How Do I Get Rid of Ants?

Ants are a real pest! It doesn't matter if you caused them to come, or they just showed up on their own; nobody likes ants. Fun fact: Did you know Ants are related to Wasps and Bees? They are part of the same order of insects called Hymenoptera. Yikes!  I knew they were related, since they're all common household insect problems! (though Bee's are good) 

Most ants are scavengers, they leave their Anthill just to scavenge for food. This means you can lure ants into your house with just tiny crumbs. Ants will raid food storage, crumbs, easily accessible water supplies. Some can destroy physical structures, vegetables, plants, and much more. 

The problem with ants is they are highly adaptable, you can almost never get rid of them forever. They will come back, if you leave even a few survivors. This means the way you have to get rid of ants is by controlling their population. 

This is usually done by the way of poison baits, sprays and deterrents. I'll go over the benefits of each ant trap, ant poison, and ant deterrents, and give you some pros and cons of each.

Poison Baits aka "Ant Traps"

Also known more classically as "Ant Traps" These aren't exactly ant traps, because the ants do not get trapped or killed inside the bait station. The bait station is to cover and protect the bait from larger animals; such as pets or children. 

Using Ant traps is really simple:

Step 1) Place ant traps in places where you have recently seen Ants.

Step 2) wait.

Bait stations usually contain a sweet poison which the ants will pick up and carry back to their colonies, so you really don't have to do much, the ants will take care of the messy part themselves. 

Be careful where you place the bait stations, many of these poisons inside the traps smell sweet to pets, and you want to keep it away from children. 

Pros: 

• Easy To Use
• Very Affordable
• Takes care of the entire colony with little effort

Cons:

• Might take awhile
• Contains poison which is dangerous to children and pets
• Only last up to a couple weeks

Try one of the following products.. Available at Gilford Hardware

Ant Spray

Ant spray is a good choice for those who have animals or pets because you are in full control and it's usually not harmful to spray. There are two approaches to spraying ants. You either spray them directly, or spray the entrances, cracks, holes, and windows around your house. You are basically creating an invisible fence, the ants won't go near where it's been sprayed since it irritates them so much. 

Spraying ants directly is the second option. This works for large groups of ants, but chasing ants around your house spraying them really won't do anything because it doesn't get to the root problem; the colony. 

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Kills ants on contact
• Works quickly

Cons:

• Takes much more time to spray a barrier around your house then traps
• Usually more expensive then traps
• Might not smell very good (depending on brand)

Ant Repellents & Deterrents

Setting up a barrier between the ants and your house usually takes some forethought. There are a bunch of companies that make granules which you either spread on your lawn, or around the exterior of your house. This usually lasts a few months, and isn't usually affected by the rain.  

Some Repellents and Deterrents you will have to put down in the spring, so you really need some planning ahead of time. This is a great choice for anyone who had ant problems in previous years.

Try one of the following products.. Available at Gilford Hardware

Organic Ant Repellent 

For those of you who are green oriented, there is an organic, non-toxic option for getting rid of ants, 100% safe, 100% natural.  Diatomaceous earth is a fine white powder made up of the fossilized remains of a kind of plankton and algae known as diatoms. Diatomaceous earth kills ants because of the minuscule fragments which are very sharp and can rupture an insect's exoskeleton. Once the insect's outer layer has been pierced, it will die.  Diatomaceous earth is not poisonous or harmful to humans and animals, but deadly to insects. 

No matter which option you choose, they all work pretty well, Good Luck and If you have any questions feel free to comment or contact us.