What Should I Do if My Home Has an Ant Infestation?

Ants are tiny insects that march around your yard looking for food for their colony. Some ants bite, while others create mounds or ant hills in your lawn. They are relatively harmless, but when ants decide to make their way into your home, it is time to draw the line. If you are having issues keeping the ants out, you may ask yourself, “What should I do if my home has an ant infestation?” You can try some prevention methods as well as deter the little workers with white vinegar around possible points of entry. You can also use a helpful, eco-friendly pest control professional to identify where the source of the problem is and treat indoor and outdoor ant nests to keep these little insects from making themselves at home on your property.

Prevention

Because ants send out a pheromone trail for other ants to follow, if ever you see one ant in your home, the chances of seeing all their hard-working friends are quite likely. If they get a hint of something that they like, ants will soon set up a trail along your baseboards or right across your wall to your sticky jar of honey, or even your toothpaste. To prevent ants from entering your home in the first place,

• Wipe down your tables and counters with an all purpose cleaner
• Keep floors and surfaces free from crumbs, and, especially, sticky spots from surgery drink spills or other sweet, sticky treats.
• Caulk around windows and door frames. Ants can enter through tiny cracks so checking for small entry points will help keep ants from coming in.

Treatment

If you identify an ant infestation, you can:

• Buy ant bait traps to put in strategic spots in your home
• Spray insecticides on outdoor ant colonies if you believe they are the source of your indoor problem
• Use home remedy bait such as borax mixed with powder sugar and water to make a paste to set out for the ants to feast upon and die
• Call a professional pest control company to thoroughly eradicate your ant problem

If you find ants in your home, identifying what kind of ants can be crucial because some ants can be terribly destructive to your home. Carpenter ants, for example, do not eat wood like termites, but they burrow into the wood which can weaken the boards and possibly cause the structural integrity of your home to be compromised. Carpenter ants are larger than your average ant, are dark red to black in color, and the worker ants have wings. If you identify carpenter ants in your home, call a professional immediately! If you hesitate in buying an over-the-counter insecticide because of the uncertainty of the environmental impact, and home remedies and deterrents are not working well, finding an eco-friendly pest control company for your ant infestation can be a tall order. But for residents in Downingtown, PA,  Environmentally Considered Pest Control (ECPC) can eradicate your ant infestation while using safe, green treatments for all the people and pets living in your home. Call ECPC today!