ANTS are one of the most troublesome and annoying common household pests in Queensland. During spring and summer, they begin building their mounds and start searching for food, and if we’re not careful, they may start taking up residence in our homes.
Fortunately, there are many easy and effective methods for preventing ants from entering your home.
The first sign of ants making their way into your home is scout ants.
These rogue ants take their “scout” name very seriously, and their entire job is to find sources of food for the colony.
If you notice one of these ants scouring about in your kitchen or other living areas, it’s a sign that you may have more ants coming.
Keep surfaces in and around your home clean, and make sure food items are cleaned up and stored in sealed containers to prevent ants from finding a food source.
Store food (for both people and pets) in sealed, airtight containers. Restricting access to food sources means that ants won’t be able to gain access and will steer away any other pests who may be looking for a food source at the same time.
Seal cracks around windows and doors and the foundation of your home with caulking to eliminate many of the obvious entrances for ants to use.
These sealants will degrade over time and with exposure to the elements, so it’s best to keep an eye on them and reapply as needed.
If you’ve already developed an ant problem, it’s important to identify where they’re coming from and eliminate their trails to prevent them from continuing to enter your home.
A simple application of a vinegar/water mix along the length of the ant trail will disrupt the ants and force them to find a new path to their food source.
Deploy ant baits around active areas. Instead of immediately killing the scouts, you can use these baits to eliminate the colony itself, not just the few ants that find their way into your home.
Control ant colonies around your property by applying exterminating products to the colony itself and the area immediately around the colony.
Wiping out these colonies properly will eliminate the entire colony and prevent them from spreading out and creating a new home elsewhere.
Proper application of an ant barrier (insecticide) around the perimeter of your home’s foundation will help to steer scouts away. While there are products available from local hardware stores that can help, this is best left to professional pest controllers like Luke, your local pestie, from FRP Termite and Pest Management (0474 811 333), as they have products that are more effective than those available commercially.
