Author: Andrew B
Ants are one of the best examples of organization and collaboration in the insect world. Some ants can be very harmful, while others do not affect other than disturbing people. They are incredibly resilient, so it’s not surprising that they can be found in almost every part of the world. They are considered pests because they always come in large numbers and enter closed spaces through tiny openings and cracks.
They are especially attracted to food leftovers, those with a lot of sugar. For this reason, you will most often find them in the kitchen or other damp places such as the bathroom, under the sink, in second floors or ceilings, as well as dining rooms in case you don’t remove food leftovers.
Ants come in colonies that can contain more than a thousand individual ants. Once they pop into your house, you will have a hard time getting rid of them. Ants create their nests that are otherwise very difficult to find because they are built in extremely hidden places.
In order to get rid of ants, it is necessary to get rid of the entire colony, and it is especially important to chase or destroy or remove the queen ant. Just because their colonies can consist of thousands of members, you will not achieve anything if you get rid of only a few ants, but you need to make the entire colony leave. That’s why the most effective way to control ants is to use nutritional insecticidal baits. The ants themselves bring them into their colony or anthill, and you encourage the extermination of the entire colony.
If you are not keen on the insect-killer pesticides and sprays, you can try the alternatives consisted of natural components that provide answers to the question “how to get rid of ants permanently?”. Let’s begin!
Have you noticed ants? – Check these first aid steps!
If you notice that ants have appeared in your home or outside your house or door, the first thing you need to do is protect the food properly, so they don’t contaminate it and gather around and on it. Avoid half-open containers or bags – all food must be in tightly closed containers or securely closed bags.
Next, check your home thoroughly and try to find where they have come. This will help you get rid of ants quickly.
Natural remedies
There are many ways in which you can get rid of ants without killing them. For example, you can try chalk. Ants hate chalk. Calcium carbonate repels them and stops them from entering the house. Simply draw a line on the floor that you do not want them to cross.
Moreover, you can use an ingredient you definitely have in your kitchen – flour. Ants avoid flour. Therefore, put some flour wherever you spot them – holes through which they enter, at the front door, around the food cabinets, …
Additionally, you can try cinnamon. Namely, ants will go away if you sprinkle them with some cinnamon. You can also make a cinnamon line on the floor. They won’t cross it. You can also put a cinnamon stick in a small bag to protect your clothes from insects, especially from moths.
The next advice is one of the favorite anti-ant natural remedies. You can make a natural anti-ant spray! The recipe is very simple. Mix water, a little bit of liquid soap and a few drops of lavender or camphor essential oil. Add some ground laurel, peppermint, or cloves into it. Shake well and apply the mixture to the areas where you notice the ants. Repeat this process in the morning and the evening for a few days and watch them go away!
Lemon and cucumber peel can be equally effective. Squeeze some lemon juice and apply it at critical points. Ants don’t tolerate the smell of lemons, so they immediately run away from it. Likewise, they don’t like cucumber peel. This is actually a natural ant poison. If you put the cucumber peel where ants gather, they will go away. Finally, the smell of coffee will make them change their habitat. All you have to do is put ground coffee in the places where you see ants.
How to get rid of fire ants permanently?
Fire ants are a group of ants made up of the amazing 280 species, named after the sensation caused by their bite. According to statistics, fire ants are the type of ants that most often bite humans and cause the most deaths of all kinds of ants in the world.
Most noteworthy, fire ants don’t have a natural enemy. Of course, we are talking about enemies in the domain of their size and way of life. The colony of fire ants is able to take care of nearly 500,000 members and even dozens of queens. Males are also known as drones. Their primary role is to grow big enough to fertilize the female, after which they die immediately, and the female theatrically tears their wings.
Practically, the whole colony survives on the back of the workers, who are in charge of providing food, nesting, hygiene, taking care of the newly arrived larvae, and everything else.
The queen female ant has an average life cycle of 7 years. During this time, she can bring about 1,600 eggs to the world every day. This explains to a great extent, their enormous abundance and the speed at which the colony increases.
The aggressiveness of these insects implies destroying all other insects that come to their area, because they are not only fast and there are many of them, but they attack other species until they are destroyed and clean their desired space. They can abuse other insects with which they share the same terrain, and this also leads to their complete extermination.
If fire ants have colonized your yard or interior, a simple flower pot can help you solve the problem. Place the flower pot upside down over the ants. Pour boiling water through the jar opening, and the ant house will burn. Another extremely effective way of getting rid of fire ants is using chemicals. However, you must know that this way will also kill them. All the other methods we have mentioned earlier will only make them leave. If you can’t stand their invasion and attacks anymore, including uncomfortable bites and allergies in case of fire ants, buy a specialized liquid, spray, or tablets designed to remove fire ants. Those can be easily found in all better stores and are usually not expensive. They are effective and efficient.
How to get rid of ants outside permanently?
Every year, ants appear in gardens, yards, and orchards. Activities of ants in the garden or orchard include using ripe fruits for nutrition, spreading the weed seed, building anthills, and destroying plants. Namely, if ants make an anthill near a plant, that plant no longer grows, and it gradually decays. If ants settle under the trunk of a fruit tree, it will most probably dry in two to three years. Why is that so? Simply put, wherever ants settle, they increase the acidity of the soil, and this has a negative effect on the plants.
That’s why you will want to protect the outside areas of your house from ants. If you want to remove them, first remove the so-called “plant lice” because they eat it.
If you want to get rid of their anthill, you should dig deeper, not just on the surface. It is necessary to destroy the queen, who is positioned deep underground. You can also use hot water and lemon juice. You should repeat this process until the ants are destroyed.
Mint and valerian plants should be planted in the orchard. This will make the ants leave due to the scent of these plants.
Finally, if none of these actions remove the ants from your garden, you can always use a chemical substance designed especially for ants. You can also call the professional disinfection and pest control service. They use special substances, tools, and machines that will clean your house and exterior spaces from ants and other pests.
Conclusion
The golden rule against having trouble with ants in your house is cleanliness. Make sure that your house is always as clean as possible and that there are no food leftovers. Keep the trash out of the house, yard or balcony, if possible. Watch out for moisture as ants are attracted to damp and moist areas.
However, if you are dealing with ants in your garden, you will have to do more than that, as keeping your garden as clean as your house is not possible.
There are many chemical products that kill ants, but you might want to try some natural remedies. The most effective ones include chalk, flour, lavender oil, lemon juice, and coffee.
If you are dealing with stubborn ant colonies, you might want to try chemicals or call a professional pest control service.
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