Contents
Ants start up in houses no less than cockroaches. And once having appeared, they multiply rapidly, bringing inconvenience. Getting rid of ants in a house or apartment will subsequently be troublesome. To do this, you need to correctly determine their type and choose the most effective means of dealing with them.
Where do ants come from in the house
In a private house, the risk of the appearance of street ants is higher than in an apartment building, due to the proximity of the natural area. In this case, the main anthill remains outside, and individual individuals enter the premises through cracks in the floor or cracks in the foundation and walls. You need to know that you will have to fight precisely with insects that are outside. Only after the destruction of their “home”, the entire colony will die.
The worst option is when the ants settle underground. Removing ants from the house will be problematic. As already mentioned, in order to quickly destroy them, you need to find a nest.
The main reason why ants start up in the house is the presence of food: crumbs of bread, sugar, etc. If you regularly clean, exclude access to food for ants and close up possible paths into the room, then over time they will disappear.
Where do ants come from in the apartment
The main routes for the spread of insects in an apartment building are ventilation, garbage chutes and cracks. However, it happens that the basement or attic serves as the starting point. This is possible if the rooms are damp and warm.
Scout ants exploring new spaces may be attracted to the presence of any available food. Leftover food on the table, shelves, floor and in trash bags. If they find it, then this is a reason to settle. Having appeared in one apartment, they are able to settle throughout the apartment building.
Insects also appear from the outside, for example, after buying old furniture. But forest ants, accidentally brought on clothes, are not terrible. They will die on their own after a while.
What kind of ants can be found
There are more than 14000 species of ants in the world, of which there are about 300 in Russia. At the same time, there are only a few of those who can actually live in a house. The following insects are common in Russia:
- Red. They are called pharaohs, the most common type of ant. The smallest in size, preferring to settle in the kitchen and next to the products. It should be destroyed quickly: they not only actively breed, but also unite in colonies.
- yellow. Another name for ant thieves. A species of domestic (house) ants, named because of the theft of food from other species. Nests must be sought in cabinets, wall voids.
- Red-breasted, wood borers. Their appearance is especially dangerous in a wooden house. For them, wood is attractive, they are large enough and can harm the entire building. They settle in insulation, under skirting boards, window sills, etc.
- Sod Ants. They can settle in a dwelling, choosing for this the foundation gaps, voids in the walls, under the floor.
- Black garden. In the house you can meet, but rarely. They prefer greenhouses.
- White. It would be more correct to call them termites. They are found in the southern regions and the Far East.
If you meet an ant with wings, then this is not a new species, but a male or female (queen) during mating.
Ants that a person sees make up only 15% of the population, the rest do not leave the nest. It is necessary to drive them away as soon as possible – they carry fungi, viruses and parasites, and their bite can provoke illness or allergies.
Before choosing a remedy for ants in the house, you need to decide on their type and nest location. Properly selected poison will help get rid of domestic ants forever.
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Methods of struggle
The first step to get ants out of your home is cleaning. All food should be packed and crumbs removed, especially from the floor. Next, you need to find a nest, because the main task is to destroy the queen, along with which the entire colony will die. Killing lone individuals that are far from the anthill is pointless. When the “home” of pests is found, it remains only to choose a means of struggle. To get rid of ants at home help:
- folk remedies;
- chemical;
- electronic;
- traps.
It is impossible to say which tool is better – the choice depends on the specific situation. Chemistry is useful if the anthill is in a hard-to-reach place. An electric repeller is installed if the ants can return, for example, if the neighbors do not fight with them, and a colony remains in the apartment above.
The trap saves time, you can not look for a nest, and an infected insect that has been in it will poison the uterus. Folk remedies used from ants in the house do not require special costs and are time-tested. However, no method guarantees that pests will disappear forever.
Chemicals
It is possible to eradicate insects with chemical means in one application. There are six popular shapes for sale:
- sprays;
- gels;
- granules;
- the pencils;
- capsules;
- powders.
Powders are inexpensive, do not smell, do not harm people and animals. They are scattered on all surfaces on which insects move: floor, walls, furniture, ventilation, sink. They usually differ in the way they act. There are powders that kill ants only on contact, and there are tools that trigger an “epidemic”, for example, Hector powder. As you know, ants regularly exchange food with each other. Such an exchange covers all individuals in the colony, including larvae and even eggs. It is for this reason that an infected ant, returning home, will cause the death of the entire colony. The more ants eat the bait at the first stage, the more actively further spread will occur, so the powder should be poured near the burrows of anthills and on their paths.
Spray cans are sprayed over the anthill. To use the spray, you must:
- read the instructions;
- purchase gloves and a respirator;
- free the room from people and pets;
- carry away food and bedding;
- spray poison at arm’s length from the nest, cracks, baseboards.
Gels and pencils work like this: an insect walks along a “path” containing poison for ants and brings it to the colony on its paws. This method allows you to kill all the ants in a month. The “path” is drawn with a dotted line next to the intended habitat. After washing the floor, it is updated. There will be no smell or harm to the inhabitants of the apartment.
Capsules work in a similar way – the most modern product on the market. They are applied once, after which the pests will disappear for at least six months.
Of these drugs, sprays are the most dangerous and difficult to use. There are several reasons not to use them as a home remedy for ants. They are toxic, strong-smelling and, if mishandled, will harm residents. It is safer and easier to turn to the remaining drugs.
Don’t skimp when buying. Foreign brands of insecticides have proven themselves well: German “Globol” and Korean “Combat”. However, Russian manufacturers also produce decent products: Avgust, Clean House, Raptor, Muratsid will also cope with pests, but, most likely, not in one application.
Traps
Traps are sticky and poisonous. It is an effective tool if chosen wisely.
Sticky tape will help exterminate the ants in the house, but the process can take many months. These devices resemble a trap: the insect will die, but the queen remains unharmed and continues to lay eggs.
An ant trap with poison smells good, attracting a lone victim. The individual tramples on the poison and infects all the inhabitants of the anthill, including its queen.
Success is due not so much to the device itself, but to its location. The place must be passable. Successful options:
- space near the plinth;
- near the trash can;
- behind the kitchen set;
- in ventilation;
- in the pantry;
- near the garbage disposal.
Of course, the ant trail is also suitable. Insects move in a line, you can stop the procession with a trap.
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How to make your own trap
Making your own trap is easy. Ant poison is used both purchased and improvised. Below are a few examples, but it’s realistic to come up with your own design.
poison trap
A small poison matchbox trap is enough to wipe out a small colony if it is in the right place. Procedure:
- Pick up the poison. Buy or make your own. Boiled egg yolk mixed with boric acid is suitable – it has a paralytic and suffocating effect.
- Find a base. Traditionally, boxes are chosen, but a lid or any other small item is appropriate.
- Decide on bait. A pleasant aroma of a product that insects like is required – jam is suitable.
- Assemble the device: smear the entire base with poison, and add a little bait on top.
Glue trap
You can try to remove pests with the help of a glue trap. Ants are lured into it by fragrant food, and since the walls of the trap are in glue, the insect, having stuck, dies. Glue can be either a special composition or a folk remedy. There are many device options, here is one of them:
- Find a bank. As a standard, they take an ordinary glass jar of any size, but a bottle, including a plastic one, will also replace it. The main thing is smooth walls.
- Use oil. Pour it into a jar and drain off the excess, or simply coat it. The main thing is that the walls become completely slippery.
- Place the bait. Again, jam will do.
- Although there is no glue in the trap, it works like glue: the victim, once in the jar, will not be able to get out and will die.
Electronic scarers
An alternative way to drive ants out of the house is with an electronic device. This is a small gadget that emits a sound of a special frequency, inaudible to humans and animals, but painful to insects. They will not die, but they will leave the territory, so the repeller is an excellent protection against ants, especially if there is a threat of the return of the colony.
If the gadget is intended for a small area, then in order to effectively scare away the ants, several devices are purchased. For example, one device helps to get rid of ants in the kitchen, but they move to neighboring rooms. To prevent this from happening, they also need to be installed using the same device.
They run on mains or batteries. A portable device will be able to expel insects from a much larger area.
Unfortunately, most of the proposed electronic insect repellent devices are completely useless. Some of them were tested by Galileo.
Folk remedies
They have been trying to get rid of goosebumps since the days when special means did not exist. Our ancestors successfully coped by being content with improvised products. What helps to remove domestic ants?
Among house ants, the most common are red ones, which are found in cabinets with food. Harms them, the same thing that attracts them – the smell. They avoid the smell of many fragrant herbs and certain foods. So, what exactly from folk remedies will help fight ants:
- mint;
- Bay leaf;
- dill;
- rosemary;
- parsley;
- coniferous and cedar oil;
- garlic;
- cinnamon;
- ground pepper;
- cloves;
- sagebrush;
- citrus peel;
- vinegar.
Pests will avoid closets and corners with these herbs until the smell has dissipated. And vinegar gives an additional effect, upon contact, even an essence diluted with water can destroy ants, as it corrodes their “skin” – a chitinous shell.
For example, to get rid of ants in indoor flowers, you can spray with soapy water, set a trap nearby, or plant mint in the neighborhood. However, if aphids are present in the pot, it is better to replace the earth.
How to make a tool yourself
Among folk remedies, there are whole recipes from the available components that can bring out ants. There are a lot of them and all of them are quite effective in killing ants, moreover, they do not require extra costs, and they are safe.
Boric acid with sugar or egg. Boric acid is a deadly agent that kills insects on its own. But when mixing just one teaspoon with 100 ml of water, honey and sugar syrup, it will allow you to process a large area and hard-to-reach areas, and insects will not avoid it and die.
Yeast. To treat cracks and floors, yeast is diluted with water and mixed until a viscous mass is obtained.
Borax and sugar. The ingredients are mixed 1:1 and the whole room is processed.
Sugar and yeast. In this case, you will get not a solution, but a dense mass: you need to roll balls from sugar and yeast diluted with water 1: 1 and put them near the nest.
Prevention of the appearance
Having got rid of the ants, it remains to prevent their return. Prevention is much easier than trying to eradicate them for a long time, when a whole colony has already settled in the house. Precautionary measures:
- Purity. Do not leave food, crumbs, dirty dishes in the kitchen.
- Regular wet cleaning.
- Closed package of cereals and sugar.
- Timely garbage disposal.
- Clogging the cracks leading to the street.
- Systematic treatment of the door and ventilation ducts with insecticides.
Disinsection
This method has to be resorted to when all other attempts to get rid of pests have failed. This happens when the nest is not found, and they appear again.
Specialists will carry out pest control with special chemicals with greater toxicity than household ones, which will definitely help to destroy the ants. But with pest control, you will have to leave an apartment or house for several days.
If you live in an apartment building, this procedure is best done at the same time as the neighbors, as the ants can migrate to them and return again later. In addition, the payment for calling exterminators will be cheaper.
Сonclusion
So, in order to successfully get rid of ants, you need to determine the place where they appear from, their appearance – this helps to understand where the nest can be and sometimes decide on the choice of means.
Commercially available preparations have a wide spectrum of action and will help get rid of all types of ants: small red ones, as well as large red and black ones. Each situation is individual and it is difficult to say which tool will better cope with the task of protecting against ants, whether it be an apartment or a private house.