Ants in residential premises are a serious problem, which is especially relevant for residents of private houses and apartments located on the ground floors. Insects appear unexpectedly in spring and summer, entering a living space from the street or from the basement and remain for many years. What danger do these unwanted guests pose, and how to get rid of ants in the house on your own using chemicals or traditional methods? Where can they get into the house and how to prevent it? You can go to the article item you are interested in in the table of contents below.
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Where do they appear in a private house?
Ants may appear in a private home if there is a natural area nearby. “Street” types of ants, as a rule, do not establish themselves in houses, but they can create problems in the garden. Others are able to settle in a country house, penetrating through cracks and the underground. Getting rid of ants in your home can be difficult if you don't know where the main anthill is located.
In the countryside and at the dacha in the summer, house ants can migrate from neighbors. For them, the space near the stove is especially attractive.
Similar effective methods of influence
A well-known economical and budgetary remedy is the use of a dust- based pencil , which includes the standard Mashenka chalk, to get rid of domestic insects, including ants. With this pencil, continuous lines are drawn in places where ants pass to get rid of them, a circle is drawn around the trash can, and lines are made on the inside doors of cabinets.
Another remedy is Petrium powder. It contains a component made from chamomile herb. This drug causes muscle paralysis in house ants, but has no effect on humans, so its use is safe.
Boric acid has a similar effect . It is prepared as a tasty bait to get rid of insects. Boil a potato, add boiled egg yolk, sugar, boric acid powder and roll into small balls, placing them near the permanent place of residence or passage of insects. After two to three days, it is recommended to moisten the bait with water, as it dries out and ceases to attract red ants.
In conclusion, it should be said that getting rid of ants sometimes takes a long time. Difficult work will end in success if the owners are patient.
How dangerous are ants and what harm do they cause to humans?
Some ants bite painfully, but this does not apply to the domestic variety - their tiny jaws are incapable of damaging human skin. But ants brought in from the street or breeding in the garden can cause serious pain and even cause anaphylactic shock.
However, house ants are not at all harmless. They are distributors of pathogenic microbes because they enter the apartment from toilets and clogged rooms. Ants carry food scraps around the house, delivering them to hard-to-reach crevices, where they deteriorate, causing rot and mold to appear.
Ants can cause especially big trouble if one of the family members has allergies - insect waste products are strong allergens.
Ants can bring aphids into garden plots – they are in symbiosis with this insect, licking nutrients from the surface of the aphid’s body. Aphids are a well-known pest of cultivated plants. It sucks juices from leaves, which is why trees and shrubs grow more slowly and produce less fruit. A symptom of the appearance of this pest on plants is curled dry leaves.
Carpenter ants brought from the forest pose a serious threat to dilapidated buildings because they eat wood.
Ants in the house: how to get rid of the nest
To get rid of ants in the house, first of all you should find the nest of these insects. As a rule, they are “based” under floorboards, in spaces between walls and in other dark places. If the population has existed for a long time, then the ants manage to create several nests, which can be scattered over considerable distances.
To find the hiding place of uninvited guests, do not rush to kill the ant that catches your eye. Observing its behavior can lead you to the nest. You should track where and where the worker ant is running, since it uses the path previously marked by the scouts. The usual route of entry into an apartment is through the joints of wall panels. Ants love to settle under a bathtub or refrigerator - there is a fairly comfortable temperature and humidity for them.
Also look around vents, doorways and window frames to look for nests.
Difficulties of struggle
Before getting rid of domestic red pests, it is worth understanding how these very active pests penetrate into houses and apartments.
Adult individuals live in colonies, headed by queens - females with the ability to fertilize. The remaining insects are usually sterile and are workers.
They are the ones who go out every day to get food, and if in your house, be it an apartment building or your own cottage, there are traces of the presence of ants, you can say with confidence: there is a “nest” nearby, where they will drag their prey.
Sanitary and Epidemiological Station service specialists advise:
There is no point in fighting pests if their nest is out of your reach. In this case, the maximum that can be achieved is to reduce the number of pests entering an apartment or house.
But the problem itself will not become any less acute. Moreover, it will generally be difficult to talk about finding adequate solutions. In this case, it will not be possible to destroy insects on your own.
Types of ants
In Russia there are several species of ants that may end up in the house:
- The most common are small pharaoh (domestic) red ants - they can be recognized by their red or yellow color. The size of these individuals is no more than 3 mm. Since they were brought to Russia from the warm countries of Asia, they are unable to survive on the street, but they penetrate into houses even on high floors. Like other ant species, they can be winged during the breeding season.
- Yellow house thief ants, as a rule, do not rise above the third floor.
- Black garden ants, lasius, wander into the house extremely rarely, and also by accident, but in the greenhouse the ants feel great.
- The red forest ant, measuring from 7 to 14 mm, is also a rare guest in residential areas. It can be identified by its red or brown color (the head and abdomen are slightly black).
- Even larger - up to 15-20 mm - are black or red-breasted carpenter ants, which are dangerous pests.
- White “ants” are termites; they can be encountered by residents of Sochi and Vladivostok, as well as warm CIS countries.
How to deal with ants in the house - proven tips
The fight against ants, in addition to searching for a nest, should begin with general cleaning. Food supplies, especially sugar, should be kept in hard-to-reach places and tightly closed. Vacuum, remove small crumbs from carpets, and wash the floor. All surfaces must be wiped with a sponge soaked in disinfectant.
The cracks through which ants enter the apartment should be walled up with any available means:
- putty;
- glue;
- silicone sealant;
- plasticine.
The discovered nest can be poured with ordinary boiling water, which will “cook” its inhabitants alive. However, hot water is unlikely to reach the uterus.
Practice shows that ultrasonic ant repellers based on ultrasound and electromagnetic radiation that have appeared on the market are ineffective in the fight against ants, but they help someone.
Calling an exterminator
If all methods have been in vain, and you do not know how to get rid of ants in the house on your own, you can call an organization that provides pest control services. This is especially true if the main ant nest has not been found.
Specialists will treat the premises with special chemicals, so during the period of disinfestation it is better to leave the house, for example, to visit relatives. In an apartment building where ants have settled, you can involve neighbors in the fight. Calling exterminators together will cost less. Additionally, treating your attic, basement, and stairwells will help prevent ants from appearing again.
Before processing, kitchen table drawers must be cleared of dishes and food. You will also need to temporarily remove all moveable things from the room - dishes, toys, chairs, vases, flower pots.
The treatment itself takes about an hour, but the toxic substances on the surfaces should remain for 24 hours, and start wet cleaning no earlier than after a few weeks. Then not only the adult ants will die, but also their larvae.
Oleg Roshchin
I am a professional exterminator, I have been removing insects from apartments and private houses for 7 years.
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The cost of treating a room from ants ranges from 1000 to 3500 rubles and depends on the area of treatment and the effectiveness of the drug.
Many pest control services guarantee that you won’t see ants again for several months or even a year, and if you’re lucky, you’ll say goodbye to them forever.
Chemicals against ants in the house
You can defeat ants yourself at home using chemicals sold in hardware stores. Some chemicals kill ants, while others force them to leave their homes.
Gels
The principle of operation of the gel is based on the fact that worker ants carry it into the nest on their paws. Once in the center of the colony, the toxic substance infects other ants, up to the larvae and the queen. You need to apply the gel on the ant path, where it will not dry for some time.
Gel brands:
- Globol;
- Dohlox;
- Fas;
- Combat;
- Storm.
Sprays
Using a spray will only help when you know exactly where the ant nest is located. It can be treated using an aerosol in a can or a spray spray obtained by diluting the concentrate. Some sprays have an unpleasant odor and are toxic to humans, so precautions must be taken. The active substance does not reach the queen and larvae, so after a while the ants may appear again.
Spray brands:
- Raptor;
- Dichlorvos;
- Raid;
- Delta;
- Executioner;
- Karbofos;
- Cucaracha;
- Combat;
- Clean house;
- Tetrix.
Microcapsules
The drug with microcapsules dissolves in water and is subsequently applied by spraying. The peculiarity of microcapsules is that toxic substances are enclosed in invisible capsules that remain on surfaces after treatment. When the capsules fall on the legs and bodies of insects, they stick to them and then poison other inhabitants of the nest.
Drops
Anti-ant drops are a type of gel that is applied in areas where ants move on special substrates.
Traps
Traps lure ants with pleasant smells. Once inside, the worker ant gets dirty in the toxic substance and becomes a carrier of the poison. Returning to the anthill, he contributes to the rapid death of his relatives. It is recommended to install these products where ants usually look for food: in the kitchen, next to the trash can, under the refrigerator and microwave.
For a small kitchen, one or two traps are enough and will be effective for several months. When placing these objects, it should be taken into account that they may pose a danger to children, cats, dogs and should be inaccessible to them.
Pencils and dusts
Powdered substances stick worse to the paws of ants than gels, so you should not use them if your task is to completely exterminate the inhabitants of the anthill. But as an affordable preventive measure, they are quite suitable.
Some of these products have been used for a very long time, so insects have developed resistance to them.
Brands of powders and crayons:
- Mashenka;
- Clean house;
- Pyrethrum;
- Phenaxin.
Folk remedies for house ants in the apartment
There are a large number of folk remedies for fighting ants. It is impossible to predict how effective natural remedies will be in a particular case, since, unlike chemicals, they often do not destroy pests, but only repel them.
For example, you can boil tomato tops and pour the broth onto the nest. A soap solution is also used for this purpose. Some people draw lines in the places where ants appear with ordinary chalk - this method can confuse a worker heading along the path.
Finally, there is an original method from the “wedge by wedge” series - to disperse house ants, their large forest relatives are released into the room. There is no need to be afraid that forest ants will linger in the apartment - they do not survive indoors.
Boric acid
One of the most common and readily available household chemicals used to kill ants is boric acid.
Recipe for use:
- Take 3 teaspoons of sugar.
- Take 1 teaspoon of boric acid.
- Dilute the mixture with boiling water, two teaspoons is enough.
- After cooling, apply the composition to a plate or cardboard - this will be a bait for ants.
In addition to sugar, use honey, glycerin, jam, and the resulting mixture is applied to cotton pads or used to make balls. Another type of bait with boric acid is pieces of minced meat.
The disadvantage of this substance is its toxicity to humans, so boric acid should be used in limited quantities. And make sure that the bait is not eaten by children or animals.
A bait with boric acid attracts ants for two days, after which it is better to make a new one. At first, there will be even more insects in the apartment, attracted by the smell of food, but after a few days their number will begin to decrease.
Strong aromas
Ants, like many other insects, have a sensitive sense of smell, so strong odors are unpleasant to them.
People use a variety of odorous substances and essential oils, which are applied to ant trails:
- crushed bay leaf;
- cinnamon;
- anise;
- lemon;
- cloves;
- mint;
- turmeric;
- parsley;
- lavender essential oil;
- camphor;
- garlic;
- coffee grounds;
- black pepper.
Vinegar
Vinegar affects ants not only with its pungent odor - this substance is so caustic that it literally corrodes the chitinous shell of insects. Use vinegar diluted with water to spray surfaces in your home.
Vinegar is poured undiluted into the anthill. By using this remedy, you can immediately see that the ants react strongly to it - they will start running much faster than usual.
Ammonia
Ammonia is used similarly to vinegar - the bottle is diluted in a liter of water, after which the areas where insects look are treated with the resulting solution. For best results, it is better to repeat the procedure regularly for several days.
Chemicals to get rid of ants
The most common substances are:
- original means "Combat";
- spray “Raid” for treating all paths of movement of red insects, cracks between the wall and platbands, baseboards, corners, cracks in plaster and tiles, and other visible depressions suitable for the accumulation of house ants;
- “Raid” traps containing attractive capsules with a poisonous substance inside, which domestic insects carry to their anthill and infect most of the inhabitants, and most importantly, the uterus;
- Dohlox is designed to get rid of ants and cockroaches at the same time;
- “Raptor” gel has a long-lasting effect, gets rid of red house ants and cockroaches, its action is based on the fact that insects, having swallowed the poison, subsequently infect relatives in the colony. The advantage of this type of treatment is that the gel remains wet for a long time, which is why its activity lasts up to six months;
- “Frontline” spray helps in all cases of its use, has a high price, and is offered for sale in animal pharmacies;
- the chemical product “Regent” is intended to get rid of ants, cockroaches and the Colorado potato beetle; for each of these cases, a solution of different consistency is produced, the composition is indicated in the instructions.
