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As a bonus, not only will you drive the ants away, but your home will smell nice. Some essential oils are not good for pets, so if you have furry friends in your home, you may want to skip this option. If you want to avoid synthetic chemicals of any kind, there are a variety of natural controls you can try for eliminating or repelling ants.
Commercial repellents
White vinegar, available at all grocery stores, is a cheap and effective way to kill and repel ants. There are approximately 200 species of ants in South Carolina. Most are native and most are good guys (or I should say good gals). However, there is one native species that can go from being benign to a pest when provoked by humans. Many types of troublesome outdoor ant nests can be eliminated by simply removing their sources of water and food. Small colonies can be eradicated by pouring soapy water on the mound.
Ant Removal: Determine the Best Ant Bait
The natural acids in tangy citrus, such as lemon, orange, lime and grapefruit, work wonders at keeping ants at bay by masking their scent trails — at least temporarily. Squeeze lemons into a spray bottle, or rub a pureed blend of orange peel and water on window sills and doors jambs to discourage the itsy-bitsy insects from crossing over. According to Spicer, Saigon cinnamon can be especially effective when sprinkled around anthills, across their paths, on kitchen countertops and along floorboards. And cinnamon essential oil can effectively repel and exterminate ants, too. Ant traps and poison are a tried and true method when it comes to eliminating pests, but James warns that pesticides are very bad for the environment.
Keep Things Clean
Follow trails to determine where ants are getting into your home, if possible, and seal or caulk those entryways. To prevent or exclude ants and other pests from entering your home, check your foundation, as well as potential entryways around doors and windows for cracks, holes, and crevices. Sealing or caulking these openings in your home’s foundation can help exclude pests from entering your home. The spring is a good time to control odorous house ants (and similar ants) around your home before their colony numbers get huge and widespread in the summer. Check areas where these ants are traveling and where they may be entering your house. Remove food items on which the ants are feeding and keep remaining food in tightly sealed containers.
Thus, eliminating these sources of food or water is the first step in eliminating ants from your home. You must identify the trails, find the nest, and identify and target the queen ant. Use the worker ants' behavior to get rid of ants by sending them back to the nest with some form of poisoned food (ant bait).
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According to the National Wildlife Federation, there are more than 12,000 species of ants around the world. Making a barrier with substances ants dislike can also be an effective way to keep ants out of your home. Sprinkling cinnamon, cornmeal, cayenne pepper, or ground chalk on door thresholds, windowsills, and baseboards creates a barrier that ants won't want to cross.
Use Outdoor Spray Pesticides
The species commonly seen inside the home are pavement ants, odorous house ants, or pharaoh ants (also known as sugar ants). These species feed heavily on sugars and greases commonly found in kitchens. They can be dark brown, black, or light yellowish-brown in color, and while very annoying they do not pose serious risk. Before you set off bug bombs or spray pesticides with wild abandon, there are less assertive methods to control ants without subjecting everyone in your home to chemicals. Start with tamper-resistant ant bait traps that can be placed near problem areas.
There are sugar-based, protein-based, and grease-based traps, so it’s essential to know which kind of ant is infesting your home. Combine the water and bleach in a bottle sprayer and shake well to mix. If you plan on using the bottle regularly, label it for safety purposes. Watch the ants before killing them to establish the exact location of their trail.
The ants share their habitat with other ant species that live in sand-rich habitats such as Myrmecocystus. Bicolored Pyramid Ants are even shown to drop small rocks and debris in Myrmecocystus nests to block and kill them inside. Unlike other ants in California, Dark Rover Ants prefer to look for food without creating trails. They leave their underground nest (typically under piles of wood) to eat extrafloral nectaries. If you suspect a little black ant infestation in your home, the best course of action is to contact a licensed pest control professional. They will conduct a thorough inspection to identify the full extent of the problem.
The ants eat the bait and bring some of it back to their nests, killing off other ants. Sweep granular insecticides into cracks under slabs and sidewalks where pavement ants are nesting. Alternatively, flood the cracks with an insecticidal spray (don’t spray these areas if you bait them). Both sweet and protein foods are attractive to pavement ants. Little black ants travel along defined foraging trails and are slow-moving. If nest(s) cannot be found, apply baits both indoors and out.
Preferred food sources for these ants are sugars, particularly nectar. These ants have been shown to frequently steal nectar from other insects that collect nectar. However, all Western Carpenter ant colonies found in homes are satellite homes. Their main colonies are located outdoors under logs or rotting wood. These main colonies have to be exterminated as well to clear these ants out of the house. This means killing a single queen rarely has the desired effect when trying to eliminate Argentine ants from California homes.
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