More Ant Info...
Ants in Kitchen
It’s probably not a surprise the kitchen is considered a favorite ant hangout. In addition to food access, the sink provides a water source that ants need to survive. If you’re lax about immediately cleaning up crumbs and spills, you may be inviting ants in. Here are a few tips to keep ants out of the kitchen: Store sweet staples like sugar, syrup and honey in plastic containers that snap shut, and wipe them down to remove any sticky residue. You can also place a bay leaf inside canisters of dry goods like flour to keep the ants out. The herb’s pungent scent repels ants and other common pantry pests. Clean up grease spills from countertops and floors as soon as they happen. Any empty juice or soda containers should be rinsed out before recycling or throwing away. And, make sure to take the trash out regularly. Check the fruit bowl – any over ripe fruit will attract ants. Keep an eye out for water buildup in the sink and leaks around the faucet. If you have pets, be sure to pick up any leftover food and wash the bowls regularly.
Ants in Bathroom
Areas around the house with excess moisture are known to attract ants, so bathrooms are highly susceptible to an infestation. Carpenter ants, for example, often build nests in damp areas like behind bathroom tiles or under sinks. To prevent an infestation in the bathroom, homeowners should: Occasionally, inspect sinks, toilets and tubs for any leaks or drips. Give the bathroom a thorough cleaning by scrubbing the floors with disinfectant cleaner, and wiping down the inside of drawers with warm soapy water. Check to ensure shampoo, lotion and soap bottles are secured and no contents have spilled out of their containers.
Other Ant Hideouts
Ants can easily find a way indoors through even the tiniest cracks, so other areas of the home can also be hideouts:
Inside walls, Bedrooms, Living rooms, Basements, Air conditioning and heating units.
Ant Studies and Weather
Recent Ant studies concluded weather was the main reason for ant activity and especially invasions in the home. Temperatures between 18 - 23 degrees tend to produce the most ant activity, and when they are active is the best time to control them.
Household/Natural Remedies
Cleansers, such as bleach, ammonia, soap, Windex and Formula 409; Herbal and natural products, including hot pepper, chili oil, lemon and vinegar; Sprays, such as Raid, Black Flag and Hot Shot, Baits and traps, including Combat, Grant's and Ortho Ant Kill. It turned out that none of these products were effective in preventing ant invasions, although some did reduce insect abundance when infestation was high following a rainstorm or during periods of drought. Even then, sprays proved to be only slightly more potent than household cleansers and baits in getting rid of ants, while herbal and natural remedies were the least effective.
Call outs
Ant trails indicate the presence of an ants nest. Each trail, by and large indicates the presence of one ants nest. Please make a note of the position of any trails prior to the visit so that the traps/poison can be laid in the event of an Ant no show on the day. In the event of an Ants no show at the time of the visit, then the pest controller will be guided by the clients description of the problem. For example observations by clients of trails and times of day will mean applying the poison on the locations reported by the the client. If the client cannot produce evidence of ants at the time of the visit (i.e. there is a no show) then another option is to contact us no later than 3 hours before the visit and reschedule another appointmant (free of charge). It is assumed that the average call out will be to administer treatments for up to five ants trails/nests. More than that will indicate the presence of a serious ant infestation. and will be charged accordingly.
Timescale to eradicate ants.
Sprays will kill the ants you see. Unfortunately this will never kill the nest or the population.
Our poison works over a period of days/weeks. Our slow acting ones are more effective as the entire colony is poisoned within 1-5 weeks.
The fast acting baits/insecticides provide control in 3 to 7 days, but
only the ones you see, Ants bring our poison back to
the nest(s) and this in turn will kill the population. The treatment is a
little like a course of antibiotics, you must let it run its course.
The
traps are placed by the controller, next to wherever ants are seen, preferably beside ant "trails" (invisible odor trails which workers follow between food and the nest). Do not spray other insecticides or cleaning agents
around the bait stations as this will deter ants from feeding on the bait. Initially, you should see an increase in the number of ants around the bait station -- DO NOT SPRAY THEM. This indicates that the ants are feeding on the bait and transporting the insecticide back to the nest. Ant activity will often subside in a matter of
several days as the number of ants in the colony declines.
It is important (and is the responsibility of the client) that after the first treatment, and to avoid further call out costs, you continue to place additional baits wherever ants are seen. See our products page if you continue to see ants (and therefor have a larger problem than reported) and therfor need topurchase more poison to solve the problem.
Never attempt to kill ants. Firstly it only kills the ones you see. Killing the ants that you see
is counter productive and will ultimately increase the time to eradicate
them.
We advise using our baits/poisons to make the ants do the work for
you 24/7 and ultimately this will kill the colony. So the timescale to eliminate the ants will
then only be dependent on the
weather*, their presence and the size of the infestation.
see also: Ant
Post Treatment Tips
* Note: Do not kill ants in or near the house. Do not use pellets, dust, powder, spray, bleach, vineger or lemon juice. Killing ants is dependent on temperature, so time must be allowed for the right conditions so you can apply the treatment. Apply to a trail and they will take the poison back to the nest and completely eradicate the colony. You must wait to see ant trails and apply our poison to the trail.
