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How to Stop Ants Coming Into Your Home
How to Stop Ants Coming Into Your Home. With the start of summer, many people notice ants coming into their home. As soon as you spot the first ant inside your house, it is time to start dealing with it. When you see a few ants, you are usually seeing the scouts. The scouts are checking out your home to decide if it is a good place for their colony...
With the start of summer, many people notice ants coming into their home. As soon as you spot the first ant inside your house, it is time to start dealing with it. When you see a few ants, you are usually seeing the scouts. The scouts are checking out your home to decide if it is a good place for their colony to live.
Cover the scent trail. When the scout ant decides your house is a good place for him and his colony to call home, he heads back to the colony to get them. The scout ant leaves a scent trail so he can find his way back to the colony. When you destroy the scent trail you confuse the scout and stop him from getting back to the colony to call the other ants. Use vinegar in a spray bottle to spray the ant and the surface you saw him walking on.
Take away the reasons for calling the colony. The scout decides your house is a great place to live if he finds food and water available. Seal all of your food in plastic, clean up crumbs after eating, wash all surfaces after preparing food to stop the ants from wanting to move in.
Kill the scouts before they get back to the colony to call the others. Place ant traps out to kill ants that wander into your home. Be careful how you use these if you have pets or children in the house. Ant traps contain poison.
Repel ants from your home naturally. Ants are repelled by mint, citrus, cloves and bay leaves. Clean your kitchen and bathroom with vinegar, which has the same acid as citrus. Wipe down surfaces with peppermint or citrus oil. You can also plant mint plants around the foundation of your home to stop them from entering.
Find the point of entry and block it. A wall of baby powder placed where the ants are coming in prevents most of them from entering. If they do find their way over the wall of the powder, the powder covers their scent trail so they can't find their way back out.
Tips & Warnings
To eliminate an ant hill without using chemicals, pour three gallons of boiling water into the ant hill.
