5 Tips and Tricks to Keep Ants out of Your House

We’ve almost made it through the winter blues and spring is on its way! People start to get a pep in their step as the temperatures start rising. Ants also notice this warmer weather and start appearing outside and even inside your home. Seeking shelter from the hot sun and spring rains and in search of food (particularly sweets and proteins), ants start entering homes any way that they can.

Operations Manager and Associate Certified Entomologist, Dan Stawicki, recalls a time where the ants were crawling across a power line into the house. He said, “In this situation, we had to recommend trimming the tree branches touching the power lines to the home owner. This eliminated the path for ants crawl from the tree across the power line and into the house. Sometimes you really have to think out of the box to find out their method of entry.”

Before ants have the chance to get out of control in your home, follow the tips and tricks below to make sure they stay out.

1. Keep spills, crumbs and garbage cleaned up. Make sure all food is tightly sealed in containers or bags.
2. With soapy water, wash the area you see ants walking to eliminate the pheromone trial. Because ants follow pheromone trials to food sources, washing it away will limit their ability to do so. Sprinkled pepper, especially cayenne pepper, can also work to disrupt pheromone trails.
3. Seal up points of entry along windows or doorframes.
4. Trim all trees and bushes so branches are not touching the house, creating walkways for ants.
5. Fix moisture problems and replace water-damaged, rotting wood because moisture attracts some types of ants, especially carpenter ants.

For ant problems that just won’t go away, it is best to contact a pest control company. Service Specialists can locate the ant nest, and any satellite nests, to treat the problem directly at the source. They know exactly which behaviors to look for to correctly identify the type of ant and are able to determine the best treatment method.