Methods of dealing with domestic ants

When ants appear in the apartment, it is very important to start the fight in time and prevent their invasion. Indeed, in a short period of time, the colony of these insects can become quite numerous and in a neglected form it will be more problematic to wage war. In addition, before you get rid of house ants, you should find out the degree of contamination of neighboring apartments - perhaps the fight will need to be carried out on the entire floor or porch.

Types of "uninvited guests"

Two types of ants are able to enter the apartment:

• pharaonic - have a small body size, which reaches 2 mm, painted in yellow, red or red. They are of tropical origin, therefore they are not able to live in open areas at low air temperatures, so ants in a house in winter are far from rare. Most of all they are attracted to secluded warm places: cracks under the baseboards, corners in the kitchen, cracks in the walls. It is important for them that there was water nearby, they are unpretentious in food, but still give preference to fatty and sweet foods;
• black - these insects can appear in your house in early spring, during a period of lack of food. Most often they do not settle in the kitchens, as the previous view, but "walk" through all the rooms, "look" into the bathrooms and even visit the balconies. Their body size is about 4 mm, they have a black-brown color. They are omnivorous, but love to eat foods rich in carbohydrates.

The greatest danger is precisely the red house ants. They multiply very quickly and become a real misfortune for residents. They settle in apartments for one simple reason - these ants are not able to survive at low temperatures, so human habitation becomes for them a saving refuge and, of course, an inexhaustible source of food.

Regarding black ants, they are quite a rarity for living quarters and get there rather by accident. The exception is private houses where they enter through a cellar or basement. But they most often do not pose a serious threat and in most cases go away after a while themselves.

Ways to fight

Before you start the fight with ants in the house, you should choose the method most suitable for your situation. What can be done:

1. Use aerosols that include insecticides.
2. Apply surface treatment gels.
3. Treat the premises with dusts and pencils.
4. Set traps.
5. Make bait and lay out natural repellents.
6. Bring ants out mechanically.

On a note! Some use ultrasonic devices against ants, but these devices do not work on these insects. There are devices on sale whose manufacturer claims that they are from ants, but the effect of them will be minimal or completely absent.

The main feature of the life of ants is a colony, the head of which is the uterus. Therefore, when dealing with them, it is important to find the nest, since the extermination of the “walking” individuals will not bring the desired result.As a rule, the ants that can be seen in the apartment are labor - it searches for food and brings it to the nest. Accordingly, their destruction will not affect the size of the colony. It is necessary to choose a method that will allow you to get to the uterus - this is the only way to remove all insects.

On a note! Quite often, fighting in only one apartment is useless. The greatest efficiency can be achieved in the case of total processing of the entire house.

To get rid of domestic ants today it is customary to use the domino technique. It involves the placement of a poisonous substance along ant paths, which should have a prolonged effect. Thus, working insects will bring the insecticide to the nest itself, feed the uterus to them and after a while the whole anthill will be insignificant.

Spray can

Before you remove the ants from the house with an aerosol, you should find out the rules for its use.

1. First of all, it is necessary to eliminate all tenants and pets from the premises, since such drugs can cause poisoning.
2. Remove all food, personal hygiene items, and utensils.
3. The tool is sprayed along the paths of movement of ants, as well as in those places where their nest may be.
4. The procedure should be carried out in personal protective equipment: mask or respirator.

Attention! Despite the fact that many aerosols are relatively safe for humans, the last point should not be neglected, since a copious amount of insecticide can cause an allergic reaction, and sometimes signs of intoxication.

Brands offering ant aerosols:

• Raptor
• Get
• Combat.

It is recommended to use an insecticide against ants in the form of an aerosol when a quick effect is needed - insects in this case will die literally a few hours after the use of the drug. However, it should be remembered that with the help of such means you can destroy only labor, and the uterus, which is always in the nest, will remain unharmed. Therefore, it is important to detect the location of insects and how to handle it.
Due to the fact that using an aerosol, it is far from always possible to find an anthill, and in some cases it can be located outside the premises, often the effectiveness of such processing will be insignificant, and the ants will soon regain their strength and will require the search for new solutions for destruction.

Gel

Gels according to the principle of action are very different from aerosols and, most importantly, they have the necessary prolonged action in this case. So, let's look at how to get rid of ants in the kitchen with these drugs.

1. Apply the product in a dotted or continuous line along the ant trails.
2. Pay particular attention to the slots where the nest may be located.
3. If the gel was removed for any reason, then this gap must be reprocessed.
4. Keep children and pets out of the kitchen, as an insecticide that gets into the body can cause poisoning.

Thorough treatment near crevices, cracks and in the corners will attract insects located in the nests, which will most likely poison the uterus itself. And if this happens, then in a week the entire colony will be destroyed.

Why it happens? The preparations from this series are so attractive to insects that the workers not only with great pleasure absorb the poison themselves, but they will certainly carry it to their location in order to feed everyone else. And since the action of toxic substances is not instantaneous, the ant will certainly have time to bring the poison to its destination.

The most popular ant gels are:

• Fas
• Storm;
• Globol.

Dust

Pencils and dusts are the most affordable and, as a result, traditional means for fighting ants. Their composition, as a rule, includes pyrethrum and boric acid.Such a bait is an “tidbit” for insects, which, getting into the digestive tract, begins to poison the ant. Using them is easy:

1. Draw a line along the ant paths with a pencil and “outline” the area of ​​possible nesting.
2. Outline the kitchen furniture and containers with food products that cannot be hidden.
3. The drawn stripes should not be evident.
4. While in the kitchen, you must ensure that the drawn lines are not erased.

Most often they use Masha’s pencil and Pyrethrum powder, which, by the way, is absolutely safe for all warm-blooded people. However, such drugs have a drawback - often the effect of them has to wait a long time, sometimes several months.

Traps

Traps look like small boxes of cardboard or plastic with several holes for insects to enter. Inside the bait is placed with the content of a poisonous substance that working ants should carry to the nest. It is advisable to use traps when insects have just begun to appear. With their help, you can get rid of both red and black ants in the house.

Traps are installed at the sites of frequent parasite encounters and after a while are replaced by new ones. This will be quite enough to prevent their reproduction or if it is noticed that several individuals come to you "for intelligence" from neighbors or from the street. The most popular include: Raptor and Combat.

Folk remedies

Folk methods for fighting ants are used when it is not possible to acquire an insecticide or trap, and ants begin to multiply actively at this time. You can suggest the following:

• boric acid, which is diluted in water - 250 ml of water per teaspoon of acid - and sugar is added. The resulting mixture is applied in places of movement and possible nesting of insects;
• lay out herbs that can scare away ants with their smell: bay leaf, wormwood, lavender, anise, elderberry or mint;
  

  Important! These repellents will work only in the case of a small number of insects. If the colony is already formed, then a positive result is not worth the wait.

• yeast is combined with sugar and water until a liquid mixture is formed, after which it is applied in places of ant trails. Ants eat the bait, it swells in the intestines and kills them;
• once a week the ant paths are greased with garlic, the smell of which destroys the pheromone trace, after which the “scouts” cannot find the trodden path;
• combine a glass of water, a teaspoon of detergent and a few drops of essential oil, preferably citrus, and spray the substance in places where insects are located, as well as around windows and doors;
• place coffee grounds in the places where the ants move. Quite often, this method bears fruit;
• sometimes these parasites appear in bags of food products, for example, in sugar or flour, and in order to somehow scare them away, one bay leaf should be put in the container;
• if you suffer from the invasion of black ants that creep into the house from the infield, but it is recommended to treat the outer part of the foundation with creosote.

In some cases, alternative methods become more effective than chemical methods. But you should not expect a quick result from their use.

Advice! Before acquiring toxic chemicals, it is worth analyzing the situation. If there are not so many ants in your house, then in this case you should try to remove them using folk methods! Do not put your family in danger again, especially when this makes no sense!

As for the mechanical destruction of these parasites, such an opportunity is extremely rare, only if you can easily get to the nest. In this case, the anthill must be scalded with boiling water or cleaned with a vacuum cleaner.

Means that do not help

On sale you can find advertised remedies for domestic ants, which in fact are absolutely not effective.

Therefore, if you do not want to waste your time and at the same time lose money, then pay attention to the following list:

• electric traps and Velcro - you will definitely not be able to remove the ant colony completely using one of these means. It will be possible to catch several working individuals, but they will not affect the nest itself, where the uterus is located;
  

  On a note! Such devices are good for catching cockroaches that do not have nests per se!

• Magnetic resonance and ultrasound devices also will not help you get rid of house ants. And despite the claims of manufacturers, these small pests will feel completely safe even if such devices are placed every meter.

Pest Control

With a strong infection of the apartment, the feasibility of becoming a pest control. Upon arrival, the specialist will quickly establish the location of the nest, and therefore completely destroy the entire colony along with the uterus. In addition, you will receive a long-term guarantee against re-infection. In their work, specialists of the pest control service use quite powerful drugs, which means that everything will happen quickly and with maximum efficiency.

But in order not to look for a method for exterminating ants in an apartment, it is always easier to prevent their appearance. Simple preventative measures:

• Do not leave food on the tables that may be of interest to parasites;
• always wash dishes after eating;
• throw away waste every day;
• close up all the cracks;
• keep the apartment clean.

This will be quite enough so that the ants do not want to settle with you!