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With most things in this life, staying clean is important, but in some instances no matter how clean someone stays little creatures and pests still make their way inside of the home. Ants are problems that affect many people and the nuisances take over almost everything in the home. So how can someone avoid being over-run by the pests? Like most everything that lives, in order to stay alive ants need food, water and shelter. By making sure to rid your house of any crumbs that may escape to the ground or spills of water on your coffee table, ants won’t be able to survive or reproduce. There are a few simple things you can do to prevent ants from coming to your house in the first place and many steps you can take to get rid of them.
Simple preventative measures against ants really just include staying clean. If you make a dinner make sure to do the dishes and cleaning as soon as possible so the leftover food doesn’t sit, keep track of wiping down counters after food touches them and clean your floors regularly. The cleaner you stay, the less likely it is that ants will even want to come into the home. Secondly, in order for ants to come into your home they have to be able to keep a shelter. Ant colonies are large and it takes a lot of room to keep them functioning. In order to stop that before it starts, put up different barriers to stop them. Make sure all windows and/or doors have tight fitting screens on them and make sure to fill all the cracks in floors or walls so they can’t go inside of them. Keep a major focus on anywhere in the kitchen: the counters that you make food on and cabinets that hold food are two places that ants tend to go too. Sinks and radiators are two other places to keep an eye on. Keep all food in tightly sealed containers and pay close attention to areas in the kitchen that don’t get cleaned very regularly. Most bug problems could have been avoided by a simple clean of the fridge, sink and stove.
If you see any ants in your home, kill them on the spot. They’re most likely either on a hunt for food or making their way back to the nest to tell the rest of the nuisances where the food is, so if you stop them in their tracks this will prevent the rest of them from knowing where they can find food. You can use sticky traps in any crevices that food may enter. Unfortunately, taking care of the places us human use the most isn’t the only way to make sure ants don’t move in as your unofficial roommates as they can attack your dog or cats food as well. Try and put your pet’s food and water bowls into bigger bowls of water to create a ring around the bowls that the ants can’t cross. Salt works to kill ants by taking all the moisture in their body so they can’t survive and is much safer if you have animals or kids in your household as it isn’t harmful to digest.
Water can also be used to kill ants. If you have a big problem of ants all over your floor, pour a good amount of water on them and wipe the pests up with a paper towel. There are a couple at home tricks people use that work for some and don’t for eithers. Cinnamon is a popular option although if you have kids or pets it can be a problem if the cinnamon is messed with, and if you have ants outside and it rains you do have to reapply it. If the ants are indoors, vacuuming your house means you have to re-apply the cinnamon, and you have to use a lot of it to make sure it works. The same issues seem to happen with peppermint oil- plus your house will smell like a candy cane! If that doesn’t bother you and your house is kid and pet free, it could work for you.
Overall, the cleaner you are, the less pests will invade your home. Good sanitation is the key to making sure you never have to deal with the little pests.
If you are having ant or other pest problems around your home or office, call Alliance Pest Services today to solve all your ant and pest problems today. Complete pest removal and prevention services are available for both residential pest control plans and commercial pest control plans.
