Every home can be threatened by an ant infestation. If as a homeowner you have experienced this you know that any crevice in a building or structure can give easy access to trails of ants invading your home. There are some easy steps you can take to prevent an ant infestation.

Having An Ant Infestation? Here’s What To Do

Even though having an ant infestation isn’t the worst threat to your home, these tiny creatures cause an inconvenience. And you need to get rid of them. Ants cause no real damage but can damage your food, house items and even irritate the occupants. With the thousands of ant species available globally, only a few make it to the house, and few of these sting or damaged items while others aerate the soil and feed on insects. It is essential to remove any ants in your house to avoid inconveniences and the bacteria they carry.

Prevent an ant infestation

Here are four ways you can use to get rid of ants:

Use Ant Bait Indoors

After identifying the ants’ source, it’s crucial keeping an ant bait to keep them off your compound. Ants come in huge numbers, and it’s their source that matters. You don’t have to use pesticides to kill them since you may not cover them all. Instead of doing the tedious process of killing them, place ant bait, carried to their source by the workers’ ants. What are these baits?

According to this blog on how to get rid of ants, baits are sweet, sugary, and edible carbohydrates mixed with toxic substances to kill the ants and are harmless to humans and other animals. Most of these baits are manufactured using boric acid, which is harmless to humans and animals and can help prevent an ant infestation. Place the bait on the trails and ensure the ants reach it, which they will carry into others, eliminating them until the source. The process of eliminating the whole colony can take days or even months, depending on its size. It’s better to provide the bait regularly.

Use Spray Pesticides Outdoors

You should avoid pesticides indoors since they may cause irritation or toxic air to the house occupants and pets. The pesticide should be used at the source and be targeted at the queen ant for it to work effectively. It would help if you used the approved pesticide to drench the nest and ensure to follow instructions as labelled to avoid environmental contamination. Since the pesticides are useful to both ants and other valuable insects, it’s better to apply them to the source not to affect other living organisms and to ensure it works effectively in eliminating the queen, the eggs, and the ants therein.

Keep Surfaces Clean

One way of removing any unwanted insects in your home is by keeping surfaces clean. No insect survives on clean surfaces, this includes ants. This initiative will drive them away. Since they leave their shelters finding food and water, finding your area clean will make them adjust to another area, away from your home. Other than cleaning, ensure your food is kept sealed, dustbins emptied and that there are no traces of food on the floor and in your compound. If ants are already in your house, do not clean their trails when cleaning the house since they will use it back. Destroying the trail will make them disperse in different directions, making it hard to remove them all.

Seal Entry Points

It’s funny how ants find the smallest entry points into your house and make use of it to gain entry. Buildings with cracks, crevices, and openings are prone to ant infestations and give easy entry to these tiny creatures. To prevent their entry, try to seal every opening in your house, including doors, windows, and cable entry points. You can use different sealants for different areas until you are sure no point remains open for them. This sealing should be done after you are sure no ant remains in your house after getting rid of them.

If  you are in a large building that is actively targeted by ants, it’s essential to consult an ant control company. They will come up with several measures, according to your situation, to remove and prevent any ants in your house. It is also important to keep cleanliness, sealing loopholes, and prevent these insects from coming back after eliminating them.