How to use home remedies for ants to get rid of them? Ants are constructive insects by nature. Apart from a few, most among the known 12,000 species of ants are useful for humans and the environment. The Argentine ant, the carpenter ant, the pavement ant, the Pharaoh ant etc. are few among the dangerous species of ants. Most of these ants (harmful ones) hanker after different food items like sugar, fermenting fruits and sometimes even after garbage and waste products. You surely need to get rid of ants. There are so many ways to get rid of ants naturally with home remedies. But the carpenter ant persists on damaging the wooden items of your household. The good species of ants are beneficial to the environment because they perform a vital role in maintaining the food chain balanced. They are also advantageous for humans because they eat up notorious insects like termites and cockroaches. So it is not good to exterminate them. Instead, you can try to drive them away from your house and prevent future infestation by the application of some simple methods.
Ways To Get Rid of Ants Naturally With Home Remedies
If your household is already infested by ants and you cannot drive them away, then you should go for the ant-killing methods. Some of ways to get rid of ants are below:
Get Rid of Ants Naturally with Dish Soap
Solution of soap (dish soap) and water mixed with a little mint oil or peel of citrus fruits works great against the ants. Ants also leave a chemical trail which allows their fellow ants to trace them back. This solution will also erase that trail. Just spray directly on the ants whenever you see them (they will die instantly or after a few minutes).
Get Rid of Ants with Ant Bait
Ant bait is simple and easy way to get rid of ants. Firstly, you need to but some boric acid (can be found at any local pharmacy). Then smear a tablespoon or two of maple syrup in a circular design right in the middle of a dish (the one you do not need to use very often). After that, spread the boric acid around the maple syrup. Ensure that the pattern remains intact. The ants will smell the maple syrup and will come to taste it. But since the maple syrup is in the middle, they will have to cross the boric acid part to get to it and eventually they will die. But be sure to keep this bait out of the reach of pets and infants as it contains toxic ingredients.
Get Rid of Ants to Supply Heavy Meal
Ants are extremely susceptible to caffeine, wheat and corn meal. They are dangerous for the digestive system of ants (cannot be digested easily). So you can try putting these in the common areas of infestation. Ants will come to taste them and will also carry some back to their nest where they will share it. Finally, a large number of ants may die due to indigestion problems. This solution seems funny but effective way to get rid of ants.
Get Rid of Ants with Spraying
Carpenter ants are likely to be found hiding in your wooden furniture. For this problem, a professional exterminator is to be called. He/she will drill some holes in the wooden items and will set some silica gel or boric acid in the holes. He/she can also do so without drilling any holes (in that case identification of the infested area is required). Once the carpenter ants come out and taste the boric acid or silica gel, they will die.
Exterminator to Get Rid of Fire Ants
Fire ants are rarely found in common households, but they can possess serious threats to you and your family if they are present in your household. Their stings are exceptionally painful and may also contain dangerous allergens (thus causing allergic reactions). Regarding this problem, your first and foremost duty will be to call an exterminator who can deal with these ants using natural techniques. Continue the process as recommended by the exterminator until the fire ants have totally left your household.
Get Rid of Ants by Taking Precaution Steps
You must remember one thing, if you see ants wandering into your kitchen, you can take it as a warning sign because these can be the scout ants. These ants are carrying a surveillance of your kitchen for any signs of food items. If they happen to find an abundant source of food, they will return to their nest to spread the news and will be back next time in greater numbers. So you need to be prepared to defend yourself against the scout ants. For a suitable start, you can try changing a few of your bad habits, like putting waste items here and there, not keeping the kitchen clean, not disposing of garbage timely etc.
You also must keep the food items properly preserved in refrigerators. Clean your kitchen counters and overhead cabinets regularly. Ants are attracted to sugary things so keep such items in proper places so that the ants cannot smell them out easily. Sometimes the container in which sugar is kept becomes the main area of ants’ attraction. So ensure the proper placement of those containers (their exterior part may be dirty, so clean them after a set interval of time). Items which bear strong fragrant should be kept away from the common areas of infestation. If you can discover any cracks or holes in your kitchen, seal them off immediately. You can also set up some barriers. Items like charcoal, cinnamon, turmeric etc. are deadly for ants. So in the spots which cannot be closed, you can set up barriers of these items (they should be 3 cm in length and there must not be any gap in between them). Therefore, by following these methods, you can prevent the infestation of ants and easily get rid of ants.
Just following the above methods is not good enough; you also need to take the best prevention measures to put a hold to future infestations. The prevention methods are almost same as the precautionary measures. You just have to continue repeating them so that the ants cannot come back to your household again. But use the chemical ingredients for ant-killing at your own risk. Keeping them out from the reach of pets and children is a must. Try using the natural ways to stop the ant infestation rather than killing them because ants are beneficial for the environment. So if you can follow the above methods, you can keep yourself aloof from the infestation of ants.