Termagon Termite & Pest Control Blog
Waking up to discover a tiny parade of ants making their way across the floor of your home is never a fun way to start your day. Your first instinct is to squash them or sweep them out the door quickly and get rid of them. If you were very lucky, this might work, but it is very unlikely. The reason why is because ants leave trails, this is why we see ants walk in lines. They are following a scent trail that was left by ants before it leading to food or worse yet, their new home. So, what can you do?
Find the Source
Thankfully, because ants follow scent trails if there are a large number of ants that have made their way into your house. You should be able to take your time and follow the line of soldiers back to their home. Resist the urge to spray or eliminate the trailing ant that you can see. Killing these ants will mark the scent trails with the ant’s death and the ants will look for other paths to travel. This may sound like a good idea, but it will not solve your problem. It will only move it around your home.
If the ants lead you outside your home, it is time to clean up the food source they have discovered. Wipe down the ant trail with bleach or vinegar and then spray the ant nest with ant killer. If the trail leads somewhere in your home, then you need to leave the trail alone so that you can properly get to the queen.
Kill the Queen
The ant queen is your target, and she never leaves her home. This may seem like it makes the job of killing the ant queen very difficult. The reality is that if you have found the trails that the ants have been making from the food to the nest, then dealing with the queen is as simple as baiting the trails with poison. The worker ants will follow these established trails to food and take your bait directly back to the queen. The workers feed the ant colony, killing the queen. This may take a few days or more depending on the size of the colony.
Alternatively, if you would rather let a professional take care of your ant problem. Contact us and make an appointment with service and control professionals who can eliminate your problems for you.
