Small red ants in the apartment: how to get rid of them at home using chemicals and folk remedies

Small ants that appear in the house, at first glance, may seem very harmless. But in fact, these insects are capable of multiplying incredibly quickly and if you miss time, they will fill all the rooms. Tiny pests will be found in the bathroom, in table drawers, but the most unpleasant thing will be their presence in food. And if you notice that these insects come across your eyes more and more often every day, then this means only one thing - you need to immediately take steps to eliminate them.

Description and features of existence

Small red ants, or as they are also called apartment or pharaoh ants, have a small body, the size of which does not exceed 2 mm. Their covers are colored light brown or red, sometimes the shade can be close to red. They live in nests and always move in large groups.

Each nest can have several queens. They are distinguished by their larger body sizes. The remaining individuals in the anthill serve as workers. It is the latter who scurry around your kitchen and other rooms in search of food and constantly catch your eye.

Colonies of small red ants are quite numerous and one can number about 300-400 thousand workers.

What are the folk remedies for ants in a private home?

These insects do not like strong odors, so you should use the following substances:

• crushed herbs in a sachet or bunches of herbs - oregano, mint, lemon balm, wormwood, tansy, lavender; they need to be placed throughout the house, including in closets;
• lemon, garlic, mustard, pepper, bay leaf, coffee can be placed on ant paths and at the entrance to the nest, replaced as they weather;
• You can spray the entrance to the nest with table vinegar, wash the floors and walls, and furniture with supplies; you can also pour vinegar into an anthill - it not only repels with the smell, but also destroys the chitin of insects;
• place rags soaked in kerosene in places where pests pass;
• wash the floors and walls with a saturated solution of tar soap;
• mix any essential oil with a vegetable oil as a base and pour it into the anthill, and when washing the floor and walls, add essential oils to the water;
• You can place geraniums in pots or lay out citrus peels near the places where supplies are stored - they effectively repel insects.

All of these methods are aimed at scaring away ants rather than destroying them. It makes no sense to use mechanical traps such as bottles or cans filled with sticky and viscous liquid. Of course, the ants will crawl into them and will not be able to get out, but this way you can only destroy a small number of pests, and not the entire colony. In private homes, such methods are ineffective, because behind the walls there is an anthill that will supply more and more pests every day.

Boric acid

To get rid of ants completely, you can use such an effective and harmless folk remedy as boric acid. You need to make bait by mixing two tablespoons of jam or honey with a third teaspoon of boric acid and five tablespoons of water. This sweet and sticky delicacy should be placed in flat containers near the anthill or in places where ants gather.

Boric acid can also be added to mashed boiled eggs or minced meat, brewer's yeast - all these products are attractive to ants. Roll them into balls and place them around the house.

Boric acid has a negative effect on insects, paralyzes the nervous system and leads to their death. It is important not to greatly increase the concentration of boric acid, so that the insects do not die immediately, but take the bait into the den and treat the queen to it.

Ants are highly organized insects. At the head of the hierarchy is the queen or queen. She not only constantly reproduces offspring, but also organizes the life of the entire colony. If the queen dies, all the other ants are left without leadership and disperse in search of another queen. The queen does not get her own food; she is fed by worker ants. The ideal option to get rid of ants is to make them leave on their own, and this can happen if the queen is killed, and for this it is necessary that the working ants bring the poison to her and feed her.

Insecticides

To finally get rid of ants in your home, you should use more effective professional insect control products. You can invite a special service: professional exterminators will select products and methods for treating your home. But you can also cope on your own. Chemicals come in different forms so you can choose the one that suits you best.

Gels

They are very easy to use. The gel is squeezed out in places where insects accumulate, they drag it on their paws into the anthill, where the entire population becomes infected. The final extermination of the colony occurs in about 30 days or less. Gels in syringes are convenient - they are safe for use on humans (the syringe form prevents human contact with the drug). We recommend using Medilis-Anti-Cockroach or Medilis-Anti-Ant gels, which are based on cypermethrin.

Powders and granules

They act in the same way as gels, but are less convenient, since they are carried by a draft, and the insects themselves carry them along the floor and walls. This can be dangerous for residents. In addition, they can simply get into the respiratory tract, which is even more dangerous. If you find an anthill or the entrance to a nest, you can pour the powder there.

Aerosols

Less effective because they do not have a long-lasting effect. Aerosols can be sprayed on individual insects, their paths or anthills, but the active substance quickly disappears.

Liquid insecticides

These are products that are usually sold in concentrated form and require dilution in water in accordance with the instructions. You can use concentrated products based on cypermethrin, fenthion, for example, Medilis-Super, Medilis-Ziper, Medilis-Neo. They are diluted in water and used to treat surfaces. When ants appear in a house, a comprehensive treatment of the entire structure, including the outside, in technical and utility rooms, may be required. It is for these purposes that such funds are needed.

What attracts ants to apartments?

Red ants are not able to exist in street conditions and the only optimal place for them to live is a human home. Residential buildings and apartments are warm and cozy; there is always plenty of food and the best conditions for reproduction.

On a note! Settlement occurs as follows: several “scouts” enter the premises to determine the living conditions. And if they find food and bring it to the nest, then this is a signal that this apartment will be an ideal place for arranging one or more nests!

But where do little red ants come into the apartment? After all, somewhere they originally lived. There may be several options here:

• if you live not in a private house, but in an apartment building, then insects may well come from neighbors;
• if there is a garbage disposal in the house, then it can also become a “breeding ground” for red ants;
• small household pests often come into apartments from basements;
• Insects often make their way into living quarters from catering establishments attached to the house.

On a note! Sometimes pharaoh ants can be brought into your apartment directly on your clothes. However, if these are working individuals, then arranging a new nest in this case is impossible. After a few hours they will leave the premises on their own. Only a queen can create a new colony!

Why are ants dangerous in the house?

Such unplanned proximity can cause significant harm to your health.

The fact is that ants not only destroy your food supplies and spoil the environment, they also:

• spread the products of their vital activity throughout the living space;
• they arrange their own supplies (from yours) in secluded corners, where they begin to rot and deteriorate, without improving the environmental situation in the apartment;
• crawling everywhere and uncontrollably coming into contact with sewage and food, they spread infections and can cause serious diseases and allergies.

And just the sight of orderly rows of insects marching along walls and tables is unlikely to bring pleasure to any clean housewife.

So the sooner you start taking action, the greater the chance that the insects will be exterminated before they create a cozy nest in your apartment. And in this case, it will be extremely difficult to get rid of ants.

Fighting red ants

If you decide to find the answer to the question of how to get rid of small ants in an apartment on your own, then remember that the fight may require significant effort from you. Ideally, steps to eliminate parasites should be taken as early as possible:

• when one or two individuals are detected;
• if you find out that insects have already settled in with your neighbors;
• red ants have been spotted on the outside wall of your home.

And if everything is done on time, then with a high degree of probability you will be able to prevent the creation of an anthill and the further proliferation of parasites.

Recommendation! If we are talking about a multi-storey building, then in advanced cases it is advisable to destroy small red ants through joint efforts - together with the neighbors, since the insects have probably managed to infect more than one apartment!

In general, to exterminate small ants, you can use products against cockroaches, bedbugs and other crawling insects. However, it should be remembered here that it is useless to fight only working individuals. It is necessary to destroy all the queens, since they are the ones who will soon give birth to new ants and you will fight these small parasites endlessly.

So what can be applied?

Aerosols

If there are few small ants found in the apartment, then in such situations insecticidal aerosols often show good and, most importantly, quick results. Such preparations are sold in any department of household chemicals and their choice is quite large. Among the most popular:

• "Raid";
• "Raptor";
• "Combat"
• "Super Cobra";
• "Dr.Klaus" etc.

These tools are very simple to use:

• First, you should clear the room in which the treatment will be carried out from people and animals;
• if this is a kitchen, then food and dishes are taken out of it, bed linen and bedspreads are removed from the remaining rooms;
• It is advisable for the handler to wear personal protective equipment: a mask and gloves;
• the drug must be sprayed at arm's length, and it is important to treat not only established ant paths with the product, but also various hard-to-reach places where the nest may be located. These include cracks in the floor and walls, corners, openings under baseboards, and wallpaper that has come off the wall.

In general, using ant sprays is very simple, but when fighting with such means you should work purposefully.

Important! Even the most effective aerosol will not bring the expected result if you still cannot find the ant nest. In addition, quite often it ends up outside the room or even apartment being treated!

Gels

Typically, gels are used when aerosols have not helped in killing insects. In other words, the poisonous substance was unable to reach the “heart” of the colony. Insecticidal gels can help with this. Such drugs work on the principle of a chain reaction: working individuals, moving along the treated surface, catch particles of poison on their paws, and they eat a certain amount of the substance. But death does not occur immediately - the workers manage to take the poison to the nest and feed the rest of the inhabitants of the anthill.

On a note! With proper use of the gel, you can destroy the entire ant colony along with the queens in 3-4 weeks!

If small ants appear in the apartment, then you can use gels such as:

• "Raptor";
• "Raid";
• "Globall"
• "Face";
• “Clean House”, etc.

Use the gel as follows;

• the drug is applied pointwise around the perimeter of the infected room, as well as near places where there may be an anthill, and left for two weeks;
• if the product was accidentally erased in any area, then the layer of the drug must be renewed;
• two weeks after the first treatment, the room is wet cleaned and, if necessary, a layer of gel is applied again.

On a note! Many insecticidal gels are toxic to people and pets, but some contain bitterness. These substances do not prevent ants from absorbing the poison, but at the same time protect your children and pets - they do not allow you to swallow even a drop of the drug!

Dusts

Insecticidal dusts can be made in powder form or in solid form - the so-called chalk. Such products are the cheapest and most accessible, but they work even longer than gels.

Dusts that can help in the fight against small ants are the following:

• "Mashenka";
• "Globall"
• "Face-Double";
• “Clean house”, etc.

Dusts are also quite simple to use:

• use chalk to draw lines around the perimeter of the room, along ant paths and near places where nests may be located;
• if it is a powder, then it should be scattered around the perimeter of the room, in the corners and near all hard-to-reach places;
• The edges of kitchen furniture, window sills and ventilation grilles can also be processed.

Aquafumigator

Another way to kill small ants in an apartment. The advantage of this device is that poisonous vapors are able to penetrate into the most inaccessible places, destroying absolutely all insects that are in the house at that moment. It can clean an apartment of parasites in just a few hours.

It is used according to the following scheme:

• first of all, the room should be isolated from people and pets;
• if there is a fire alarm, it must be turned off;
• we close the windows and doors tightly, pull out the drawers of the tables, open the doors of the cabinets and cabinets;
• We take out a plastic container from the packaging and place it in the center of the room, pour water into it, and place a metal container inside;
• we leave the room, close it and wash our hands thoroughly;
• After 3 hours, ventilate the room.

Advice! However, you should remember that re-treatment is mandatory in order to destroy new individuals hatched from eggs! It is recommended to use the aquafumigator a second time after 3 weeks!

Folk remedies

Folk remedies can be safely used in absolutely any room in your apartment, including in situations where small ants were noticed in the kitchen. So, let's look at the most popular and effective ones.

• Boric acid - add a teaspoon of boric powder to a glass of water and mix. Pour a little liquid honey into the resulting solution or add a spoonful of sugar. Use the prepared product to lubricate ant paths, baseboards and areas near cracks.
• Yeast paste - add enough yeast to half a glass of water to make a viscous mass. We use the finished product in the same way as the first preparation - we lubricate the places where ants walked and may live.
• Borax powder - it should be combined with granulated sugar in equal proportions and scatter the mixture around the perimeter of the room.
• Corn flour - it is used in its pure form. Flour should be scattered along ant paths and near cracks. Insects eat this product, but cannot digest it - the flour swells in the stomach and soon the ant dies.

Folk remedies are good because you don’t need to use any expensive products to prepare them. All ingredients are quite accessible and in most cases are always in the kitchen. But at the same time, they often show good results only as auxiliary means, especially with a large concentration of ants.

How to get rid of ants in the house

House ants live in heated rooms because heat is a necessary condition for them. There is a very ancient way to remove insects from a private home - freezing. This method is harmless to people, destructive to pests, but difficult to implement. It is necessary to completely freeze the house, that is, leave it without heating in winter, open all the doors and windows wide. This is only possible in houses without steam or water heating. Taking into account modern conditions, the presence of furniture and equipment in homes that cannot be frozen, it is unlikely that it will be possible to remove ants in this way. You will have to use folk remedies or chemicals.

How to determine that there are ants in the house and quickly get rid of them - video

You can’t delay dealing with ants, because they multiply very quickly, so within a month you will need to take global control measures. To kill ants, you can use special types of insecticides. Let's look at the form in which such insecticides are produced.

1. Aerosols or sprays. Such insecticides are very convenient and easy to use. To kill ants, you simply need to spray a can of aerosol into the insects’ habitats. First you need to find out as accurately as possible where the nest is located. Even if there is no direct access to the nest, you can treat the area next to it. The main preparations of aerosol insecticides include:

• Raid;
• Dichlorvos;
• Combat;
• Raptor.

The effectiveness of such drugs reaches 100%, but only if they are sprayed directly onto the nest. When using products, precautions must be taken.

1. Concentrates. Preparations that need to be diluted with water, and then treated in the area where insects live. Such drugs are more effective than aerosols, but are not convenient to use. To treat an area with concentrates, you will need special spraying equipment. Anti-insect concentrates include the following:

• Karbofos;
• cucaracha;
• Get;
• Executioner.

When purchasing concentrates, you need to make sure that they are intended for household use.

1. Powder insecticides. Powdered types of insecticides are also due to their effectiveness. To use them, just sprinkle the powder in places where insects appear. The disadvantage of powders is that they have a long-lasting effect. Due to the fact that the powder sticks to the legs of insects, there is a possibility of the extinction of entire colonies without unnecessary costs. Powder types of insecticides include:

• Pyrethrum;
• Clean house;
• Phenaxin.

1. Gels. They are the most effective and rational means, since they allow you to remove entire colonies of insects without much expense. The gels contain a bait for ants, so when they eat it and transfer it to the colony, a massive infection of insects occurs. The ants die off within a few days after one worker ant brings the bait to the nest. The main effective insecticide gels include:

• Storm;
• Fas;
• Dohlox;
• Globol.

Folk methods. If you don’t have a modern insecticide from the above at hand, but you need to quickly use any destructive agent, then folk options will become useful. To combat ants, you can use boric acid, which is as powerful as powdered insecticides.

There can be many reasons why pests appear in your home. But the main one is unsanitary conditions, which will have to be dealt with first. Examine the premises, objectively assessing their level of cleanliness. Risk factors include:

• uncollected food remains;
• no lid on the trash can;
• open sugar bowls;
• freely available sweets;
• unsealed packaging of bakery products;
• always available bowl of animal food.

In a home where there are small children, people with weak immune systems, people with allergies, asthmatics, the elderly and the elderly, deteriorating sanitary conditions can become a source of increased danger. And if uninvited guests first visit a trash can or sewer, it is likely that they will bring with them millions of dangerous bacteria, helminthic infestations and a host of other not-so-pleasant companions. Is it worth risking the well-being of your home if you can protect yourself by taking timely care to eliminate pests?