Are there ants in your apartment? It's time to take drastic measures, even if you only saw a couple of pieces near the sink or toilet. Small insects turn into big problem. They will populate your living space very quickly, give them a maximum of 5 days and there will be thousands of them. Red pests will be everywhere in closets with underwear, on dining table, in children's toys, etc. The question arises: how to get rid of ants in an apartment?
Red ants called pharaohs most often inhabit residential premises. The famous Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus mistakenly called them that. He believed that the homeland of domestic ants was Egypt. But if you carefully study the first steps of the settlement of red ants, then it was necessary to call them “Indian ants”. Since the middle of the 16th century, sailing ships began to come to the shores of India for overseas sweets, unique fabrics, sandalwood and much more, and received red insects as a gift.
House ants began to attack since 1940 European houses, capturing the entire part of the northern hemisphere of the Earth. They can be found all over the world except Antarctica, Greenland and Iceland. Today there are more than 10,000 species of ants, which are grouped into 298 subfamilies. Important feature ants is a social way of life. They form anthills where thousands of individuals live, dividing into three castes: females, males and workers.
But still, it is impossible to assume that all varieties of ants only bring harm. Many of them do useful things for people and the environment. For example, they feed on fleas, moths, spiders and other harmful insects, destroying their population in residential areas.
Why are ants so hard to get rid of?
There are two answers to this question:
- Red insects feed on anything. They don't mind eating leftover food that you accidentally left after dinner or spoiled food in a trash can that wasn't thrown out on time.
- Ants that crawl around the house are called workers. They feed the entire colony and the queen. By killing them, we do not cause any harm to their population. After all, in a couple of days the queen will enrich the colony units with new individuals.
Why are house ants dangerous?
In addition to the discomfort that house ants bring, they are carriers of all kinds of microbes. Like cockroaches, ants crawl throughout the living space, crawling into garbage bags, and then move around the sugar bowl or bread bin, rewarding residents with all sorts of diseases. How great the danger is depends not only on your unthrown garbage bag, but also on your neighbor’s. Harmful insects easily move from one apartment to another.
It is not difficult to drive out insects on your own; it is important to be patient and wait time. Usage chemicals It is advisable when there are no small children in the apartment.
If the latter are present, it is better to use folk remedies for ants in the house. The choice depends on the owner’s intentions - to scare away or poison.
Ants do not attack humans, but still disturb the peace. Fertility small insects so high: without destroying the queen, in a few days the apartment will turn into one large anthill.
There is no point in killing the “hard workers”; instead, the queen will immediately hatch a dozen or two. It is important to find the source, that is, the one that is responsible for the population size.
- Combine dry acid powder and sugar in equal parts;
- Place on a piece of paper;
- Leave it on the windowsill, under the bathtub, next to the threshold.
Prepare a treat that insects will not only appreciate, but will also poison their relatives:
- Fill the glass container halfway with water;
- Put a spoonful of honey;
- Add a teaspoon boric acid.
Leave the finished mixture freely available for kitchen table. Pests, mistaking the treat for food, will rush to treat their relatives and the queen. Within a few days there is a high probability of complete relief.
Honey can be replaced with jam or sugar. The main thing is that the water is sweet.
Treat with yeast
Ants have a huge sweet tooth. They love flour and sweets, and will not refuse yeast. But they do not suspect that yeast has a detrimental effect on their body. No wonder folk remedies are really effective!
Prepare a “tasty” poison:
- Dissolve some yeast in warm water or milk;
- Combine with sugar, honey, jam;
- Pour into plastic caps and place it around the apartment;
- The pests, having eaten plenty of poison, will rush to treat the whole family, feeding the queen as well.
Yeast swells in gastrointestinal tract insect, causing inevitable death.
Meat is also a means of destruction
Mix raw minced meat with borax, form into balls and place around the house.
Attention! Do not use this method when there are small children or pets. Borax has a detrimental effect on the body, even in minimal quantities.
The method has a nuance - bad smell rotten meat. Minced meat spoils quickly. An unpleasant stench will follow from the anthill. The ants will die and begin to decompose.
This method is used in the case of an anthill near the house or in the garden.
Mashed potatoes combined with egg yolk
This folk remedy is prepared with the addition of borax or boric acid.
- Boil eggs and potatoes;
- Mash the potatoes;
- Combine with finely chopped or crushed yolks;
- Add poison (borax or boric acid 40 g);
- Add some sugar.
Divide the finished poison into balls and place them along the ant paths.
A one-time treatment is not enough. Disinfestation is repeated after 10 – 14 days.
Garlic cloves
Garlic works as a repellent.
Peel the product and place it in the corners of the house. You can pass the garlic through a meat grinder or grate it and spread the pulp.
Repels and garlic water. Mix the pureed product with water and wipe down the trash can and trails.
The method works if used regularly. A one-time disinfestation will not bring results.
Chamomile flowers
Chamomile is sprinkled in the corners of the house. Suitable for both pharmacy and homemade.
Collect flowers and dry. Grind the resulting raw materials and place them in the house.
Another way is to wash the floors with a strong decoction of flowers. Steam the flowers and wash the floors in the apartment. This folk remedy is safe for households and pets.
Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
Surely every housewife has baking soda in her cupboard. This is the case when pests are discovered, but there is no time to go to the store.
Sprinkle the powder along the ant trails. Having found an anthill, cover it with a thick layer.
Alkaline solution is used in cleaning floors. Dilute a few tablespoons of soda in water and rinse the areas where ants live. The downside is that after drying, white streaks remain on the laminate.
Borax poison
Mix borax with glycerin and honey, add a little water.
Pour the prepared solution into a small container and place it near a cluster of individuals. Having tasted the poison, the ants will bring their relatives until the destructive effect occurs.
The effect will occur in a week. Be wary of this method if you have small children and pets.
Millet groats
Cereals are loved by pests, but have a detrimental effect on them. When consumed raw, death occurs due to blockage of the stomach: millet swells under the influence of gastric juice.
The cereal is poured into the habitats of ants and directly onto the anthill.
The method is convenient and safe.
Fragrant essential oils
That which is tender for us pleasant aroma, has a repellent effect on ants. The olfactory receptors of insects are more developed than those of humans, which determines the reaction of ants to oils and plants.
Dilute the concentrated oil in water and wash the floor. Pour the odorous compound into the anthill.
Any oil will do. Juniper, fir, orange and eucalyptus have a good repellent effect.
The solution not only washes floors. You can use the spray method. Fighting, in this case, will not only be effective, but also pleasant. Treat every corner with a fragrant solution and the individuals will leave the house as soon as possible.
Cool boiling water
Boiling water allows you to instantly get rid of individuals. The main rule is to apply boiling water to the anthill.
Certainly, the method will work upon detection either at the site. Pour boiling water over the anthill several times, then move it apart with a shovel and repeat the boiling water treatment.
Orange peel and geranium
These traditional methods effective in an apartment with small children.
Orange peel does not kill individuals, but repels them. It is important to change the crusts regularly, because... Due to drying, they lose their repellent properties.
Everyone knows that geranium protects against various pests. , and ants will not survive if there are geraniums on the window. Use flowers and leaves in dry form, scattering the crushed plant in the corners of the apartment.
Natural coffee
Mix coffee grounds with honey. The mixture is laid out as bait. It makes no sense to use this method if the house is constantly in chaos.
Individuals will pay attention to the bait, especially in the absence of other food sources.
Preventive measures
Getting rid of pests will be effective if you follow the rules of basic hygiene. Otherwise, the individuals will not pay attention to the decomposed poison, because there will be normal food around.
To prevent pests from breeding:
- Clean the apartment in a timely manner;
- Hide food in the refrigerator and closet, pre-packing it in a plastic bag;
- Store bulk products in special containers with tight lids;
- Holes in the walls and cracks in the floor should be eliminated;
- Animal bowls should be washed after the pet eats, and food waste should not be left overnight;
- Treat the ventilation hole with an insecticide to prevent pests from entering the house.
For pest control to bear fruit, try to find a queen with a nest. Otherwise, the whole struggle will be reduced to the useless extermination of working individuals. The main thing is not to give up; a moment’s weakness will affect the population size.
Keep your home clean: lack of food will cause the ants to leave. They will go to their neighbors in search of food.
Don't hoard trash favorable conditions existence contribute to the lightning-fast reproduction of “hard workers”.
When working with chemicals(boric acid and borax) provide respiratory protection. Otherwise you will poison yourself, not the ants.
House ants are nicer neighbors than cockroaches or bedbugs, but they are the most difficult to deal with. This is due to their social system: they build nests in secret place, and the queen produces thousands of worker ants.
After the colony grows in size, new queens emerge and establish new nests.
As a result, a whole network appears, in the cells of which hundreds of new insects are born. How to get rid of ants in your house forever? Only by destroying the queen and all the nests. Finding them can be difficult, and they can be located in completely inaccessible places. There are three approaches that give 100% results:
- destroy ants quickly, but using expensive and dangerous methods;
- carry out the work in one to two weeks using more gentle means;
- use folk recipes within a few weeks.
It is important to understand that the sooner work begins, the greater the chances of success. If the ants manage to organize a network of nests, it becomes almost impossible to remove them.
Quick Solution
To get rid of house ants in your apartment, just call an exterminator. A group of specialists knows how to find the nests of these insects and their paths. They treat critical areas with chemicals and this gives a 100% success guarantee.
However, the work is carried out indoors and requires preliminary preparation. Moreover, this service is not cheap.
You can also treat your apartment with an insecticidal aerosol yourself. To do this, you will need to remove all things from surfaces and remove family members from the house for several hours.
The treatment should include not only the paths of the working ants that you found, but also all kinds of cracks, the space between the furniture and the walls and floor.
After treatment, the apartment will have to be cleaned and ventilated. And those with small children or pets should still avoid strong poisons. Moreover, without finding nests chemical treatment will be useless.
If it is not possible to find the nest, you need to leave poisonous food for the ants to destroy them forever. Finding attractive liquids or mixtures, ants carry them to the nest to feed the queen and larvae. Available for sale:
- gels;
- crayons;
- powders.
Gels are sold in compact packaging. They are quite thick and sticky. They are applied along the route of the ants in droplets and left until completely dry. As a rule, this does not harm either the household or the environment.
Handling crayons is even easier, just outline regular places ants' habitat to remove the entire colony. Unlike gel, chalk can be used to draw lines on bread bins, the bottom of tables or window sills.
Powders are more effective than chalk. But they are easy to accidentally spread throughout the apartment, and they can only be scattered in the most inaccessible places for humans.
And for families with small children, traps that can hold both gel and powder are suitable. They are useful precisely because they hide the poison from animals and children.
Folk remedies
You can get rid of ants folk remedies, and they are good because they are absolutely safe for people. Some of them scare away ants, and some serve as poison for the entire nest. Thus, boric acid is moderately active poison for these insects.
If the ants feed on it for several weeks, they will die.
Boric acid is added to the following mixtures:
- mashed boiled potatoes and egg yolk;
- honey and water in equal proportions (honey can be replaced with sugar);
- minced meat
Boric acid can also be replaced with brown acid. Digestive system ants are also destroyed by regular cornmeal and yeast. But any bait must be mixed with sugar or syrup in order to make it more attractive to ants.
If this is the first time you have seen several individuals in an apartment, you can first carry out prevention. There are smells that repel ants, and at the same time are quite pleasant to people. These include aroma pharmaceutical chamomile, lemon and sunflower oil(unrefined).
You can also place mint, crushed anise seeds and chopped parsley in places most attractive to insects.
Such places for ants include a trash can, a bread bin, shelves for storing dry food, damp corners and even damp kitchen rags. Keep your home clean and the problem may go away on its own.
There are about 12,000 species of ants in the world, and only a small handful of them are always crawling into our homes in search of something tasty. You always need to control this moment, and there are very simple natural and at the same time effective ways drive ants out of the house or get rid of them. You can get rid of ants simply by keeping your kitchen tidy and putting all your food in containers. You can try to block ants' access to your home by sealing all cracks. You can poison ants using baits such as cinnamon or maple syrup sprinkled with boric acid. If you have tried all the methods and the problem does not go away, you will have to call specialists who will rid your apartment of ants.
Steps
Protect your home from ants
- remove all products, wipe away sweet, sticky, greasy spots from the table, remove any leftover food.
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Wash everything dirty dishes immediately after using it. Wash the dishes after you eat (or place them immediately in dishwasher and close the door). Wipe down all countertops, cabinets, and cupboards with vinegar.
Clean the kitchen every day. Food that falls on the floor or accidentally crumbles in a corner of the kitchen will be an excellent treat for ants. Crumbs and pieces of food that fall on the floor will attract ants.
- If you keep forgetting to clean your kitchen, try getting into the habit of cleaning it every day (after breakfast and dinner, for example).
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Place all food products in special containers. You can buy airtight containers or regular food storage containers. Follow these rules for at least 3-7 days. If the ants don't find food, they will look elsewhere. This method always works because ants always follow the tracks of other ants that have already found food.
Block access
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Think about where the ants are coming from. While you are tidying up the kitchen and putting away food, scout out your surroundings. Do you know where ants can crawl into your house? Once you see scout ants, follow them to see where they came from and where they are going.
Seal all ant entry holes with silicone coating. In addition, you can caulk windows with putty, glue or plaster. To temporarily block the entrance for ants, you can use Vaseline or cardboard with fastening buttons.
Bring a bottle of soapy water with a spray bottle. Soapy water will help get rid of ants and destroy the chemical trail they leave behind. This will prevent other ants from appearing. This easy to use and cheap method consists of the following:
Use different deterrents
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Install ant barriers. Many of the products that can help create such a barrier are likely to already be in your home. They just need to be prepared properly. So, the barrier should not be wider than 6-7 mm, but it should form a continuous line. Such a barrier must be installed on window sills, on the floor, on kitchen surfaces, around the points where ants crawl out. Here are some ingredients needed to create such a barrier:
Sprinkle this entire mixture around the areas where ants gather. Ants don't like strong odors. For example, the smell of peppermint, camphor and garlic. These products can be used in fresh or in oil form as a blocking agent for ants throughout the house. Camphor must be used with caution because it is poisonous to people and animals.
Use bay or bay leaves to get rid of ant infestations. Ants are usually very attracted to sugar, paprika and flour. Place bay leaves around the sugar bowl, flour container and jar of paprika.
- Over time, these leaves lose their properties. Therefore for best result Bay leaves need to be changed every month.
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Sprinkle sucralose (a synthetic sweetener) around ant trails. This sweetener is not dangerous for children, so it can be used in places where there are many children (for example, in schools). Plus, it's safe for pets, so it's great way get rid of ants in a house where there are pets. Simply sprinkle sucralose along ant paths.
Try using coffee grounds. Place coffee grounds near the ant nest and on all surfaces where ants crawl. This is absolutely safe method, which will help get rid of ants because they will not be able to leave a chemical trail behind them. Because of this, other ants will not have enough food and will starve.
- Be persistent and patient with these methods. You will need to wait for some time before you notice the effect.
- It is important to use these methods at least every year as a precaution. Fresh products usually have a stronger effect.
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Try using laundry soap with baking soda. Mix a little soap solution And baking soda in a basin half filled with water. Stir this mixture, then spread this solution in a thin line along the area where the ants are crawling.
- This method is great solution to combat ants that constantly crawl on window sills.
Use bait
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Make your own ant bait using boric acid and maple syrup. You can buy ant bait at a pharmacy or hardware store, but these products are unlikely to be natural. And they are not as well suited for residential use. But you can easily make your own ant bait. The most effective bait will be obtained with boric acid. Salts of boric acid and sodium borate occur naturally in minerals such as sassolin.
Use food products that will help get rid of ants. Ants cannot digest some foods. This method is quite effective, but you may have to remove the dead ants after the method works. So, distribute these products in areas where ants often crawl:
If you have carpenter ants, get rid of them as soon as possible. A carpenter ant infestation is more serious than it seems. They can seriously damage furniture and other items in the home. If you notice long ants with broken wings, they are most likely carpenter ants. Additionally, you may notice their fecal pellets, which look like sawdust. And sometimes you can hear them rustling in the walls. Below are some ways to deal with them:
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Watch for the scouts to appear. The first sign of ants in the kitchen is a warning to you. Ants have scouts - these are one or more ants crawling in an indefinite direction. They explore the area and look for food. If these ants return to the nest, they will communicate information to other ants, then there will be many more of them. Don't waste time:
There are about twelve thousand species of ants, natural conditions only some of them are dangerous to humans. But any of the species causes a lot of trouble when it decides to live with you.
There are only six species of ants that prefer to live in the same house as humans: house ants, turf ants, odorous ants, Argentine ants, thief ants and carpenter ants. The latter are capable of destroying wooden furniture and structures in the house and it is almost impossible to remove them yourself. If you notice these, immediately call the pest control service.
Ants are not pests in the broad sense of the word; they protect people from fleas, bedbugs, flies, and moths by eating their larvae. Like any other insects, ants fulfill their role in nature and the food chain. It is not necessary to completely destroy ants; for comfortable coexistence, it is enough to restrain the growth of the population and limit their penetration into human housing. But ants are a nuisance when they live with you: they spoil food, spread germs, scare guests and disrupt the order and cleanliness of the kitchen. You should not put up with such neighbors, despite the fact that they do not seem as dangerous and unpleasant as cockroaches. Ants eat everything! They move from the dog bowl to the bread bin, from the bread bin to the sink, and from there to cat litter, spread bacteria and germs throughout the house.
To learn how to remove house ants, read the instructions to the end. Stop at any of the steps when you see that the ants have disappeared and are no longer encroaching on your home. If ants in your garden or dacha do not cause you any inconvenience, there is no need to fight them! They will protect your crop from many types of pests. If you live in a private house, removing ants will take you a little longer. Try to find the nest and fight it.
Step-by-step instructions: how to get rid of house ants forever
Ready-made chemicals are the easiest way to get rid of insects. But such means provide negative impact on environment and are not 100% safe for humans, cats and dogs. Ants, like any insects, quickly adapt to chemicals and lose their sensitivity to poison. Therefore, we tried to focus on natural and folk remedies for killing ants, which are no less effective, but much more harmless.
To fight ants you will need:
- orthoboric acid (alcohol solution),
- dishwashing liquid,
- solid or liquid soap,
- essential oils(mint, citrus, eucalyptus),
- dry semolina,
- ground coffee,
- Contacts of a professional exterminator (as a last resort).
STEP 1. Prevention
Prevention – best treatment, and not only in terms of health. House ants don’t just appear: first, scout ants come to your house. Their goal is to find out if there is food here. If they find leftover food in the sink, on the floor, on the table, or dried stains from sweet jam or honey, they return to the nest and bring the rest of the ants.
To prevent the appearance of ants, keep your kitchen clean.
- Do not leave dishes in the sink, wash them immediately. Leftover food on plates and pots attracts insects that can enter the sink through the drain. If you still don’t have time to wash the dishes, fill them with washing up liquid. Soap suds will protect dishes from ants.
- Wipe all surfaces daily, including the floor and window sill.
- Store food in the refrigerator or in a sealed container. Airtight containers are perfect for this purpose. But you can simply put all the food in the refrigerator, leaving nothing on the stove or table. Ants cannot get into the refrigerator due to the rubberized handle and low temperature.
- Clean the floor and take out the trash regularly. A trash can and crumbs on the floor are great bait. Destroy it and protect yourself from unwanted neighbors.
- Don't leave in open access jars of jam, honey, condensed milk and other sweets. Sugar and sweets - favorite treat ants (and cockroaches, too, by the way), leftover sweets will most quickly contribute to the appearance of a colony of ants in your kitchen.
- Teach your children to clean up after themselves. Do not allow your husband to dine outside the kitchen area.
- Pet food bowls should be covered or kept out of reach of insects.
If all the rules are followed, even if scout ants sneak into your kitchen, if they don’t find suitable food, they will go look for it elsewhere, leaving your house alone. A clean kitchen will protect you not only from ants, but also from cockroaches.
If you have already noticed the appearance of the first scouts and do not know how to get rid of ants, organize general cleaning! Get rid of anything smelly, throw away leftover food, close detergents(sometimes ants confuse the fragrant lemon remedy for dishes with jam), thoroughly wash all cabinets, door ends, floors and window sills with an aqueous solution and vinegar. Maintain sterile cleanliness for 5-7 days - and the ants will go looking for a new place to live.
STEP 2. Blocking the entrance
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Carefully inspect the kitchen, especially those places where you have already noticed ants. How did they get into your house? You'll likely find a few holes or cracks near the baseboard, near the vent, and between the wall and kitchen set, in the window frame. Seal these cracks carefully. Best choice – silicone sealant in the tube. With this sealant it is easy to coat all the cracks without special knowledge. Water-repellent putty will also work. You can use tape or thick cream, but only as a temporary remedy, for 1-2 days. This way you will block access to the house for new ants and block those that have already entered.
Even if you haven't noticed ants yet, ensure that entrances are sealed off when moving in. new apartment or during renovation.
STEP 3. Destruction of traces
To understand how to deal with ants in an apartment, you need to know that each ant leaves a trail along which other ants find it. So rare ants crawling around the trash can gradually fill the entire kitchen. Your task is to neutralize those insects that have already made their way to you and destroy their trace.
Your weapon is soapy water. Dissolve a bar of soap in water, pour the solution into a flower spray bottle and spray those ants that catch your eye. Soap combined with water will kill the ants and erase their chemical trail so that other ants won't follow it. Add a couple of drops of essential oils (lemon, lime, mint, eucalyptus or orange) to the solution; they will enhance the effect of the solution and give the room a pleasant smell.
Second option - aqueous solution vinegar. Add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar to the water and also spray on the ants.
STEP 4. Strengthen your protection
For added protection, create ant barriers. Barriers are small-width fences made from natural products. If you turn to your grandmother, she will certainly tell you how to get ants out of the house using folk remedies: chalk, activated carbon, turmeric, vinegar and cinnamon. Such fences are similar to a protective magic circle made of salt.
Select one ingredient from the list (take what you already have):
- regular white chalk
- activated carbon,
- turmeric or curry
- vinegar,
- ground cinnamon,
- baby powder,
- black, red pepper or a mixture of peppers,
- citrus essential oils,
- fatty cream (vaseline, hand cream),
- washing powder.
Grind the selected dry product and spread it in a thin line around the perimeter of the kitchen, focusing special attention baseboards and windows. Use essential oils with a barrier product. Or add crushed dry mint or bay leaf to chalk or powder, they will strengthen the barrier. The sense of smell is the strongest sense organ not only in humans, but also in almost all terrestrial organisms. Ants are no exception. They are afraid of the aromas of mint, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, citrus and lavender.
The aroma of coffee beans or grounds will confuse newly born ants, and they will not be able to find their way to food. If you know where the main ant nest is, then pour ground coffee into the anthill. Repeat this every week and within a couple of months the entire colony will be destroyed.
For barriers around the sink and food prep area, mix dish soap with baking soda and rub the mixture into all crevices and creases. This mixture will protect against the penetration of new ants.
STEP 5. Create traps
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Destruction of traces, blocking the entrance and barriers protect against the entry of new ants, now you need to get rid of those that have already entered the house.
An ant trap is a bait that is attractive in appearance, but dangerous in its content. Natural traps come in several types.
- From orthoboric acid.
Orthoboric acid is a food poison. It is also dangerous for humans and pets. Be extremely careful when using it.
For the trap, prepare sweet syrup, honey or condensed milk. Leave a couple of spoons of sweetness in the place where the ants will definitely smell it. Pour acid around the perimeter of the bait so that you can get to the sweet only by going through the poison. Use gloves and cotton swabs, avoid contact with the acid, and ensure that children and pets are not harmed.
Orthoboric acid does not kill the insect immediately, but gradually destroys it from the inside. The ant manages to visit the nest and bring poison to its relatives. So he will not only die himself, but also destroy several dozen others.
Orthoboric acid is sold in pharmacies.
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Ants eat everything they consider edible, but not all foods can be digested. Food traps are safe for cats, dogs and children. Place cornmeal or semolina in the area where you saw the ants. Semolina and corn swell in the insect's stomach, leading to its death. Natural coffee is also dangerous for ants. Feed them ground coffee and they'll die (that's long way, it will take 2-3 weeks).
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Exists huge amount ready-made poisons If the naturalness of the method is not important, then use it. Choose a product that is safe for children, animals and the environment.
STEP 6. Getting rid of dangerous species
The most dangerous ants for humans and their homes are carpenter ants and fire ants. The former are capable of destroying wooden furniture, doors, window frames. Signs of woodworms: clusters of wings on wooden surfaces; traces of droppings resembling sawdust; strange sounds and rustles, chattering in the walls wooden house, cabinet doors or shelving.
You can try to get rid of them yourself.
Use traps: woodworms love sugar, add boric acid to it.
Vacuum the nest if you find one. Afterwards, be sure to destroy the contents of the vacuum cleaner bag away from the house.
Consult a professional, some of them use natural remedies.
But from fire ants We do not recommend getting rid of them yourself: they are aggressive, bite and attack people! Their bites cause allergic reaction, itching and redness. If you notice these ants, call a professional exterminator immediately.
You can only get rid of a fire ant nest yourself if it is in the garden or yard. Protect yourself with the most closed clothing made of smooth, impermeable fabrics, and wear rubber boots. Treat your boots with greasy cream or Vaseline to prevent ants from crawling on you. Choose a cold day (on such days the ants rise higher to keep warm) and pour several buckets of boiling water into the anthill. First add vinegar and essential oils to the water. Repeat the next day and 3-4 more times.
Fortunately, fire ants rarely invade apartments, especially in northern latitudes. There is a high probability of encountering them in the garden or in a private house.
Attention!
Orthoboric acid is poison! Be extremely careful when using it. The lethal dose for an adult is 15 grams, for a child – 4. Keep it out of the reach of children and pets. Warn your family about the dangers of orthoboric acid.
Make sure your country does not prohibit its use.
To spray ants, use undiluted vinegar (9 or 12%).
Pyrethrin (a natural insecticide) is deadly to felines. Do not use it under any circumstances if you have cats! Warn the exterminator about this.
Traps can be placed on pieces of cardboard so as not to stain the floor and kitchen surfaces. The ants will carry small pieces of cardboard into the nest and contribute to the poisoning of the entire colony.
Instead of soap solution, you can use hydrogen peroxide. It is completely harmless to people and pets, has no odor and instantly kills ants.
Put three liter jar with sweet water on the bottom. Ants will climb into the jar for sweets and drown in the water.
If after 1-2 weeks of self-control the ants have not disappeared, contact an exterminator. His help will save your nerves and health. In addition, there are exterminators who use natural products that are not harmful to the environment.