Living in a very dry area of Australia, I am actually very happy
to see all the ants coming inside the house as this means we are in for lots of rain. Trouble is, leave any trace of food around and it is covered in ants in seconds. The dog/cat dishes have to be emptied and cleaned straight after feeding and make sure the kids don’t leave the honey or cordial out!
The problem lies when the ant problem becomes an
infestation and they start taking over the house. Then we have to do something to fix the problem.
There is no point in just killing the ants you can see, this is actually only about 1% of the entire colony and when they do not come home to the nest more ants are automatically sent out.
The ideal situation is to find the main nest where the queens and all the other ants are and eradicate the entire colony with liquid bait.
You can try following the ant trail back to the main colony but this is near impossible as the trail may go behind skirting boards, along the inside of the walls and out somewhere at the other end of the house
The most effective treatment for homeowners is to bait the ants that are inside the home. The advantage of using Baits is the ants will take the poison back to the nest, the queen and the rest of the colony will feed on the bait and the entire colony will be destroyed.
Place the bait at different points along the trail the ants have been using. You should see heaps of ants scurrying to the bait. Do not kill them, just let them feed and you will see them leaving to go back to the nest, this is good!
The ant activity should subside within a few days. Keep topping up the bait until no more ants are seen.
Okay, you have put down bait but the ants are ignoring it! Would you believe that ants are fussy eaters and can alter their eating habits at different times of the year. It does not mean the bait is no good, just that the ants are looking for another type of food source, so try another bait such as liquid bait.
The above baiting treatment will solve your indoor problem but if you have heaps of ants outside they will eventually come back indoor looking for food or water.
Therefore you should be treating both the home and yard for ants.
Foundation – For effective ant control, you should spray the outside foundation of the home with an Insecticide repellant. A guide for spraying would be two foot up by 1 foot out, all the way around the foundation. Also treat the Windowsills, Door trims, Pipes, Cables and Pathways.
This should be done regularly, probably every quarter.
Yard – Treating the yard. The best solution for treating the yard is to use both Granules and liquid bait. Granules will last approximately 2-3 months. Liquid baits evaporate and need to be topped up regularly, especially if you live in a hot dry climate. Check frequently to make sure they have not dried up..
To recap, Gel Bait for Indoors, Sprays for the Foundation, Granules and Liquid Bait for outdoors. This will solve all your ant problems if repeated regularly.
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