Ant Killer / Repellant / Poison / Control
Ants have been a nuisance pest all around the year. They crawl all over the house and transmit pathogens from their food source to the human body, thus ants can also be hazardous not only to your family but also to your and your pet’s health. At these times, you are obliged to use methods of Ant killer/repellant/poison/control to safeguard your home.
Over the time, you can get counter products from your nearest retail store, to get temporary control over the ants, but sometime or the other you need to contact some professional for the permanent eradication. So, when such conditions arise, you must make some preliminary preparation before the professional help arrives. They are, of course, efficient as well as effective and works towards the prevention of ant colonies.
Ant Repellants
It becomes very irritating, when you find ants inside your kitchen cabinets and crawling under your baseboard and doors. Though they do help in killing bed bugs and fleas in your house, they still are a nuisance, as they enter in your kitchen easily due to their small size because they get attracted towards your food. You can spray food with a lemon-mint spray that acts as a Repeller (Take some water and add lemon juice and peppermint flavored extract and then spray it on the nest). If this method does not work, then you have to give third degree treatment by means of chemicals insecticides and bait traps.
The effective way to cure indoor pest nuisance is make sure that your house DOES NOT become a food source for them. Therefore, you must focus on prevention to not let your home become susceptible to ant invasion.
Ants are small in size and therefore they enter easily in your house. You can easily locate some, while in the case of others, you need to look for their trails marching through doorways.
Here are some simple ways to control the ants:
Use caulk: Seal the doors, windows and cracks of your house with caulk. This method has two advantages. First: it will control the temperature of your house and the other is that it is less dangerous to your pets and kids.
Talc and salt mixture can be used as a caulk near the wall and windows. You can use a mixture of baby talc and tailor’s chalk to create a barrier to prevent ants.
Apply odors that the ants dislike: Applying a scented substance that ants detest can also prove beneficial for preventing ants into your house. Some of these include: peppermint oil, Vinegar, whole cloves, black pepper, bay leaves, cayenne peppers.
You can also make a barrier with:
- Chili Powder
Ant Killers
Killing ants sometimes become imperative if you find yourself diversely affected by ant infestation, and you are left with no other preventive options in your sight. This is not a pleasant option, but you have to adopt this when you find them all over in your house from your kitchen to your bedding. You can prevent these ants from re-entering your home by not making your house a food source for these ants. Thus, to get rid of ants, keep your house clean and remove all ant attractant from your house.
Always, first practice the lower level approach, and if it does not work, then move on to the higher level approach. This way, you are safeguarding your health and the environment.Destroy the ant trails: The ants follow a trail. Ants in a trail can be handled quickly and destroyed effectively. To prevent other ants from following this trail, you can first locate the entrance point of the ants and look for the doorway these ants follow and then draw a barrier with talc, petroleum jelly or with tape on the ant doorway. This will stop the ants entering your house. Try the following method to cope up with the ants’ trails.
Use a sponge with soapy water: You can sponge off the ants with this method. Dip a sponge in water and wipe this wet sponge over ants, collecting ants and then wash them into the drain. Repeat this method until are ant trails are no more.
You can also spray bleach solution or cleaner over the trails. Spraying over nest is an effective method, but while spraying, make sure all the ants are in the colony, failing which, the left out ants will create a new colony again.
Eliminate the scouts: The Queen Ant continuously sends lone ant scouts to find food sources. So while taking your favorite food, if you notice an ant crawling across you, kill it immediately as otherwise, it will transfer the signal to other ants quickly, and in a few minutes, you will find whole ant trails across you.
Consider using a borax bait made at home: To make the borax bait at home, you will need 2tbs sugar, 1tbs peanut butter, 1tbs water and 1tbs borax. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl. Then take a small piece of cardboard and put some quantity of this mixture near the ant colony. It will act as ant lure and the ants will come and carry it to its nest.
The paste on the cardboard will kill the entire colony very quickly. If still some ants live, then next time, increase the borax content to 1 1/2tbs of borax, to get positive results faster.
- Use a vacuum pump: Sprinkle some talcum powder and vacuum the floor with the help of a vacuum cleaner. Remove all ants from the floor and throw dispose them wherever you want. Ensure that you clean your vacuum cleaner thoroughly; otherwise your vacuum cleaner will be the new abode for these ants.
- Rubbing Alcohol, Water And Dish Soap Mixture: Rinse a spray-bottle thoroughly. Now add 1tbs rubbing alcohol, 1/2tbs dish soap, some water in it and seal it tightly with a cap. Shake well until you see bubbles in the bottle. Spray the solution over the ant. The alcohol content in the spray, will clear away the ants.
Deep Reach Fumigator This is an effective method as it effectively banishes the ants for about 6 to 8 month period. But the only disadvantage with this method is that you need to stay away from that place for some time. The time period can range from some hours to some days.
The Home-Made Remedy to Kill Ants
Ingredients: 1tbs non-detergent dish wash, 1tbs cooking oil and1qt water.
Take a clean, empty spray bottle. Add all the above ingredients in the bottle, and mix well. Shake the solution and spray it over the insects that daily enter your garden area or house, like ants, mealy bugs, white-flies, aphids and the like.
Ant Control
The initial step of all ant control processes is to identify the species of the ant that is bothering you. By identifying their species, you can select the best bait to kill them. This will also help you to decide the best location to place the bait.
All species of ants look forward to increase their population, but all of them do not do a universal method. Some ants mate with their queen in the air while flying and then establish new colonies, while others adopt budding method as a method of reproduction, where the queen and worker ants split from their main colony and establish their own new colony. Hence, identifying the ant species in your home and the effective methods of control/eradication are important for you to study.
Ant Baits are a very effective method for controlling ants. They are also very safe to use, if you follow the directions properly. These ant baits are available in gel form, station and granules. The main ingredients of this ant bait may be protein, grease or sugar based. The objective of all ant baits is to attract the ants and target them.
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Having discovered a fondness for insects while pursuing her degree in Biology, Randi Jones was quite bugged to know that people usually dismissed these little creatures as “creepy-crawlies”.
