As Benjamin Franklin once said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. He may not have been referring to an ant problem, but we like to think the Founding Fathers would have welcomed professional pest control with open arms.
Check out these natural ways to prevent, deter, and kill ants in your home without harmful chemicals:
Cut Off Their Food Source
The easiest way to keep ants from your home is to keep your home as clean as possible. No open food sources mean there is little reason for ants to visit your home. Seal all leftovers in reusable containers or bags. Clean up crumbs from underneath and around kitchen appliances, inside the couch cushions, in and around garbage cans, and inside the pantry.
Ants are also attracted to pet food, so keep food in a sealed container and clean up any leftover kibble from around the bowl when your furry friend has eaten their fill.
Wipe Away Scent Trails
Vinegar is an effective all-purpose cleaner, but it can also be used to remove uninvited guests from your home (sorry, we don’t mean your in-laws). Watch the lines ants follow to determine where their scent trail is located—it’s invisible to the naked eye, but you can watch where ants travel to get a sense of where the trail starts and leads.
Then, spray your countertops, walls, window ledges, etc with a 50/50 mix of undiluted vinegar ad water to erase the invaders’ map.
Try Natural Remedies
There are a ton of natural herbs, spices, and essential oils that supposedly kill or deter ants. Experiment with these methods and see if one works for your pest problem.
To deter ants:
Black pepper or cayenne pepper
Peppermint
Coffee grounds
Chalk
To kill ants:
Cornstarch
Food-grade diatomaceous earth
Cinnamon leaf essential oil
Boric acid
Close Off Entry Points
It may surprise you to learn this, but ants are tiny. Okay, this isn’t exactly news, but the implications of tiny ants crawling around your home mean they could be getting in from just about anywhere. It’s likely impossible to close off every entry point in your home, but check for cracks in the floorboards or tears in window screens. These are simple areas you can seal off to prevent ants in your home.
Clean Up Your Lawn
Ants and other pests can use tree branches or nearby vegetation to gain easy access to your home. Cut long tree branches, and keep any shrubs planted near your home’s exterior well-trimmed to prevent ants using these as a bridge to a window or other access point.
Stop the Invasion. Call Preventive Pest Control Now!
Because ants are social insects, they work in organized patterns to gather information using a tracking and communication mechanism through the use of pheromones. Finding where they are coming from can be tricky and locating their nests can be even more challenging. That’s why ant control is necessary in order to be ant-free.
From treating key areas with bait that kills existing ants and their nests, to taking preventative measures to make sure the ants don’t come back for revenge—we have the Houston ant control solutions you need to solve all your ant invasion problems.
Got an ant problem that needs to be addressed? Contact Preventive Pest Control online or by phone at (713) 955-7405 today.