How to Keep Ants Out of Your House

Ants can be an annoying pest. They are great when they are out in the garden busily taking care of all your plants, but what happens when they get into the house and start terrorizing your efforts to keep your home clean? 

These insects are some of the most exciting animals to study in science as they have a very complex system. In this article, we will teach you how to understand them a bit better and turn that knowledge around and win the war against them for the sanctity of your house. 

Dangers 

This pest guide talks a lot about how ants work and what dangers they can pose. It highlights, for example, that "Fire ants are a professional issue because they are difficult to get rid of.", but let's break it down a little for matters of the household. 

Your house's very structure is in danger of collapsing. These insects will worm their way in through cracks and tiny holes taking bits and pieces out of your home, especially if they are carpenter ants. 

Ants also can carry dangerous bacteria into your home from the outdoors. If you have children and these insects bite, it is wise to eradicate the insects from the abode for their health.

The Way They Work

Ants are quite unique from many other pests as they form a colony and work as a hive mind, which has inspired more than one sci-fi concept. Kill one and ten more shall take its place, literally. The queen, who is the head of the clan, keeps producing more and more eggs. 

The vital secret is that ants create pathways. Some of them are little scouts scurrying ahead of the initial invasion mapping out your house. After them, the workers and warriors come and collect the food that you kindly left outside for them or break into the sugar bags stored in your cupboards.

Finding the Home Base 

Now it is time for you to track down the colony base and prepare for a strike. It should be relatively easy to find out where they come from by merely following the trail entering the home.

Using Pesticides 

Now you have options, either launch a strike against the colony to destroy the queen using a pesticide, use ant bait to kill the tribe, or go with natural defense. Ant bait is an effective way of ridding your house of these pests by slowly poisoning the colony. 

Companies usually make the bait out of boric acid. They turn it into a sweet, sugary carbohydrate that effectively kills the critters. However, these substances do little harm to humans or animals. As the workers discover this, they will take it back home, and slowly the population will die. 

Stay Clean 

However, if you wish to preserve a more natural balance with the ants, it will take some work, but it is worth it. Ants provide many benefits by caring for plants and helping to keep the soil healthy by aiding in the decomposition process. 

One of the first steps in the process requires possibly the most work consistently. You will need to keep your areas clean and avoid letting food get into easy reach. This step alone might dissuade you, but it is a secondary issue compared to the next two levels and isn't necessary if the other steps are carried out successfully. 

Seal Entry 

Ants will find any weakness in the dwelling place and exploit it. Find all the spots in your house ants have been making their way in quickly and seal them off. Take care; these little pests are tricky. Make sure to find every possible area.

Chalk and Lime

There are quite a few natural things that will help keep ants out of your house. Now is time to go back to the pathways that you found earlier, and cut them off. Ants do not like some things, in particular, citrus. 

Orange and Lime can be used to keep them out. Use some lemon juice in your water the next time you mop or spray somewhere they enter. Another practical use is to create some paste with one cup of water and some peels and placing it wherever their entry points are. 

Pepper and Salt go well together, and they are also one of the cheaper ways of defending your abode. Other home options are vinegar and cinnamon, all of which throw off the scent of the invading pests. 

Ants Begone

These little creatures can indeed be a menace for the household. Whether you decide to go the pesticide route or the nature path, be sure to find the root of the problem and deal with it. Ensure the safety of your family.