How to get rid of ants

With an estimated 22,000 species all around the world, ants are the most common intruders in our house, especially in the kitchen. They are common pests and well known insects in the world. Not only in the kitchen, they can be found virtually everywhere including backyards, hospitals, ware houses, offices and at every place where food and water are available. Ants are attracted towards leftover and uncovered food items which make your kitchen a safe place for them. Ants form colonies in which the number of ants may vary from a few dozen to a whooping 300,000. Their presence in the house is really very annoying, and their stings add to this frustration. The most commonly found ants are red ants, black ants and fire ants. No one wants to have them in their house. But, despite the repeated attempts to control them, the ant return back. But, if you follow the instructions given below, you can effectively get rid of ants.

Complexity level: Moderate

Time required: 5-6 hours

Resources required:

  1. Blenders
  2. Caulks
  3. Caulking guns
  4. Citrus fruits
  5. Medicine droppers
  6. Black trash bags

Instructions:

1. Defend your home:

  • Determine the reason for which they are entering your house, the most probable reasons are food and shelter. You need to eliminate all the essential requirements for their survival.
  • Most often you’ll find cracks on the walls and at the corners from where they enter in your kitchen. You’ll have to seal all these cracks.You can seal these cracks with the help of 100 percent silicon caulk which is non toxic in nature.

2. Dispose off leftover food items carefully:

  • Ants mostly depend upon the leftover food items from your kitchen for their survival, therefore you need to get rid of it.
  • After cleaning the after meals, take all the trash out of your home. Also, keep the recycling bins and outdoor trash as far as possible from your house.
  • The food products, especially the ones which contain sugar, must be kept in jars which are tightly wrapped. In summers, it is advisable to refrigerate all the perishable food items like vegetable and fruits.

3. Destroy their habitats:

  • Mix 1 tsp. of boric acid with 2 cups of corn syrup or honey. Heat the mixture until the boric acid dissolves completely. To this mixture add equal amount of water.
  • Now with the help of an eyedropper, drop this solution at places where the presence of ants is frequent. This solution acts as liquid bait.
  • You can also make a natural repellent with the help of water and citrus peelings in the blender. Pour this repellent over the ant hill.

4. Additional arrangements:

  • Ants get thirst very often, so you need to eliminate the pools of standing water.
  • You can also deter the ants from moving into the ant hills by sprinkling powdered pepper, dried peppermint or paprika over the cracks and the entryways.

Frequently asked questions:

In which season, ants trouble us most?

The nuisance created by ants is not limited only to a particular period of the year. They are tough creatures and have developed features to tackle the nature even at its worst, therefore you can literally find them around yourself for the entire year. However, the rainy season is favorable to them as the temperature is moderate and plenty amount of water and food is available, so they can survive easily. Hence, most often ants trouble us mostly in the rainy season.

Quick tips:

  • Do not use any repellent product at place where you have placed liquid baits. The ants will not come near to the bait because of the repellent, which will eventually render the bait useless.
  • Ants are tough creatures and they are very difficult to remove, therefore you may have to follow the above instructions more than once to get rid of the ants completely.

Things to watch out for:

  • Keep children away from places where ants wander frequently, sometimes their stings can be really very painful.
  • The repellents and liquid baits used for the purpose of getting rid of ants must be kept away from the reach of children as they are poisonous.

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