be placed in areas that have been sprayed by insecticides. This is because the ants have a strong sense of smell, and they may smell the poison and avoid the gel. I advise using this gel alongside other protein-based baits to get the best results.
Pros:
Cons:
has a sweet smell to specifically attract carpenter ants;
the bait kills the whole colony;
can easily be applied in small spaces and crevices.
must be placed on the ant paths.
3. Talstar Pros Pest Control Insecticide – Professional Carpenter Ant Killer
Talstar Professional insecticide is a product of the FMC Agricultural Products company. This firm is renowned for producing some of the most effective insecticides for more than a century.
Talstar Professional comes in a 3/4-gallon bottle. In addition to effectively killing carpenter ants, this solution can be used to get rid of many other insects in your home, including mosquitoes, termites, centipedes, bees, bedbugs, spiders, etc.
For this insecticide, FMC uses 7.9% bifenthrin as the main active ingredient. This makes Talstar Professional a fast and effective carpenter ant killer because bifenthrin is synthetic parathyroid, which affects the insect’s nervous system and, therefore, weakens it before finally killing.
The high bifenthrin content means you can dilute the Talstar Professional solution with water, and it still remains effective in killing ants. The amount of water to add depends on the size of the infestation. For example, if you want to treat a mild infestation, 0.33 ounces of Talstar solution for every gallon of water should be enough. For indoor spaces, I recommend 0.5 ounces of this insecticide per gallon of water. And for the bad infestations, I advise using at least an ounce of the product for every gallon of water.
For Talstar Professional to work best, you should leave it to dry. I always leave the pesticide for at least thirty minutes to allow it to dry completely before letting people step on the treated area. When applying outside, I also make sure the area doesn’t come into contact with water. So, it’s best to use this solution during dry seasons, as rainfall can make it ineffective.
I recommend using a pump sprayer when to allow an even distribution of this carpenter ant spray. Also, you can use other ant treatment methods like baits alongside this product.
You can use Talstar Professional both indoors (only in cracks) and outdoors for treating your home, office, commercial areas, etc.
Pros:
Cons:
non-toxic to pets;
has no odor;
can be applied both indoors and outdoors;
leaves no stains.
must dry completely to become effective.
4. Terro Aerosol Spray – Among Top Effective Sprays for Carpenter Ants
Target Species: Ants, Termites, Carpenter bees, Wood wasps, and other insects
This Terro 16 oz. Carpenter Ant & Termite Killer aerosol spray is one of the most effective solutions, based on my experience. Terro insect control company is one of the global brands that has been helping property owners to fight pests since 1915.
If you are looking for the best way to kill carpenter ants in house, then this spray can do the magic. The solution won’t stain your floors and walls, and it has no odor. The product kills insects on contact, so you can get rid of most pests in your home immediately. In addition to killing carpenter ants and termites, it can help keep your home free from carpenter bees, beetles, wood wasps, and wood borers.
You can also use it outside to kill pests. The reason why it’s among the best outdoor carpenter ant killer options is that it gives your home a lasting protective barrier against pests for about four weeks. This means you won’t have to worry about pests’ infestation during this period.
This product comes with a two-way spray nozzle, which is easy to use. The canister allows dispersing the pesticide over a wide-angle. There is also a precision tube to help you spray the solution to crevices, wall voids, and holes.
For the best results, I recommend using this product together with carpenter ant baits, for example, Terro outdoor liquid ant killer baits to remove the outdoor ants as well.
Pros:
Cons:
lasting residual protection for up to four weeks;
for both indoor and outdoor applications;
quickly kills pests on contact;
has no odor;
the effect is stronger if used together with other Terro products.
will work if you spray on ants directly.
5. Bayer Advanced Concentrate – The Best Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer
Target Species: Ants, Yellow Jacket, Termites, Fleas, Ticks, Crickets, Spiders, Flies, and more
This insecticide is manufactured by BioAdvanced. The company provides innovative, science-based solutions for customers struggling with pests like carpenter ants. BioAdvanced has been a top manufacturer of one of the best carpenter ant killer products available in the market since 1994.
This item is a perfect carpenter ant poison that kills pests on contact. The downside is that it can’t kill the ants that you haven’t spotted. This product can also kill other insects that destroy wood like termites and other pests listed on its label.
Here, the active ingredient is cyfluthrin, which is also known as a pyrethroid. This makes it non-toxic to people and other mammals. However, you can only use it outdoors. I advise people to use this solution on outbuildings such as doorways, foundations, and eaves. Some other places you can apply the concentrate include lawns, garages, patios, stored lumber, tree stumps, and ground covers, to name a few.
The good thing about using Bayer advanced carpenter ant and termite killer plus concentrate for outdoor carpenter ants killing is that it leaves lasting residual protection. This protection can remain active for more than three months after application, which makes the product a perfect home barrier treatment.
This solution comes in three formulas. The first two are 40 Oz and 1-gallon Concentrate that you should mix with water before spraying with a tank sprayer. The other formula is a ready-to-use 1.3 gallon that comes with a sprayer on batteries.
Pros:
Cons:
kills insects on contact;
non-toxic to pets if used correctly;
protects from 75+ species;
has a lasting effect.
Can only be applied outdoors.
6. Diatomaceous Crawling Insect Killer – Natural Carpenter Ant Treatment
Target Species: Ants, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, Earwigs, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Millipedes, Centipedes, Silverfish, Carpet beetles, Fleas, and more
This product is manufactured by a Safer company that produces organic insect control products using natural ingredients. The firm manufactures gardening products that help to conserve the environment.
Being organic, this is the best carpenter ant killer for home use. It is made with 85% Silicon Dioxide as the main ingredient. The powder works by dehydrating pests within forty-eight hours. As a result, the insects can’t develop any form of resistance to this insecticide.
This carpenter ants pesticide is also easy to use. All you need to do is to place the powder on the path of insects or to their location. According to the University of Georgia Extension, the best way to eliminate carpenter ants is to locate their nest and apply an effective pesticide. The nest can be in furniture, window sills, and other far-fetching places. Apart from carpenter ants, this product can kill pests such as fleas, bed bugs, cockroaches, millipedes, and other insects.
You should ensure that the powder does not come into contact with water. If it does, you will need to reapply it again. Also, if you have a large infestation, you have to be patient and wait for all insects to come into contact with the powder. You may also need to reapply the solution to speed up the removing process.
Pros:
Cons:
pests can’t develop resistance to it;
kills within just 48 hours of application;
for indoor and outdoor application;
no odors;
no stains.
should be reapplied after it comes into contact with water;
for larger infestation, it may take a longer time to affect all the pests.
7. Terro T1812 Bait Stakes – The Best Way to Kill Carpenter Ants Outside
This is another great product made by Terro. If you are looking for a tip on how to kill carpenter ants before they get into your home, then this pesticide must be your choice. The bait is perfect for attracting ants.
But will Terro liquid ant baits kill carpenter ants? Well, the bait does not only attract the ants but kills them because of the borax, an active ingredient used in the pesticide. Borax kills pests slowly by affecting their digestive systems. This slow infestation allows ants to carry the poison back to their colony and, thereby, spreading the poison to the rest of the insects. As a result, you will get rid of the whole colony of carpenter ants.
This ant killer bait stake has a window that allows you to monitor the bait amount and know when it’s time to replace it. The bait stake is also weatherproof, so you don’t have to worry about rains. Besides, it has tiered stairs to enable the ants to access the bait with ease.
Pros:
Cons:
you can easily see the bait;
the product is ready to use;
kills pests slowly to allow spreading of the poison;
This is the third product on these best carpenter ant killer reviews that is manufactured by Terro. It shows that this company is synonymous with high-quality products.
Th1806 item is one of the most effective carpenter ant traps for outdoor insects. The trap should be put outside your home, and it has stakes to secure it in grass or gravel. This ant bait is meant to attract ants outdoors before they get into your home.
The liquid bait comes with a patented one to prevent the liquid from evaporating. There is also a see-through monitor to enable you to add more liquid to ensure the bait does not dry out.
To make this solution more effective, the manufacturer provided tiered stairs to enable ants to reach the liquid with ease. It is a slow-killing product so that ants that have consumed the poison can carry it to their colony before dying. This ensures all the ants take the poison, including the queen. Ultimately, this pesticide helps to get rid of the entire colony.
Pros:
Cons:
a ready to use bait;
kills slowly to allow ants to spread the poison to the colony;
you can easily monitor the bait placements to see the progress.
for outdoor use only.
What Works Best to Kill Carpenter Ants?
The pesticides mentioned above will provide you with perfect results if used properly. Make sure to follow all the instructions indicated on the label to the latter. You must know the correct amounts to apply based on the infestation of your place, as well as the right type of insecticide to use.
Also, pesticides labeled for outdoors should be strictly used only around the house. This is because some outdoor solutions are manufactured to break down into less toxic substances in the presence of sunlight, rain, and proper ventilation. Therefore, using them indoors without the needed conditions may result in poisonous causes that may harm people and pets.
FAQ Section
How Much Does Carpenter Ant Treatment Cost?
The answer to this question depends on many factors. First of all, it’s the place of ant removal, for example, whether it’s a house or street. The next is the remedy itself. There are different brands with various efficiency. On average, be prepared to spend about $50. For this money, you can buy a good and effective tool for removing carpenter ants.
What is the Best Carpenter Ant Bait?
My own recommendation for indoors is Bayer 4314807 Maxforce Carpenter Gel 27g Ant Insecticide. It can kill the whole colony of ants from three to five days after the insects eat the bait gel. Based on my own experience!
Are You Ready to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants from Your Home?
The best way to eliminate carpenter ants is to look out for their nests, where the queen lives, and then treating species with the right insecticide. If you notice carpenter ants in your house, you should use an indoor trap, bait, or spray to get rid of them. However, for removing pests outdoors, the water-based pesticides like the Talstar Professional Pest Control insecticide should help you on this matter.
It is also possible to prevent future infestations using home treatment barriers like the Basf advanced carpenter ant killer plus to keep your property protected for longer periods. The listed pesticides are very effective and should help you keep your home free from carpenter ants. I hope that my tips and insecticide recommendations will help you to remove these species from your house and forget about such a problem for a long time.
Have you ever experienced a carpenter ant infestation in your property? What carpenter ant killers did you use to get rid of them? Let me know in the comment section below.
Carpenter ants (University of Minnesota Extension): https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/carpenter-ants
Why Do Ants Die After The Queen Dies? (Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/08/08/why-do-ants-die-after-the-queen-dies/?sh=77616d03889b
Pyrethroid Insecticides (Illinois Department of Public Health): http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/pyrethroid.htm
Biology and Management of Carpenter Ants(The University of Georgia): https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B1225&title=Biology%20and%20Management%20of%20Carpenter%20Ants
Pesticides: Safe and Effective Use in the Home and Landscape (Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California): http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74126.html
Ants are forest keepers, but they’re definitely not friends for humans at their residences. Therefore, if you still think that their presence in your house or apartment is not such a big problem, then you are greatly mistaken. Before proceeding to the argument that you really need Terro Ant baits, let’s look in the face of danger.
Now, it’s time for you to face the enemy and be ready to get rid of them.
The First Reason: Ants Harm Your Health
Like many other types of insect pests, ants carry various bacteria on their legs. The reason for this is their lifestyle. Searching for food in garbage containers, they cling to disease-causing organisms and bring them to your house. Ants carry bacteria and viruses that can cause various disorders:
intestinal poisoning and intoxication (diphtheria, salmonellosis, etc.);
diseases transmitted by airborne droplets.
The Second Reason: Unpleasant Presents
Besides the diseases and bacteria, ants also like to scatter their excrements around. These are also signals for their relatives to find them or potential food sources.
The Third Reason: Unwelcome Guests
Imagine you invited a friend to your apartment for the first time, and suddenly, the ants showed up. A little bit embarrassing, isn’t it?
My main advice to you is to keep your apartment clean so that you can be sure no insects will appear. But, if it has already happened and you found an ant or a whole colony, use the Terro Liquid Ant Baits.
How do Terro Ant Baits Work?
Terro Ant Bait is probably the most popular product to fight the ants. It is also highly recommended by various professional pest control agencies all around the world. Terro Liquid Ant Bait is used to kill almost any ant species and comes in convenient, no-spill containers so you can use them both indoors and outdoors.
Like many other insecticide baits, Terro Ant Bait has a delayed effect. Its secret ingredient is called borax, and this is what actually attracts ants to try the bait. The use of borax in the household has been known for over 100 years. Borax is a natural mineral, the product of seasonal evaporation of salt lakes.
Borax consists of boron, sodium, water, and oxygen. The boron trace element in borax is fatal to some insects, such as ants, fleas, cockroaches, silverfish and beetles.
The poison works on the insect gradually. For a certain period of time, the infected individual interacts with other insects and infects them too, so you can control the whole population that has already taken over your house. After the death of the poisoned individual, their corpse continues to emit the infected particles, and more ants are getting poisoned.
How to use Terro Liquid Ant Bait?
Terro Ant Baits can be used anywhere: hospitals, restaurants, hotels, apartments, grocery stores, schools, cafeterias, and even ships. Terro bait is also rather simple in usage. All you have to do is take the stations out of the pack and place them wherever you need. Follow the Terro Liquid Ants Bait instructions to get the best effect.
The Terro company claims that it takes up to 3 days to see the effect. From my personal experience, I’d say that it may take up to 5-7 days depending on the number of pests.
Where can I get Terro Ants Bait?
Luckily, there are various online and offline shops where you can buy Terro Ant Baits including Amazon, Walmart, The Home Depot, etc. The remedy costs from $3 to $20 depending on the number of stations you want to purchase.
Is Terro Ants Bait Safe for Pets?
Despite the fact that borax in small amounts isn’t toxic, it can lead to nephatony or even kidney failure. Another less dangerous effects of borax poisoning are drooling, excessive thirst, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Depending on the form of borax (liquid or granules), it can also cause coughing and shortness of breath.
Please, be very attentive to your pets when using Terro Ant Baits. If any of these symptoms occur, call the vet immediately.
Terro Ant Baits are not Working!
There are also several cases when people complained about Terro Ant Killer Baits being ineffective. Luckily, such things happen rarely, and the main reason for this is stations misapply.
Like I’ve said before, read the instructions on the pack attentively, so you can learn to apply the baits properly. If you still don’t trust Terro Ants Baits, you can call pest control agency, but believe me, they use the same means to clean your house from this minor nuisance. However, using Terro Liquid Ant Bait will cost you $3, while a professional exterminator costs a slightly different sum.
A Quick FAQ on Terro Ant Baits
How does Terro Ant Bait control ants invasion?
As you already know from this Terro Ant Bait review, the active ingredient of the baits is borax. It works slowly enough to provide time for several ants to make trips to the bait and deliver it back to the rest of the colony. In a few days, you should see a notable decrease in the number of ants attending the bait station.
The liquid Terro ant bait station should stay in one place as long as possible while the ants are actively feeding on it. Don’t forget that the product you use is an insecticide bait, so you should remove all available food in the nearest area. Hide your foodstuff in closed containers, so you can make sure ants will eat only the liquid bait.
Can I use the liquid ant bait outdoors?
Of course, you can! Terro Liquid Ant Baits are created for outdoor ant control as well. The Terro ant bait pack comes with pre-filled bait stations, so you don’t have to worry about drips and spills and weather changes. It doesn’t get affected by sun, snow or rain. Don’t forget to change the bait stations every 3 months to keep the ants away from your house.
The ants are avoiding Terro Ant Bait Killer. Why?
The answer is simple: you have to refresh the bait station. By the way, you better do it quick, because the ants may find another food source and continue coming to your house.
Is there an expiration date on Terro Liquid Ant Baits?
The ant bait does not have a termination date because the effectiveness of the active ingredient borax is almost infinite. However, it is recommended to change the stations in time to achieve the best effect Terro Ant Bait can provide.
Considering all the facts I already gave you, I’d like to give this product a ‘like’ or ‘thumbs up’. Terro Ant Baits are used worldwide by both professional exterminators and average citizens.
It is also the top-selling insecticide product on Amazon, and it has received a 5-star rating out of almost 4000 reviews. That’s pretty powerful when there are so many similar products on the market today.
This product just works. If you follow the instructions on the pack of Terro Ant Baits, you will definitely get the effect in the shortest period of time. One more time, let’s see the main features of the Terro Ant Killer Baits:
Convenient Applying
Unlike some other ant baits and pesticides, Terro ant bait can be placed inside or outside your house or property. Poison stations will not be affected by the weather and they are also small enough to be used in all corners of your apartment. The bait is also put into a plastic case that protects pets and children from tasting it.
Allows you to Avoid Contact With Chemicals
Various ant baits available on the market require you to interact with pesticides in one way or another, whether these are poisonous pills or toxic spraying liquids. Terro provides an ant bait that goes inside the bait stations, so you don’t need to contact the chemicals directly. However, you still need to keep pets and children away from the product and wash your hands after use!
Delayed Effect Formula For Quick Ant Control
Ants who consumed the bait will die during a period from a few hours to a few days, but there’s enough time for poisoned individuals to return to the colony and infect others. It usually takes up to 3 days for a colony to die, but in more serious cases, it can take up to 1 week.
Why Are the Ants Dangerous?
Ants are one of the largest families of arthropods. They are spread almost worldwide. The only exception is Antarctica and some remote islands. In total, there are about 13,000 species of these insects, divided into 21 modern and 5 fossil subfamilies.
Sometimes domestic ants are confused with forest and beneficial insects, so people don’t even try to get rid of them. In fact, these minor neighbors can harm your health. Like many other domestic insects, they spread infections and pathogens.
Even if the ants do not bite humans, they still contact food and different surfaces all over your house. They leave particles of infections that mix with dust and get into the air we breathe.
Domestic Ants: Where do They Come From?
There are two types of ants you can find in your apartment: Pharaohs and Thief ants. Pharaoh ant is the most widespread type of domestic pest insects. They do not know how to survive in the wild, and that’s why they migrate from one human dwelling to another.
Thief ants are more adapted to life in nature. They got their name because of their lifestyle. These ants stay close to the house (sometimes in the house itself) to steal food.
Ants can get to the apartment in different ways:
move from neighbors;
looking for food;
get with store products;
fly into the window (yeah, some ants grow wings once a year).
But thieves and pharaohs aren’t that dangerous as carpenter ants. If you noticed carpenter ants in your house, pound the alarm and try all possible ways to get rid of them. These ants are total destroyers.
How do I Know That Ants are in my House?
Well, ants are quite social creatures that live in large colonies, and by large I mean one colony can include millions of ants. Each colony consists of a queen, whose main duty is reproduction, and worker ants, who must supply food for the queen and the offsprings.
Workers usually go long distances in search of food and water to feed their wards. When they find a source of food, they leave a smelling trace, so that other ants can follow them.
If you spot one or two ants in your kitchen, this is a warning alert. Ant colonies also include scouts, and these ants are here to examine your kitchen for the future invasion. Their job is to return to the nest and inform other ants that your kitchen is a potential target for the invasion.
The kitchen urgently needs to be cleaned. Hide and pack all easily accessible products, remove all sources of sticky, sweet, fatty and natural products. Complete this checklist if you have already seen an ant in your house:
do not leave dirty dishes in the kitchen or any other room;
wipe all the surfaces in the kitchen with a cloth dipped in vinegar (it produces an unpleasant smell for ants);
remove all the sources of garbage;
sweep, vacuum, or wash the floor daily;
rinse jars, containers or bottles with any sticky scraps.
Repeat all these simple procedures for 3-7 days. If the ants wouldn’t find something to eat, they will go somewhere else.
A Little Bonus From Me: a Quick Guide on Ants Invasion Prophylaxis
You should keep your house perfectly cleaned. No crumbs, or any other garbage should be left. Clean all surfaces. Tables, floors, and walls (especially in the kitchen) must be washed on a daily basis. If you keep your house clean and dry, you can be sure no ants will show up sooner or later.
I also recommend to throw away pet food before night. If you constantly leave dog or cat food in a bowl for the night, it may cause ants or even cockroaches invasion.
And of course, try Terro Ant Baits as a prevention method. If you have seen the ants near your apartment or heard about your neighbor struggling with the ants invasion, it is better to defend yourself. Use 1-2 baits a week and make sure you are safe from these minor pests.
In this Terro Liquid Ant Bait review, I’ve tried to cover all possible questions and explain to you everything I know about this product from both professional and common perspectives. If you still have any questions about it, please, feel free to leave a comment below, and I will try to give an answer to it as soon as possible.
Ants are definitely worth our attention. These insects are intelligent, they communicate using pheromones, and the population of their colonies is divided into castes. Moreover, ant is probably the only insect type spread around the whole planet Earth. Still, there’s nothing cool about ants when they appear in your kitchen.
Speaking about indoor ant invasion, not only house owners struggle with ant invasions, but also apartment residents fight these minor creatures. The problem is these insects are not as easy to get rid of as it seems at first.
Small insects race back and forth, build anthills and constantly carry something into them. What should you do? Pound the alarm and try to destroy the unwanted guests or accept the situation and share food with them? Well, the answer is quite straightforward unless we talk about the garden ants.
There are hundreds of methods and thousands of treatments to get rid of these minor bad guys, and ant traps are a rather controversial way to fight them. Some people say that ant traps are the best cure to liquidate the ant colony quickly and easily, while others complain about the short-lasting effect. However, depending on the structure and the main ingredient, these devices can help you to get rid of insects permanently quite fast.
There are also several ant traps types that you have to know about before making a purchase:
Liquid Bait Traps
This is the most popular ant trap type today.
How they work: The ingredients inside the trap produce a special scent that attracts the insects. After ants feed on the poison, they become biological time-bombs. If ants find any food, they usually return to their colony to inform others. Don’t forget that ants communicate using special secretion, and it means that they spread the infection to the whole nest. One ant can poison 10-20 of its tribesmen. So, the ants will continue to eat the bait until they die. This process usually lasts up to 3-5 days, depending on the number of pests in your home.
These baits are good for using both indoors and outdoors as long as they’re placed into plastic containers. They don’t get spoiled by rain, snow or sun rays.
Dusted Ant Traps
These traps come in powder or granule forms.
How they work: In fact, powder or granule ant traps aren’t quite the traps you might think about. These are dry poisons, that are extremely useful in ant hills, cracks and crevices of your house or crawl spaces. Due to the sifty form, you can put these traps in the most hard-to-reach places.
Powders and granules usually have the same delayed effect that liquid baits do, but sometimes, they have the active poison in their formula to kill the pests immediately. These types are actually the best outdoor ant traps because they can be applied directly to anthills or other places of their accumulation so that you prevent the ant invasion in your house.
Immediate Killer Ant Traps
These kinds of traps are quite ineffective when you have a big ant colony in your apartment, but for individual cases, they seem like the best ant traps for home.
How they work: They are equipped with special sticky tapes, electricity or active poison. Once the insect got to the trap, the death comes quickly.
In defense of these traps, I’d say that they serve as best ant traps for big black ants which are mostly known as carpenter ants.
Before you rush to the shop to get treatment for your problem, let’s see which ants are mostly like to appear in your house or garden.
Identify Your Target
The ant family is diverse and has a large variety of species and subspecies. For now, we will take a look at the most widespread species.
Home or indoor ants spoil food or even your furniture. If you’re dealing with ants who destroy wood, these are probably carpenter ants. This type of ants doesn’t eat the material, they build nests in them. Carpenters are quite big creatures usually of black or dark brown color.
Sugar ants or sweet-eating ants mostly known as Pharaoh ants. These pests are most likely to show up in your kitchen on a tiny spot of peanut butter or any other yum. Pharaohs are pretty clever and hide their colonies well. Sometimes, the anthill can be located outside your house, but it doesn’t decrease the level of a problem. Sweet-eaters are tiny, mostly of black color. There are also brown sugar-eaters and yellow-tailed ants.
Outdoor ant species are probably the same. However, if indoor ants are disgusting, their outside relatives can be even profitable for gardeners. Ants are predators, and if you have found the small black garden ant near the plants you grow, there’s no need to worry. Garden ants are your comrades in protecting the green stuff. They eat other insects who might destroy the harvest, and that’s why you don’t need to get rid of them.
Have you already recognized who you deal with? Let’s get ready for the ant fight.
What Are the Best Ant Traps to Use?
Now, considering everything you’ve already learned about these minor nuisances, it’s time to see what are the best ant traps for your home and outdoor area.
Terro Ant Bait is the most recommended product to liquidate the ants. I’ve already reviewed this product earlier, so you can just check the article on Terro baits for more details.
Terro baits are known as the best ant traps for sugar ants. These baits come in small, handy containers so you can use them both indoors and outdoors.
Similar to many other pesticides for ants fighting, Terro Ant Bait has a delayed effect. Its poisonous element is called borax, and this is what makes ants feed on it. Borax is a natural mineral element, the product of seasonal drying of salt lakes.
Poisoned ants return to their nests and infect their mates, which makes it easy to control a large number of pests. The bait is sweet-tasting, so it is mostly used for Pharaoh ants. Usually, it takes up to 3 days to wipe out the whole colony.
2. Grants Indoor Ant Traps (no longer available, these from Terro are great replacement for outdoors)
Like Terro, Grants ant traps fight an entire colony or a nest of ants in just several days. The liquid bait is also put into the mini-stations. Despite its name, the bait also works outside the house. One advantage the Grants baits have is that they’re also used against carpenter ants, unlike the Terro product.
Advance 375a granules bait is a strong delayed-action insect treatment. The effect is similar to liquid baits, but, as you already know, granules are more useful in slots, cracks, and other hard-to-reach places.
The manufacturer claims that Advance 375a works best against Odorous House, Crazy, Little Black, Argentine, and Pavement ants. These are partly protein-addicted ants, who can feed on meat, dead or alive insect bodies (the ant cannibals? eww), and greasy foods. Luckily, these ants also like sweet yummies, so the bait is quite useful for a large variety of species.
4. AMDRO Ant Block Home Perimeter Ant Bait Granules
No products found.
AMDRO Ant Bait is considered to be an efficient carpenter ant bait trap. It works mostly outdoors and is used as a prophylaxis against the carpenters invasion. Place granules around your home to create a block for carpenter ants, so they won’t get inside. You can also place it near fruit trees to protect them from destroying. If the problem is already inside, check the indoor AMDRO products to get rid of the insects.
Target Species: Mice, Snakes, Crickets, Bats, Fleas, Ticks, Mites, Lice, Roaches, Brown Recluse Spiders and other potentially disease transmitting insects
The Catchmaster traps are simple glue sticks that provide quick results. To achieve the best effect, place a little food inside to attract the ants to the trap. Catchmaker traps are, in fact, useful for a small amount of insects. What makes these traps great is that they’re suitable for any ant species. Moreover, they are also pet and child-friendly. If your domestic darlings somehow clung the sticky thing, you can use any oil to remove it.
These Terro traps are also sticky glue traps, which are intended to capture and kill a large number of insects. As you already guessed, these traps are useful for cases when you struggle with several insect types in your house. Terro Spider & Insect Traps work the same way as Catchmasters, and are non-toxic as well.
Ant Traps Buyer Guide
With so many ant trap choices on the market, it is rather difficult to define the best ant traps. That’s why I’ve created this buyer guide to walk you through the important questions you need to answer before getting the perfect ant trap.
Where is Your Problem?
This one is simple. If you notice the pests inside the house, get the best ant traps for indoor use. If the problem is outside, get the most effective treatment for outdoor usage.
What Ants Are You Dealing With?
Consider the type of ant you’re trying to get rid of. For example, if you’re having problems with carpenter ants, any non-repellent baits and traps are your best choices.
Sugar ants are here for sweets, so get them a sweet-tasting bait or use a sticky trap with a little surprise inside.
Treatment Characteristics
Decide which trap you need. There are non-pesticide, pet-friendly, or strong insecticide baits to use. If you have pets or kids, your best match are the traps with no active chemicals.
How to Use Ant Traps Correctly?
As with any other pest control treatment or tool, there are a lot of recommendations and guidelines that you should follow to stay safe and get the highest efficiency of the insecticide products. Here are a few tips:
Discover where the ants are most likely to appear. They usually prefer the kitchen and bathrooms. Locate the most common ant trails, and put the traps on their way.
Always check the bait stations. Once they’ve been consumed, put a fresh one quickly, until the ants haven’t found a new food source.
Check the sticky traps as well. When they’re full, place new traps to make sure you exterminated all pests.
Don’t use several trap types in one place. Of course, you want the fastest result the treatments can give, but believe me, if you put bait traps and granule traps at the same place, you won’t achieve anything but product misuse.
Always learn about what you purchase. For example, if you need an outdoor trap, it is better to get a water-resistant, or sticky-sided traps, so they won’t be affected by precipitation or winds.
Make sure to clean all other possible food sources near the ant traps. The less food is available, the more ants will feed on the baits and traps.
Protect yourself. Wear disposable gloves and face-masks when you interact with any kind of insecticide, especially with granules and powders.
What Are Other Ant Exterminators to Acknowledge?
What else you can use to get rid of the ants? Well, the choice is huge. There are ant sprays, aerosols, gels, and hundreds of other ant killers that may be useful in a particular case. But as for me, after fighting with ants for almost half of a lifetime, the bait traps are the best option existing. They have a fast, long-lasting effect that makes your problem gone forever.
There are also professional exterminator and pest control agencies, who can solve your problem in the shortest period of time. But, trust me, they probably use the same ant traps that you can find quite in any online or offline store.
Ant traps are also quite economical. A pack might cost up to $6 and give the best result in 3 days with only 1-2 traps consumed. By the way, if you’re into DIY, you can also make the ant trap by yourself.
How to Make the Ant Trap: a DIY Guide
Self-made traps are sometimes as good as purchased products. They can be no less effective if you make a quality trap and use the right amount of poison.
The simplest trap for ants includes boric acid mixed with a fresh egg. Put the bait into the bottle caps or matchboxes and place them wherever you need.
There’s also a variation of this recipe. Simply use honey instead of the egg, and follow the same algorithm. But be careful with the honey amount you use. If you mix more than a 0,5 tsp, the effect might be gone.
These methods work similarly to the most liquid bait traps. They also provide a delayed effect, so when the insect gets poison, it will bring it to the nest to infect other mates.
Your unwelcome guests are also scared off by the smell of mint, shag, bay leaf, wormwood, cloves, and garlic. Sprinkle or grease the strong-smelling ingredients to the ant trails, slots, holes, cracks, and crevices.
How to Prevent the Ant Infestation
Now, you know what are the best 6 ant traps to try if you’re struggling with the ants invasion. Nevertheless, it is better to stave off the opportunity of pests appearance, than to find them crawling in your kitchen.
There are several rules you should follow to keep the ants off your house and neighborhood:
Do not leave dirty dishes on the table and in the kitchen sink.
Get rid of the garbage and trash sources in time.
Wash the floors adding ammonia and special washing chemicals.
Ants do not like the smell of sunflower oil and kerosene. Therefore, you can also use these products as prophylaxis methods.
To get rid of garden ants, you need to find out the reason for their appearance.
The first danger alert are aphids. The presence of these inhabitants of the garden precedes the appearance of garden ants. The waste products of aphids are a source of sweet carbohydrates for ants to feed on. In order to expand their food sources, ants can move aphids to other plants, providing them with food and protecting them from other insects.
The use of chemicals is not always the right treatment for the gardens since they can infuse toxic substances when you process cultivated plants.
There are many verified recipes that are harmless for the plants and fruits. This treatment will help get rid of aphids, who are the main source of garden ants.
The easiest and safest way is to use is a soap suspension. As you may know, aphid breathes through the skin, and the soap layer will block the insect access to oxygen. The recipe is quite simple: you have to mix 0.1 liters of liquid soap with 10 liters of water. Spray the affected plants every morning and evening for a week.
Fighting an invasion of ants is a rather difficult mission. But if you work hard considering all the rules and using the best ant traps, you can achieve the desired result quickly and keep it for a long time.
Best Ant Traps Review Summary
Ant traps are probably the most effective and useful ways to deal with an ant infestation. Usually, these are simple poison baits of almost any kind that include a slow-acting insecticide.
To find a perfect ant trap is a quite long process since there are so many of them on the market. But I hope that with my guides and reviews, you will quickly figure out which traps work the best for your ant invasion case. Follow the guidelines in the buyer’s guide above to learn which product you need, and don’t forget about the reviews. Once again, the top 6 best ant traps are:
DIY methods are also cool if you don’t like to mess with insecticides or poisons. Just follow the recipe I gave you or try any other one you like. Luckily, the Internet gives us a large variety of ant treatment methods. If you have read this article to find a solution to prevent the ant invasion, I bet you found something useful to try. Don’t forget the main rule: clean apartment means no insects. The more often you do the cleaning, the fewer insects will visit you.
If you’re dealing with an outside ant infestation, the first thing to figure out is whether its dangerous. Personally, I think that the ants in your garden aren’t a big problem as long as they don’t destroy trees or harm plants. But, if you noticed any of these symptoms, don’t rush to sprinkle poison everywhere you see. Follow the guides and basic ant trap applying rules to get the best result.
Household ant invasions are determined by weather, not pesticide use, new study finds (Mark Shwartz Stanford University): https://news.stanford.edu/pr/01/ants45.html
Identifying household ants (Michael Merchant, Ph.D., Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist, Texas AgriLife Extension Service): https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/household/ants-house/ent-2013/
Controlling Fire Ants in Vegetable Gardens (Alabama Cooperative Extension System): https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/lawn-garden/controlling-fire-ants-in-vegetable-gardens/?cn-reloaded=1
If you’re intending to prevent ants from attacking your home, get rid of anything that would tempt them to pay a visit in the first place. Seal and put away all your food sources, remove crumbs and juice spills from the shelves, wash all the dishes and clean out the sink on a regular basis.
Whenever ants smell sweet or greasy food, they make the most of any possible means of access to your house. Do your best to always keep your property clean, gap-proof, firmly sealed and protected from potential infestation.
If ants are already making themselves at home on your property, it’s high time you opted for the best indoor ant killer product. In today’s comprehensive ant strategies guide, you will:
instantly access our editors’ ultimate choice for the best ant killer for indoor & outdoor use;
learn about the classification of the best ant treatment options;
access the list of the best products thoroughly tested and reviewed by our independent editors;
learn how to treat ants on your own;
access the ultimate ant prevention guide compiled by our pros.
Did you know that ants outnumber people by a 140,000 to 1 ratio? Multiplied by the current world population of 7.7 billion people, this number will make you feel slightly overwhelmed. Not only are these nasty pests countless, they are also extremely tenacious.
The first ant types date back to over 160 million years ago. In other words, we have to find ways to coexist with ants somehow. But if you’ve already seen more than a few ants crawling all over your kitchen sink, it’s time to make use of the best ant killer for indoor purposes.
What Are the Best Indoor & Outdoor Ant Killer Types?
If you’re experiencing a continuous ants-in-the-house issue, chances are you haven’t yet discovered the best indoor ant killer product for you. You may have tried some DIY ant eliminating recipes, along with the proven ant prevention tactics.
However, preventing pests from getting into your home is one thing, while defeating them once and for all is another issue. Let’s dwell upon the main categories of ant killing solutions and their characteristic features.
Ant Bait Stations
Your ant invaders prefer hiding behind the walls, in between the window panes or beneath the floor. Because these areas are uneasy to access, seeing where exactly your tiny enemies enter your home from is rather challenging. In this case, using insecticide liquid baits is an excellent solution. Generally speaking, ant baits are perfect ant killers for both inside and outside use. They are created to target the household ant species.
After the ants dine on the liquid bait, the product’s active component gradually influences their digestive system. Later, when they carry the bait to their dwellings feeding it to the queen and their friends, the whole colony gets eliminated. Ant baits are a hassle-free ant killing solution. Baits are initially packaged with the poison and powerful food attractant combined in a plastic child-proof container.
Sprays
If you’re interested in solving occasional ant invasion problems, ant aerosol sprays are an excellent option. Sprays work perfectly well when it comes to destroying the ants you can see. Sprays are a quick fix since they do not destroy the ants’ nests. In the majority of cases, spraying ants will keep your property pest-free for up to one month.
Sprays have two disadvantages though. First, their effect is short-term. Second, most sprays contain hazardous chemicals, so always use them in a properly ventilated room and keep them away from kids and animals.
Ant Gels
Typically, these products come in convenient tubes with a syringe. You can utilize them directly in the areas where your tiny enemies enter your home on a regular basis. Additionally, you can use gels on the ants’ tracks outside your house.
These gels are excellent ant killers for indoor and outdoor use. They are not toxic and safe to use near kids and pets. The most powerful gel traps feature slow acting poison accompanied by a very strong food attractant. Ants carry the gel back to their mound where it eventually eliminates the whole nest.
Granular Ant Bait
This type of ant bait is one of the best indoor and outdoor ant killer options. It targets their source and finally destroys all their nests. Advance, one of our experts’ favorite solutions, features Abamectin which is a natural environment-friendly fungus – something that ants simply cannot resist.
After consuming the granular bait, the ants take it back to their colony where it eliminates the whole nest within just a few days.
Is your home attacked by a specific type of ants? Using a product that targets this particular ant species is the best option. For example, Advance ant baits were created to eliminate carpenter ants, although they also work pretty well on other ant types like Pharaoh ants and Argentine ants.
If you’re fighting with carpenter ants, go outside your house on a warm evening and pay attention at your home’s foundations. Carpenter ants love ‘going out’ on warm nights which gives you the chance to feed them with the magic granules before they start visiting you without invitation.
Are you currently hunting for the best pet safe indoor ant killer that is also nature-friendly and non-toxic? A great quality ant killer product that contains diatomaceous earth is just what the doctor ordered. Diatomaceous earth resembles white talcum powder.
Basically, it’s a type of sand that consists of nothing but fossilized remains of tiny, aquatic organisms called diatoms. Finally, you’ve found an entirely natural and extremely effective ant killer which is allowed to be used around pets and kids.
To start using diatomaceous earth for your ant-eliminating purposes, sprinkle it by hand in any problematic locations: anywhere in the yard, near various cracks or holes, in the doorways, or anywhere indoors. A lot of people use diatomaceous earth outdoors as a barrier on the outside of your door to prevent the pests from entering.
Looking to keep unwanted guests away from your garden? Sprinkle diatomaceous earth there, and the ants will soon be literally dead and gone.
Our team of highly efficient pest control experts have compiled a relatively short but very useful list of our favorite ant killer products. We’ve evaluated them based on multiple criteria such as high effectiveness, affordability, environment-friendliness, ease of use, long-lasting effect and tons of other user reviews.
For the purpose of singling out the best products for you, we’ve tested the ant deterrents listed below personally, along with an abundance of other ant killers.
Make the best out of the following product list and our professional reviews. We’ve worked on it aiming to help you find the right ant deterrent to perfectly suit your needs and purposes.
If you’re seeking the best ant product for indoor use, these excellent liquid Ant Baits from TERRO will frighten each and every household ant that has dared to enter your home. This ant deterrent contains sweetened liquid borax that kills the ant that has consumed it within a few days. During this time, the ants will share the bait with the rest of the colony which will ultimately eradicate the entire nest.
Because this is a bait product, at the initial stages of your ant-killing endeavors you will notice even more ants. No need to worry, though. Give them time to enjoy their poisonous meal and pass it on to their friends. The process is like fishing, so be patient.
The ants will be totally gone within 2 or 3 days. Make sure you remove the bait only after the ants are all gone. In this case, the ants will hardly ever come back and you will go about your happily ant-free life!
TERRO Liquid Ant Baits are effective and easy to use. So if you’re sick of ants attacking your house, swarming around your kitchen sink and dining on your crumbs, feel free to feed them something even more delicious — TERRO Liquid Ant Baits. The stuff works wonders, and you don’t even have to buy chemicals to spray them around your house.
Advance targets the ants you can see and the ones in the nest. This impeccable ant bait destroys the entire mound — that very spot where their invasion of your home starts. In other words, Advance is the top-notch ant killer for indoor and outdoor use. It is much better than any spray and provides a really long-lasting effect. Furthermore, it’s as environment-friendly as can be.
These magic granules are exceptionally effective if you’re seeking the best indoor and outdoor carpenter ant killer. Our experts recommend using this bait sparingly. It only takes less than a teaspoon of this poison to attract the ever-hungry ants. Just watch them take the bait and carry it off to their nests. The pesky ants will be gone in a few days.
Hot Shot has established itself as a household name in the pest control industry. This spray is perfect when you need to destroy ants and roaches super fast. As an additional bonus, it helps prevent the ants from coming back to your property. It’s good for both outdoor and indoor use.
Even though this spray doesn’t destroy the ant queen or the colony, it’s an excellent go-to ant killing solution whenever you need to act fast against small pest invasions.
If you’re dealing with a large-scale ant invasion, you will have to apply this spray multiple times to kill your unwanted guests. The spray dries fast, it’s almost fragrance-free and it doesn’t give out a strong bug-chemical smell like many other ant killers.
It won’t cause you to cough. However, it’s not Chanel, so make sure you don’t spray this ant killer near your pets or kids. In any case, the effectiveness of this spray definitely makes it all worth it.
Pros:
Cons:
inexpensive;
kills ants and other bugs on contact;
light lemon scent, almost fragrance-free;
best ant killer for outdoor use.
not perfect for large infestations;
does not target ant queen or colonies.
4. Safer Brand Diatomaceous Earth – Ant, Bed Bug, and Crawling Insect Killer
Target Species: Ants, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, Earwigs, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Millipedes, Centipedes, Silverfish, Carpet beetles, Fleas, and more
This product is manufactured by a Safer company that pr
Need a completely natural ant killer solution? Safer Brand is your ideal choice. It’s non-toxic and safe to use around pets and children. However, it can cause mild eye irritations. That’s why always make sure you wear a face mask whenever you use this powder-like product indoors.
For the powder to show the best result, apply it in dry areas. Another great thing about this product is that bugs cannot develop an immunity to this solution. ‘Total life saver’ — that’s what a lot of Safer Brand users say about the product. Indeed, it’s a great insect killer that keeps a wide range of bugs at bay.
Pros:
Cons:
worth the money it costs;
eco-friendly and free from hazardous toxic chemicals;
fragrance-free;
great for outdoor use;
best natural indoor ant killer.
not perfect for targeting ant colonies;
non-immediate effect;
causes moderate eye irritations if used improperly.
Don’t like the idea of using spray to deal with ants? This gel-filled syringe from Combat Max is perfect for indoor use. Combat is a reliable brand in the pest control industry. Their products provide fresh and innovative ways to effectively battle your ant enemies. Combat Max is very easy to apply. And it has a smart safety mechanism that prevents kids from squeezing out the poisonous gel substance.
The syringe is filled with a slow acting poison called Fipronil which targets the ants both at your home and at their source. The highly convenient application mechanism allows you to spread the gel where your unwanted guests usually love to hide.
The Combat Max gel works very well on a wide range of ant types including black ants, carpenter ants and flying ants. To make the most of this product, apply it directly onto the ants’ tracks.
This ready-to-use product is the number one option for destroying ants in and around your property. Advance was designed to destroy carpenter ants, but it also works very well with other ant species. It takes a very small amount of Advance to lure the ants in.
Upon dining on it, they will carry it to their nests and pass it on to others. The product eliminates the queen and i.e. destroys the entire ant colony. Make sure you use the product sparingly. Avoid using other ant killers near Advance. And don’t squish the ants after you set out the bait. Your ants are working for you now collecting the poison and carrying it to their nest(s).
We’ve tested hundreds of ant killers in multiple forms (gels, granules, liquids, powders, sprays). A lot of them have turned out to be rather effective. However, Advance is the product that always works, irrespective of the circumstances and the type of ants you’re dealing with. This product is not cheap, but it’s worth every penny it costs because of its effectiveness. Advance is the absolute champion among the rest excellent ant killers.
Pros:
Cons:
exceptionally effective;
targets the ants’ colony fast;
eradicates carpenter ants as well as other species.
not cheap;
non-immediate effect.
Tips on Choosing (and Using) the Best Ant Killer
Are you looking for the best ant killer for both outdoor and indoor use? You’ve come to the right place. In this section, we’ll guide you through the parameters according to which we form our ant killer product suggestions. There are various types of products for ant control. Your ultimate choice depends on your circumstances and the types of ants that are hanging out getting all comfy at your home.
What to Consider When Choosing Ant Killer Remedy?
Before buying the very first ant trap that catches your eye, consider the following crucial questions:
What type of ants do you have?
Where do you want to use the bait?
Does it matter to you if the ant killer product you’re about to use is eco-friendly or not?
The thing is, what attracts one type of ants could be totally useless against another. Carpenter ants, fire ants and thief ants love a protein rich meal. As for sugar ants, they are more interested in sugary food. Make sure you check the packaging of your ant deterrent before you make any purchases. The packaging should indicate the type of ant the product is designed to kill. There are also broad-spectrum ant baits, they work for many types of ants.
If you want to opt for the most cost-effective solution, choose the product that combines protein baits with the sweet baits. If you’re intending to buy the ant remedy for both indoor and outdoor use, make sure the product description says it’s waterproof and allowed for outdoor usage. Avoid purchasing granules if the ants are coming through the cracks in the walls. If you have pets, make sure you opt for the best pet safe ant killer.
Remember that, unlike sprays, ant baits are for bigger ant problems. Ant sprays are ideal short-term options. For instance, when it comes to dealing with a few random ants in your kitchen, a good ant spray is a great solution.
The problem gets bigger when you start seeing ants in your house on a regular basis, even after using spray to eliminate them. In this case, start using a bait. Your ant bait will attract more ants at first. No worries. Just let it happen and soon the problem will be solved.
Prevent Ants From Infesting Your Place
Curious about the reasons why you have ants in the first place? It’s simple: ants are searching for something yummy, and your home definitely has a lot of various delish goodies. Most likely a queen set up a colony near your property.
Just like many other creatures, ants seek a comfortable environment to stay warm, find regular access to food and water and reproduce. Remember that the fact that a house is invaded by ants usually has very little to do with how clean or how dirty it is.
Even though ants are harmless, they are highly unwanted neighbors. Keeping your home ant-free requires specific efforts and they all come down to one magic word — prevention. In fact, prevention is the best (and the most cost-effective) way to prevent ants from even deciding to visit your property.
Properly applied sanitation measures alone can greatly contribute to maintaining a clean ant-free environment at your home or any other type of property.
You can make effective sprays and bait stations out of natural ingredients. One of the most effective substances for fighting ants is vinegar, the particular type of it is not important. Better use one of the cheap kind, because you may need a lot of it.
Clean your apartment with vinegar and water solution spray to make ants’ trails lose their smell. Try to find the nest and spray it all over. Just remember, that sprays of this kind don’t kill ants, they just make them uncomfortable. Below you can find more spray recipes:
mix one part vinegar and one part water, add a little peppermint oil;
brewed wild chamomile works well for disinfection;
mix 1/4 cup of orange essential oil, add a little bit of molasses, one teaspoon of dish soap, and three glasses of water.
If the ant problem is bigger than sprays can solve, you can make natural ant baits. To make a bait station you will need Borax, boric acid or diatomaceous earth, and sugar or something as sweet and attractive for the mix. Such a trap must be changed once in two or three days. Here are a few recipes:
mix one part boric acid and one part honey into a bait paste;
mix one spoon of boric acid, half a cup of sugar, and a glass of water;
mix one spoon of peanut butter, one spoon of sugar, and Borax;
mix one part diatomaceous earth (Harris works great on ants) with one part of cereal or nut powder.
The easiest way to stop the ants when there are still few of them is to find cracks and holes, from which they come and put some coffee, cinnamon, or cloves into them. Some people recommend baking soda based traps, but they’re no more than a myth. Baking soda is of no harm to ants.
What Are Ant Prevention Tips and Techniques?
Below you will find some prevention techniques and hacks provided by our pest control professionals.
Keep all your surfaces clean. That way, you will make it difficult for your ants’ friends to follow the so-called ant trails to find their way to your kitchen and food.
Vacuum on a regular basis. Focus on the carpets and under-furniture areas.
Keep your trash sealed. And don’t forget to regularly remove open garbage.
Store your food properly. Ants are mainly attracted to your food. So make sure you keep it in airtight containers.
Keep your gutters clean. Gutters provide a cozy warm environment for the ants. So make sure you keep a close eye on the moist areas around your home.
Clear vegetation and remove wood piles. Rotten wood is what ants adore, so make sure you keep it away from your property. The same goes for trees and shrubs — make sure they don’t touch your house.
Prevent juice spills. Wipe all spills immediately and deprive the tiny enemy from the opportunity to feed on your leftovers.
Eliminate easy entry through cracks in the walls.
Found ants in your home? Don’t fret. A lot of people have to deal with this problem at some time or another. Using a mix of the above tips, hacks and techniques will help you keep your ant problem under control. Wondering if it’s possible to get rid of ants for good?
Permanently stopping ants from entering your home is not very realistic. However, with a good indoor ant killer solution, you will manage to effectively solve your ant problem on your own, without having to splurge on hiring a pest control professional.
The word “ant” makes us think about a hard worker, carrying supplies to its anthill. Even when you see such a small insect in your sugar bowl in the kitchen, the idea that you are attacked by pests does not come into your mind at once. Well, can this little sugar ant even eat that much?
In fact, the presence of sugar ants signals danger and requires immediate action. Who are these ants, and why should they be controlled?
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Keep the house clean.
Seal all cracks and holes in windows, doors.
Treat the foundation of the house from the outside with a pesticide.
Choose your method of exterminating sugar ants: ant traps, ant sprays, gel insecticides, insecticide pencils and crayons, repellent emulsions and pastes, ultrasonic repellents.
Use home remedies for sugar ants.
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What are the sugar ants?
There are more than 10 thousand species of ants. But in the kitchen, you usually meet sugar, or pharaoh, ants.
Sugar ants are small light brown or yellowish insects. They are called “sugar” because they like sweet food: sugar, honey, jelly, cakes. They were first discovered in the Egyptian pyramids in the 18th century. That is why their second name is pharaoh ants.
Sugar ants are small. Male ants reach a length of about 1,5-2 mm, and female ants can reach 4-4,5 mm. But despite its small size, sugar ant is one of the main pests on all the continents.
The sugar ant has 3 pairs of legs and long moving antennae. These antennae are the most sensitive organ that can recognize aromas, ground motions, and air currents. Using their antennae, sugar ants recognize each other, signal danger, find their way to the anthill or food.
If the ant loses its antennae, it will not be able to perceive any information or even find its way back home. Workers that are most commonly seen in homes do not have wings, so don’t confuse them with flying ants.
Where do sugar ants live?
Sugar ants have spread across all continents, except for Antarctica. They were brought with stuff and products from Asia to all countries on ships. This gave them another name – ship ants.
Sugar ants settle only next to humans in houses, apartments, restaurants, hospitals, food factories, greenhouses, etc. The sugar ants love warmth. Therefore, they live only in heated premises. They build their anthills in cracks, under plaster, and along heating pipes.
Sugar ants can be found behind skirting boards, in crevices between panels, in outlets, switches, in old books, in a wardrobe amidst your stuff and a heap of clothes, in pantries among foodstuffs (especially if sacks and bags are rarely revised there).
Anthills occupy a small space – only 3-4 square cm. But numerous passages and tunnels lead to this nest.
How do sugar ants form their colonies?
Sugar ants are social insects and live only in colonies. A colony has a sugar ant queen, reproductive male ants, and non-reproductive workers. They find food and bring it to the queen.
One sugar ant colony has up to 350 thousand individuals, among which there are 100-200 adult females except for the sugar ant queen. They can leave the colony and create their own family at any moment. Sugar ants grow quickly: it takes only 38 days for an insect to develop from an egg to an adult reproductive female. But sugar ants do not live long.
Worker ants live about 60 days, male ants live only 20 days, and female ants live up to 10 months.
How do sugar ants communicate with each other?
Sugar ants transmit information through the pheromones. Their chemical signals are developed better than in any other insects. Ants mark the food they have found with a particular odor, which they use to orient and find their way back to the anthill.
They catch such smells at great distances. One sugar ant that has found sugar or sweets in your cupboard will bring all workers to take the food to the anthill.
Thanks to this feature, sugar ants can cover distances of 35 meters in search of food and return home.
What do sugar ants eat?
Sugar ants got their name from their food preferences: they like sugar, sweets, jellies, jam, candies, as well as bread products, fish, fatty foods. They can also eat food remains, waste from your trash can, fish and meat remains. Even if these insects find a little breadcrumb on the floor, they will immediately surround it and drag it bit by bit to the anthill.
What harm do sugar ants cause?
In addition to the obvious harm in the form of spoiled food, ants contribute to the spread of bacterial and viral diseases in humans. These insects can find and eat something from the trash can, contact with the waste, feces, they can even eat carrion. Sugar ants carry helminth eggs and other infections that are dangerous to human health on their feet: streptococcus, staphylococcus, dysentery, etc.
Even the very idea that sugar ants contact with the waste and then they come to your dining table and contact with your products makes you feel disgusted.
There are spoiling food remains, rot, and mold in the ant nests. All this worsens the epidemiological situation, as well as causes allergies in the owners of the house.
If sugar ants settle in inter-floor ceilings, it will be difficult to get rid of them. And if the ceilings are wooden, the insects can destroy these beams, causing damage and breaks.
Do sugar ants bite? No, but they pose a real threat to people with open wounds. The insects react to the smell of blood. Sugar ants can even get under the bandage and infect the wounds.
How to prevent the appearance of sugar ants
First of all, sugar ants are attracted to easily accessible food. They can move from neighboring houses, they can be brought with stuff, furniture, and products.
To avoid the appearance of sugar ants in the house, you must observe several basic rules:
Eat only in the kitchen, wipe away spilled food and sweet drinks (scout ants can find food and bring their relatives);
Store sweet foods (candies, cookies, jam) in a closed container or in a refrigerator;
Seal all cracks and holes in windows, doors;
Don`t leave dirty dishes overnight;
Treat the sink with vinegar to deter the insects from the water source;
Ants are omnivorous, so you need to deprive them of food, make your products inaccessible to the sugar ants;
Prevent the insects from moving into your house by constructing barriers in the form of turmeric, bitter pepper, cinnamon strips;
Treat the foundation of the house from the outside with a pesticide;
Look through all the stuff that you bring into the house;
Sugar ants do not tolerate the smell of wormwood and tansy. Place some bunches of the dried grass in vent holes and next to the door and window openings, and the insects will not penetrate into the house.
It is much easier to prevent the appearance of pests than fighting them with chemicals and home remedies.
Getting rid of sugar ants
If these pests have appeared in your home, take urgent measures to get rid of sugar ants. Ants multiply rapidly, and if you do not pay attention to their stay in your house, then in a few months you will find these insects in all cupboards with food, in sugar bowls, in jars with jam, and even in a trash can.
There are many ways of how to get rid of sugar ants. You have to choose the one sugar ant killer method that is most acceptable for your home and your specific situation.
What to pay attention to when choosing a sugar ant killer
Pest control must be safe for the owners. If there are children, pets, aquariums with fish in the house, it is dangerous to use a strong sugar ant killer. Insecticides must be effective, but safe at the same time.
Many insecticides cause allergies. If someone in the house is susceptible to allergies, you should use poisonous chemicals with caution. Home remedies can also cause allergies.
When disinsection is performed, you have to leave the house for several hours together with your pets. If this is not possible, replace disinsection with safer methods.
Decide whether you are ready for a long struggle with pests or you want to get rid of sugar ants quickly and for long.
Read the instructions for the use of pesticides, ask your friends who used the same sugar ant killer. Pay attention to the ratio of price and quality.
After carrying out this work, you can freely choose a pesticide for getting rid of sugar ants.
Sugar ant killer is created on the basis of several insecticides: diazinon, permethrin, cypermethrin. Please read the instructions and precautions before using.
Terro liquid ant killer has a Borax formula specially designed for all types of ants. It works as bait and must be put in places you see ants most often: ant trails and entry points to cardboards, kitchen working spaces, trash cans, etc. The gel is sweet and very attractive, especially for sugar ants. When you use Terro gel for the first time, the number of ants will seem to be growing. Don’t worry: this means the gel works perfectly as an attractor.
The kill itself is slow which is another strong point: the working ants, the ones that find bait, will take it to the nest and feed to the other ones, including the queen. It will take some time for Borax to enter each ant digestive system. Some of the pests will even manage several trips to the bait to ensure the effect. Complete infestation control may take up to two weeks.
Terro Ant Killer is entirely safe to use at the premises. You can put it everywhere you like as it is not dangerous for humans. One box contains a 1OZ bottle of gel and nine cardboard squares for product placement.
Pros:
Cons:
effective Borax formula;
the effect is starting to be seen from several days to two weeks;
safe for humans;
small price.
you may need more than one box for severe infestation;
not all the places are reachable with cardboard squares.
Ant Sprays
Ant aerosols are the most popular product to fight ants. The instant effect is provided by the droplet spraying of the insecticide. Can they be the only treatment? No. Let’s see why.
How this sugar ant killer works
Aerosols destroy insects within 2-3 hours.
The pests in the area of action of the chemicals die. These are mostly worker ants. But the nest with the sugar ant queen remains untouched, and new individuals will be born over time. If you find the anthill, you can spray the aerosol in its direction. All the sugar ants, including the queen, will be killed.
Strong toxicity is the main disadvantage of this method: animals and people should be taken away from the premises for several hours until the rooms are ventilated. Also, you will have to take out your aquariums with fish or cover them tightly with glass or film.
The unique formula of Terro Ant Killer lets you kill unwanted pests on contact, and the sprayed places keep the killing effect for up to 6 weeks. You can disperse it on the ants you see right away or all over the places that they often cross. Although highly effective, it is also toxic and must not be sprayed in food preparation and consumption areas. Still, you can spray the legs of your kitchen table to keep ants from crawling there.
Terro Ant Killer is perfect for preventing an ant infestation. If you see just a few ants crawling on your bathroom or kitchen surfaces, try to find their entrance points and thoroughly spray their trails. If you use the spray outdoors, you can also disperse it right on the ant hills.
After using ant killing aerosols leave the premises for a couple of hours with your family and pets. If you have a fish tank, it must be completely isolated or taken out of the house as well. Always turn the nozzle away from yourself before spraying and keep aerosol from overheat.
Pros:
Cons:
kills ants on contact;
killing effect is kept for up to six hours;
cheap price;
can be used for other small pests as well.
doesn’t eliminate the ants in the nest (if not sprayed straight into the anthill);
very toxic.
Gel insecticides
Gels are more effective than aerosols. They act more slowly, but they destroy not only workers but all other sugar ants too. Using gels, you can eliminate the whole colony.
How this product works
The gel droplets are applied in the form of a dotted line in areas where pests tend to accumulate. It operates on the principle of a sugar ant bait. The ants eat the gel, but they do not immediately die. They spread the sugar ant bait into their nests and infect their relatives. 2 weeks later the whole colony will be infected, and after 8 weeks the insects will disappear.
The gel contains 0,05% of fipronil insecticide or it’s alternatives. If the concentration is higher, this may lead to the increased growth of the thyroid gland. Before use a sugar ant killer in a form of a gel, read the instructions and composition carefully. Otherwise, this may affect your health.
You can find a variety of gel brands on sale: Advion, Raptor, and Storm. All of them are made on the basis of the same sugar ants insecticides of different concentrations. Therefore, any of the gels has a reliable and long-term effect.
If you ask me, I usually recommend the Advion Gel from Syngenta. It has a working active ingredient, has no odor and leaves no stains. This is probably the best solution for indoor use, especially at places like the kitchen or bath.
Long-lasting insecticide pencils and chalks
How this product works
The sugar ants carry the poisoning substance on their feet throughout the colony. They bring it to the nest and infect their relatives. They gradually perish, and the colony falls into decay. After all, it is not difficult to get rid of sugar ants running around the house, but it is more difficult to get to the nest, destroy the sugar ant queen and the entire colony.
These pencils or chalks can be used for a long time. Regularly repeat the treatment of places of penetration and delineate access to food, water, and shelter. But over time, the sugar ants become accustomed to the active substance, and you will have to change the product.
This product currently is not available. Try this instead:
Chinese chalk is the riskiest substance for fighting ants, but it’s also said to be the most effective. It’s banned in the US as well as in almost every European country, so if you want to buy it, go to corner shops or Amazon online stores of Asian countries.
It looks similar to regular chalk, but contains poisonous elements like synthetic pyrethroids and diatomaceous earth and should never be used near food or in places where your kids or pets may find it. Actually, regular chalk also works for keeping ants away.
If you draw a line with it on your porch, they may get intimidated by the powdery material and wouldn’t want to go inside, even if there are sugar and honey in your kitchen. Calcium carbonate which is the material the regular chalk is made from blocks the ants’ ability to follow scents.
If regular chalk doesn’t work on your level of infestation, and you’re ready to face the dangers of using Chinese chalk, please use it carefully. Laxmanrekhaa chalk is covered in plastic for its users not to touch it with bare hands.
Pros:
Cons:
effective on high infestation level;
cheap;
has a plastic wrapping to make the usage safer;
can be used against all pests.
highly toxic and dangerous for your health;
banned in many countries.
Emulsions and pastes with a deterrent effect. They are used for sugar ant prevention
How this product works
This kind of a sugar ant killer should be applied to the places where the insects enter the house. A deterrent effect is achieved by using strong-smelling substances. Ants have a good sense of smell, so they can smell the sugar ant bait in a few meters, just as they smell something unpleasant and scary.
These houses are designed for cockroaches at the first place, but thanks to a special formula they attract other insects just as well. There are twelve card boxes with non-toxic glue inside of them. In additional green packs, you will find eco-friendly bait. Open it up and place inside each card box trap.
When you unpack the houses, place them to the spots regularly visited by ants. You may put it literally all over your home as Greener Mindset traps are the safest traps you’ve ever seen.
The worst thing they can do to you or your pet is stick to your bodies. In this case, simply apply some vegetable oil on the place with glue and then thoroughly rinse it with water. The packages have been made from recycled paper.
The bait is made from non-toxic ingredients, and its formula reminds of sweetened fish food. So even if your pet it’s it nothing will happen. The ants are attracted to the bait, so they come into the trap and glue to it.
There’s quite a lot of glue inside so you could catch a few dozen ants with one trap. The card boxes can be used for up to three months. Just look out if there’s a place for more pests.
Pros:
Cons:
probably the most eco-friendly product on the ant killing market at the moment;
perfect for small infestations;
completely safe to use all over the house;
gluing effect lasts for up to three month;
small price.
need to be checked regularly;
killing effect won’t get to the nests;
not suitable for severe infestation.
Sugar ant traps are a safe method of fighting insects. These devices will not do harm to cats and dogs, they are safe for use in homes with children. Sugar ant traps can be glue, poisonous and electric.
Glue traps are boxes with a fragrant adhesive surface inside. The bait lures the sugar ants with its aroma inside the trap, where they are stuck forever. Sugar ant traps are suitable for use with a small number of insects. The fact is that only those that have been stuck are destroyed, and the ants in the nest remain alive.
Traps should be frequently changed as insects are attached to the walls.
Poisonous sugar ant traps work on a different principle. Ants eat poisoned bait and carry part of it to the nest. This is how they spread the poison throughout the colony. These traps are effective for up to 3 weeks.
How this product works
Electric traps are an expensive device, but they will be effective for several years. The bait inside the trap attracts sugar ants, but when they come inside they are affected by an electric shock. These traps should be put in dry places in compliance with safety rules.
The only disadvantage is that sugar ant traps can destroy workers, but life and reproduction in the anthill will remain unchanged.
The traps of the following brands are the most efficient: Clean House, Blockbuster, and Combat.
Raid Ant Bait is a plastic station with a pesticide inside. The apertures of the station are too small for your kids, pets and even larger insects to get inside, so the bait stays there. Ants come to feed on it and take the rest to their colony, thus providing poison to every other ant, including the queen. The bait can last for up to three months and control high-level infestations. There are eight traps in the box, which are recommended to place altogether if there’s a severe ant infestation in your home.
Every trap has an adhesive on its bottom and can be glued to walls or even ceiling to cover as much ant space as possible. Ant population reduction is expected after three to five days after you’ve placed the stations. Baits of this kind are made for indoor use. The best places for them are kitchen and bathroom surfaces, spaces under cardboards and beds. We’d recommend watching the pests closely to find out their entry points and the places they frequent the most.
Pros:
Cons:
gradually kills the whole ant colony;
well prevented from children and animals to get inside;
can be placed on vertical surfaces;
works for three months.
bait inside stations is highly toxic;
often needs to be repeated for maintenance.
Ultrasonic repellers, which are used for mosquitoes and rodents, are not recommended for sugar ants. But these repellers do not work, because these insects do not produce and do not perceive ultrasound. Ants perceive all information using chemical signals – pheromones.
If you cannot get rid of sugar ants on your own, invite a pest control team.
Professional disinfectors will cope with this problem quickly and qualitatively. But it is also necessary to make some preparations. Specialists will get acquainted with the situation, appoint a time for disinfection and give recommendations for getting rid of sugar ants. At their direction, animals and aquariums must be taken away, foodstuffs should be closed tightly. Besides, you will have to remove moisture from the premises and deprive the insects of the water sources.
In addition, you have to check the certificates of the disinfection service, as well as their permission to work with insecticides. After the work is done, disinfectors are obliged to leave a certificate of disinfection and give a guarantee.
After the specified time period, you must ventilate the rooms and carry out general cleaning. Only then animals and children can be brought in.
Home remedies for sugar ants
If you are against the use of chemicals and poisonous substances, you would like to know how to get rid of sugar ants naturally. We can advice you some home remedies to gain your goal. In this case getting rid of sugar ants will be long but safe. This is especially acceptable when there are pets, children or allergy sufferers in your house. Some of these methods lead to positive results.
The use of boric acid is effective for the destruction of insects. But ants will not eat this product. Therefore, you have to make a special mix of borax and sugar for ants. You can also mingle boric acid with boiled egg. Prepare small balls of borax and sugar for ants and spread them in the areas where the pests tend to accumulate. Workers will not only eat the sugar ant bait, but they will also bring it to the nest, which will lead to the death of the sugar ant queen.
To get rid of sugar ants, you can use water and vinegar. Spray the ant habitats and the anthill with this mixture. The smell will deter the pests, but it will not destroy them.
If you find the anthill, you can get rid of sugar ants with boiling water (if the area allows to do this, i.e. there is no wiring, and the water will not damage the furniture).
Borax is poisonous for these insects, but sugar ants will eat it only mixed with minced meat. Small pieces should be placed near the ant habitats. This home remedy for sugar ants is dangerous for animals. Therefore, you should place it so that cats and dogs do not find and eat it.
Wild chamomile can be used as a decoction for washing the floors and places where sugar ants usually walk.
The Pyrethrum powder (consisting of chamomile flowers) is a safe and effective remedy causing paralysis and death of the insects.
Ammonia, kerosene, and birch tar will help deter the pests. But it is difficult to take such radical measures in the house. It will take much time for the smell to go away.
There is another way – you can try to treat the sugar ants with oatmeal, which they cannot digest.
Homemade sugar ant traps can easily be placed next to the nest. Pour water into a glass, and then add some sugar, honey or jam. When the sugar ants smell this bait, they will immediately come and try to eat this sweet thing, but most of them will fall into the liquid and drown. This method will work against workers, but the sugar ant queen and reproductive ants will remain unharmed and quickly replenish the population.
You can vacuum a large number of sugar ants, but this will not solve the problem, because they multiply with great speed.
Any home remedies can ward off these insects for a while. But you should take into account that you see only worker ants on the surface. The main individuals, which produce offspring, are in secluded places and continue to live and reproduce. Therefore, you will not solve the problem if you repel some of the sugar ants.
Why are there sugar ants in my bed?
A bedroom is not a common place for sugar ants, but they may have several reasons for coming. As we know, search for food is what basically leads them to your place, so if you better quit eating in bed. Another reason is the smell — your sheets can keep smells which attract the insects. Wash bed sheets, blankets, and pillow cases as often as possible and use a bleacher-based washer.
If you and your bed are tidy, the problem may lay in your building: old houses with lots of space in the walls and the floors seem like a comfortable place for ants to nest. Try to find and isolate every hole that may be an ant entering point to your bedroom.
The other reason is the fusty air in the bedroom — try and ventilate it more often or get an air conditioner to eliminate the house smells. And once a week we’d advise you to wash your bedroom floor with vinegar.
Sugar ants come into your car in their never-ending search for food. If you don’t have any food leftovers, it’s unlikely they will stay for long, but if they find what they want, car infestation is most probable. The first step is to clean all of your car, including tires and wheels.
Throw away any food packaging or any other boxes and bags you can find. They may seem clean, but ants can smell a lot of things we don’t. Vacuum-cleaning the upholstery is also a must — thus you will eliminate the ants from tiny cracks and holes. If the infestation continues after cleaning, use ant baits (Terro baits are highly recommended).
How long does it take to kill sugar ants?
That depends on the size of your infestation and the killing methods you choose. The basis for any type of extermination is to sanitize your home — wipe all the surfaces with all-purpose cleaner every night, take the garbage out daily, don’t leave any human or pet food for long, seal the cracks in your walls. These measures will shorten ant stay at your place, no matter what type of pesticide you choose.
If you want to get rid of sugar ants quickly, use chemical pesticides: sprays and baits will do. Spraying is the best way if there still aren’t many pests in your home. Baits take longer to work (from several weeks to even months), but they can deal with a grave infestation.
Conclusion
Act quickly and efficiently. If you live in an apartment building, you have to involve all your neighbors and fight together. Otherwise, the ants will continue to wander from one apartment to another and return to the old place after the poison stops working.
If you find a cute little ant in your sugar bowl carrying a dainty to its nest – this is a signal to start fighting the insects. You cannot hesitate! In a few days, there will be an army of hard-working ants. So you have to get rid of sugar ants as soon as it is possible!
Lenora Jones (Washington State University Urban IPM Program): https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/415/2014/12/PNW_PPSugarAnts.pdf
Managing Household Ant Pests. Bastiaan M. Drees, The Texas A&M University System: https://agrilifecdn.tamu.edu/aes/files/2014/06/Managing-Household-Ant-Pests.pdf
Ant Control for Householders by Michael F. Potter, Extension Entomologist University of Kentucky College of Agriculture: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef619
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