The Dos And Don'ts Of Ant Control: An Extensive Guide For Lawrenceville Homeowners

Ant Prevention Is Key: Effective Tips And Tricks

It is easy to get outsmarted by ants – far too easy. If you use the right methods, you'll have good results. If you use the wrong methods, you can actually make your problem worse. We'll start with things you should do to stop ants. Then, we'll look at some things you shouldn't do. Together, you'll have the complete picture, and ants are going to have a harder time outsmarting you.

Things You Should Do: Ants are wired to follow certain patterns. There are many ways to counteract the natural behavior patterns ants follow and deter them from going into places they shouldn't. We'll look at what attracts ants to your home, how they find their way indoors, and what they do once inside your home.

Some ants are sweet eaters. They'll eat natural sweets, like nectar, plant sap, and honeydew. They'll also eat human foods that are sweet, like candy, syrup, honey, etc. When you consider sweet food sources around your home and remove them, you'll deter these ants. Reduce weeds with flowers. Address aphids and scale insects. Keep your trash covered, and clean around your outdoor grill if you have one.

Some ants are protein eaters. They feed on natural protein sources, like insects and other bugs. They'll also eat meat from your trash, or off your grill. You can reduce insects in your yard by keeping lights off at night and removing leaves and other organic debris. Reduce bugs and certain insects by cleaning your gutters and keeping your perimeter dry. If you have a grill, make sure to keep it clean.

Some ants climb vegetation in large numbers. If plants touch your exterior walls, these ants can enter your home quickly as a large army. Trim all vegetation away from your foundation and exterior to prevent this from happening.

All ants use small gaps to enter your home. Whether-proofing can deter ants from entering. Pay close attention to exterior door seals and gaps around plumbing. These are common entry points for ants.

When scout ants enter your home and take a look around, they may recruit an army if they find a food source. Make sure no food is put in waste paper baskets. Clean your floors and counters. Soak dirty dishes in soapy water until you're ready to wash them. Cover food containers that are placed on your counters. Keep your kitchen trash covered and routinely wash your receptacle to keep it from having a scent that attracts ant pests.

These and other general pest maintenance tips work to stop ants from naturally encroaching upon the interior of your home. Your goal isn't to get rid of all the ants. You only have to reduce their numbers to prevent indoor infestations.        

Things You Shouldn't Do: Ant and pest management is hard, so it is tempting to turn to ant control products for an easy fix. Unfortunately, these products rarely work as expected. Here are a few don'ts you should consider.

Steer clear of using products to directly eliminate ants. Do the over-the-counter sprays work? Yes. They do exactly what they promise. They get rid of ants on contact. But they don't get rid of an ant infestation. In fact, these products can make your problem worse by causing colony budding. If you're not familiar with the term, colony budding refers to the fragmentation of a colony and the separation of multiple queens. These queens move away from the first colony and make new colonies of their own nearby.

Steer clear of applying materials to destroy mounds. DIY mound treatments are rarely effective as the many products used are detectable by the ants and they move away from the treated areas, often splitting the colony as they go.

Steer clear of applying too much bait. Ants evaluate the food sources they find. If ants take the bait you put out and it acts too quickly, they'll get wise to the threat. The result of applying too much bait is the ants can develop an aversion to bait, making them harder to control.    

Ant control is tricky. If you want results you can bank on, it pays to hire a trained and experienced pest control technician. Let's take a look at how professionals use smart ant control solutions to get on top of ant problems.