What to do about ants in the house

Garden ants have been seen inside houses and kitchen surprisingly often so far this year: even when it was snowing we were getting calls about ant problems. When the weather warms up then the ants will get more active and their numbers will increase, so we think a lot of people will get ant problems this year.

Ants have their nests in the ground and often build them in the bases of house walls and under patio and paving slabs. If you have ants in the house then they are likely to come from a nest or nests – it is possible to have more than just one nest – in these positions. You can’t just take the nests away to get rid of the ants because the nests are hidden in the ground, so instead you need good methods of control to stop the ants coming in to the house.

Ants come in to the house looking for food, especially sugary ones, so keeping work surfaces and food storage areas clean is important, as well as putting food away: nice sticky buns left out on a plate will attract ants like a magnet! If you do find ants in the kitchen and house then it helps to wipe down all the surfaces they’ve been crawling over as this removes the scent trail they leave that other ants will follow; it also removes any germs they have spread where they’ve been crawling.

If you get persistent problems though then professionally applied insecticides are the best method of control. And don’t leave ant problems untreated because the crawling ants could turn in to swarms of flying ants inside in the height of summer. Ring us if you need advice or treatment.