The Solution to Kitchen Ants

 In News

Ants are pretty nasty, but having them right in your kitchen can drive you absolutely crazy.  Thankfully, we’ve created a pretty handy guide to get them out. Keep on reading to see what you should do if you find yourself plagued with kitchen ants!

Understand the Pest

Education is power, especially when it comes to dealing with an ant colony.  It’s imperative to remember that ants are not like your usual pest, as they must operate in groups to survive.  Put it this way: if you see ants in your backyard or home, it means that the colony is not too far away, as worker ants (the ants you actually see) need to gather food to bring it back to the queen, who sits in the colony.  This queen is the only critter responsible for laying eggs, but will never leave the nest—meaning, if you only squash or spray the ants you see, more will come to take their place. Eliminating the colony (read: killing the queen) is what must be done to take care of your entire ant problem.

Follow the Critter

In eliminating the colony, the best way to go about it is to cut out their entire food supply—which means to take out the worker ants.  If you see a few ants scavenging for food, don’t grab the rolled up newspaper right away, but instead just watch to see where the ant comes from and goes to.  This is the path that it follows to bring food back to the queen. Since ants operate on sense of smell, they use it like an interstate—it’s the only way in and out of the colony that all ants will meticulously follow.  Make a mental note of this path, as it will help with the next step:

Spray, Bait, or Treat

Once the path is known, now it’s time to get to work.  Instead of relying on harsh chemicals and pesticides, you can take the all natural approach and spray essential oils right around the perimeter of the “ant interstate.”  This will mess with their sense of smell, making it almost impossible for them to smell food or find their way back to the colony. Repeat this over the course of the week, and you can starve out the entire colony.

Alternatively, you can choose to lay bait traps over the area, which will trap the ants instead.  It’s the same approach of using the spray, but instead relies on the ants falling for the bait in the trap instead of running to the tasty crumbs on the floor.  

When In Doubt, Call in Help

Dealing with ants can certainly be tricky, but by no means do you have to do it alone.  Even with your best efforts, these little critters can stick around and drive you crazy, which is when you should call in the cavalry.  Just one call to us is all you need to have your pest problems vanish.

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