Whether they’re in your garden or finding their way into your home after a big rain, they’re a huge pest. Because ants are colonial creatures, seeing one ant means there are probably many, many more close by. As soon as you see an ant crawling through your house, you’ll want to consider a pest control Clayton services immediately because it’s likely a scout and the first sign of an infestation. It’s tempting to immediately kill every ant you see. Before you smush them, try to find the spots where the ants are entering your home and the paths where they travel.

Once you figure out the type of ant, you can find a natural, at-home solution for the problem. There are many different species of ants and they all have different preferences for food. These preferences even change throughout the year. Boric acid and sugar may work for getting rid of ants during certain seasons but it will have zero effect in almost every other situation.

Treat the Ants in House

According to an experienced pest control company, the best way to keep your ants from infesting your home in the first place is with a heavy dose of prevention. In most cases, your kitchen will be the place that attracts the most ants. Having trouble with pests outdoors? This mosquito sprinkler system and many other tools can make your life easier outside.

Some Household Tips

Clean the house and avoid leaving food scraps. Keep your pet food in a second vessel filled with water. Take away your trash twice a day and leave the trash can empty and clean. Isolate the small holes around your house with silicone. These are preventive ways to get rid of them. It is also effective for preventing spiders, mice, various bugs, flies and every other pest you can imagine; however, if something happens, you can call a professional pest control services specialist who can provide Emergency Pest Control help.

Corn Starch

Corn starch is difficult for ants to digest because of it’s high fiber content. They try to eat it and then swell up and die. The ants will bring the corn starch back to their nests where other ants can eat it too. It sounds like an awful way to die. But when you’re trying to get rid of ants, you gotta do what you gotta do. This method takes a couple days to work but it is very effective once the ants discover the corn starch.

Lemon/Orange Juice

Ants do not like the smell of lemon juice. The citric acid disrupt the scent trails to stop the ants from following each other into your house. Use real lemons, not the bottled lemon juice concentrate which usually contains added sugar. Citrus fruits, like lemons and oranges, contain a compound called limonene.

Limonene repels ants, so citrus fruits are excellent natural repellents. Use some lemon or orange juice on the windowsills, holes, cracks and door thresholds where ants normally get in. Then scatter the lemon peels and slices outside entryways. For an even better option, wash your floors with lemon juice of four lemons for every half gallon of water.

White Vinegar

White vinegar won’t kill ants unless you drown them in it. But the strong smell of white vinegar will repel ants from your home. Ants leave a trail of pheromones when they walk around which is how they communicate with one another. The trail tells other ants how to get to a food source. White vinegar will cover those pheromones to stop more ants from following the trail into your house. It’s anti-fungal properties help you to remove ant mounds. Ants feed with mushrooms then they grow them in the anthill. Pour vinegar into the anthill and they will go away.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth is made of the crushed up fossilized remains of fresh-water algae. That means the particles have microscopic razor-sharp edges. These sharp edges cut open an ant’s exoskeleton and cause the ant dehydrate. Or, if the ant ingests the powder, the diatomaceous earth absorbs the insect’s moisture and dries it out from the inside. Besides ants, diatomaceous earth can also rid your home of bed bugs, house dust mites, cockroaches and fleas. It can be purchased at hardware stores and some health food stores.

Sprinkle the powder in the areas of infestation. The ants need to come in contact with it so make sure you cover all the potential areas where they might enter. Apply in any nook, crannies and cracks where ants can hide. Ants will be dead within 48 hours. The diatomaceous earth remains effective until it gets wet. The great thing about diatomaceous earth is that the insects will never become immune to it because it contains no chemicals.

Treat the Ants Outside

Getting rid of ants outdoors is necessary if you don’t want them to invade your home. Fortunately, companies such as True Pest Control possess the necessary expertise to do so. One of reason you may want to remove ants is, if the ants in your yard are fire ants, which can give very painful bites. If you want to get rid of the ants in your yard but want to avoid using toxic chemicals, you have several choices to get rid of them using non-toxic ingredients that are safe for pets, children and most importantly your lawn and gardens.

When it comes to getting rid of lawn damaging moles, there’s one man in Ottawa County Michigan that everyone recommends. That man is Jack Waterway, who has been doing mole control in Holland Michigan for over 2 decades. Jack says “moles can get out of control real fast, be quick in your response if you see a molehill.

Boiling Water for Any Ant

They are best removed by pouring boiling hot water on the mounds. And best if done in the a.m. as they are high in the mound at that time. The intention is to kill the queen ant. If you have multiple hills in your yard, you will need additional pots of water. If you notice after a week that there are new ant hills, repeat the entire process. It is possible that you missed the queen and the colony moved to a new home. Be aware that while boiling water is effective at killing any type of ant, it can destroy your grass. Keep in mind that once you pour the boiling water, the grass it destroys may never grow back.

Natural Ant Deterrents

How to keep ants away from home and gardens involves using natural deterrents to force the ants away. Dehydrated peppermint or crushed red pepper flakes sprinkled around the perimeters repels ants as they are irritants. Peppermint oil sprayed along their trails also works to relocate them. Other natural deterrents include powdered cloves, cayenne pepper and powdered garlic.

Grounded black pepper, cinnamon or grounded bay leaves. You can combine them with water and pour into the anthill or sprinkle pepper-cinnamon-bay ground in places where ants pass. Prepare a concentrated mint tea and put chili in it. Pour this potion in a spray bottle and sprinkle through where ants pass.

Clove Oil

Saturate a cotton ball in the essential oil and place at all entry points. Repeat this process every three days until there are no signs of ants. For ant infestations, you need more direct contact. One of the best home remedies for carpenter ants is to mix ½ cup of water with 15 drops of clove oil in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture directly on ant hills and trails. Clove oil, when mixed with water and sprayed directly on ants, are a natural way to kill ants.

Eucalyptus Oil for Any Ant

Place five to 10 drops of eucalyptus oil into a plastic spray bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with tap water. Replace the lid and shake to mix the oil and water together. Spray the mixture over your yard and garden to deter ants. Ants dislike eucalyptus oil.

Baby Powder Ant Repellent

Baby powder sprinkled around ant nests, and the outside of your house keeps ants away. The stronger the scent of the baby powder the better, as ants shy away from strongly scented talc powder. Use a funnel to pour the powder directly into the nests to reach the entire colony.

Insect-Repelling Plants

What you plant in your garden plays a role in either repelling ants or attracting them. Avoid planting anything that attracts aphids and other honeydew-producing insects, as the ants are attracted to the honeydew these insects produce. Plants, including garlic, mint and geraniums, repel ants.

And if everything else fails Bailey Presswood has recently teamed up with Bexar County, TX officials to begin an educational series of homeowner mini courses for protecting homes against nuisance animals with animal proofing & wildlife exclusion. Details on the San Antonio locations and dates can be found at Baileys Critter Removal website to get the best service.