You may not immediately think of them as pests, but make no mistake about it, ants are not good to have around. Ants can infiltrate and infest your home, as well as the exterior and can cause a great deal of damage as they look for food, and set up a home. While most cases are minor, major infestations can seriously cause problems with your health. Getting rid of these takes on a whole different arena than just buying an over the counter bug spray, as you’ll need to call in a professional if some basic options don’t seem to help. Consider a few tips and tricks to helping remove ants from your home, and just about anywhere it may be a bit subtropical.
Look For Cracks and Openings
First and foremost, you have to find areas where insects may want to come inside your home. The reason why this matters is because pests don’t usually want to set up shop in a house. They want to look for food and elements that you have inside, and then take them outside. To avoid having to deal with infestation, make sure that you close up all cracks, windows, and anywhere small insects could come into your home. That includes using caulking around windows, door frames, vents, and more. You have to tighten up your home before anything else.
Using Ant Baits To Trap Them
In the case that you have a nest in the home, or you have found many in your house, set up ant baits that can help control them. These are not going to be intrusive, they don’t harm animals and are safe around children. You’ll need to set these up in areas where there’s a lot of pests showing up. When you have them in place, they are going to attract a great deal of the problem and they will take bits to their nest, killing off the infestation within a short span of time.
Clean Up and Don’t Leave Food Out
Another way to help with ant control is to make sure you clean thoroughly. You cannot leave crumbs out, you have to vacuum, sweep, and clear off eating areas, kitchen areas, and anywhere food may be present. By doing this, you will not have anything to attract ants from the outside. As long as there is no food to eat, you will not have to worry about any changes or issues. Cleaning up should not be done sporadically, you should set up a schedule to ensure cleanliness is not an afterthought.
Bigger Problems
When you try everything mentioned above, and you have even tested out sprays, and other over the counter solutions, it may be time to call in a professional. Sometimes you will need to have a professional come through your home and discover where the source of the infestation may be coming from. That can help you not only see the issue, but also get rid of it through a variety of different methods. It’s not just spraying around that helps, there are several elements to consider to get the problem fixed right.