At one point in your life, you may have seen ants trailing in your houses. Although they seem to be just few, you never know where they go and what they’re up to. Ants are not a dangerous species, in fact, they can help you a lot in terms of keeping your house free from dead insects and critters. However, it can be alarming if they’re out often and they affect whatever you’re doing. They can be seen everywhere and even though it’s almost impossible to get rid of ants all at once, you can do different things to somehow keep them out.
You can always use pesticides of course but might require you to invest time and effort. If you have kids at home, you might have to ask them to step out for a few hours for them not to inhale the poison. However, you can also use these few things so that your tiny little friends won’t bug you every time you don’t need to.
First thing you have to understand is how it works
Although you see a multitude of ants, they’re not the main problem. To get rid of the hundreds of ants you see, you need to k**l the source – the queen. No kidding; k*****g the queen sends all of those worker ants in panic. The one who lays all of the eggs, the one whom all of these ants work for, never leaves the nest. So wherever the queen ant is should be your main target; you have to k**l something that you don’t see – everything that you see will follow.
How do you find the nest?
Now to be totally frank and honest, you will look slightly ridiculous in finding the nest. Since the chances of the nest being in your house is small to none, you might have to track them down. Ants usually dwell on wood – they tunnel through it. To give a more specific example, a wood with tons of moisture in it is key.
You have to track them down to where ants enter and where some exit. This way, you’ll easily determine where they’re going and where they’re coming from.
What are the common household items to help me get rid of ants?
Let’s skip spraying the pesticide just this time; let’s go to the common household items you don’t have to buy because I’m sure you have it in your house.
Lemons
We’ve been mentioning lemons a lot because lemons are a true miracle done by nature. For health and for a better ant-free environment, you can use lemons as an alternative to strong pesticides. In addition to that, ants are not the only ones annoyed by lemons; the lemon technique is an effective ingredient in keeping cockroaches, fleas, and mosquitoes as well.
Read: Keeping Lemons Inside Your Room Can Save Your Life
Squeeze a few drops of lemons onto the ants’ entryways to your house. After exhausting your lemons’ juice, you can cut little pieces of its peels around doors and windows. For the roaches however, you need to create a mixture of at least four (4) to five (5) lemons and mix it to a half gallon of water. Use that to clean your floors and windows; you’ll be surprised to see those critters avoiding your house like they’re not invited.
Pepper
This magical thing works more like of a trap than a protection. First, determine where the ants’ habitual place of gatherings are in your home; then, put a little bit of pepper. The ants will then determine that it’s not a good idea to come back where they’re used to go.
Another thing to help you get rid of ants is to attack their colony with pepper. Because of its strong and powerful properties, the ants would dissolve and would finally leave you alone.
Double-sided tape
Is your sugar container about to be raided by ants? A good idea would be to place adhesive tape on their path. This would disallow them to continue on with their journey as they will be stuck on the adhesive. You can use duct tape as well but ensure that you secure the sticky side up.
It’s always a good idea to be one-step ahead with ants; you can use either of the things mentioned above to counter their journey by placing it on their usual tracks.
Flour
If you’re wondering how to get rid of ants without using poison, you can use flour. How? What you can do is you can sprinkle a line of flour along the backs of pantry shelves and wherever you see ants entering the house. Ants are repelled by the flour so, they won’t cross over the line. This is an effective tip in keeping ants away from your kitchen.
Read:Baking Soda on Bed? Backed by Science!
Vinegar
Vinegar is one of ants’ most hated things in the world. Because of its dominant smell and properties, ants would rather travel a journey to your neighbor’s house than to yours even if you’re one kilometer nearer. Even when they’re far away, they would smell the vinegar; this would be their alarm that your house is beyond their premises.
Salt
In addition to pepper and lemons, you can also use salt to intercept and stop ants that are on their way to make your life worse. By sparkling a little bit of salt in entryways and doors, ants would then avoid the common pathways they go to and take on a different path instead. Moreover, salt is also actually better in negating negative energies in your house and replace them with good, positive, and vibrant energy.
More tips in keeping them away or in getting rid of ants
- Regularly clean your stuff; ants won’t come around if they don’t smell something wrong or sweet. If they do however, it can be something to do with the wooden furniture or things in your house. But, it’s still important to remember that you should always look after the cleanliness and orderliness of your space.
- Some ants just pass by your area; they don’t really want something from you. If this is the case, even if I can tell you that you shouldn’t worry too much, there are still ants in your house. Use the common household things we said above to help guide ants out of your homes.
- Make sure that everything in your house is properly sealed. Even if no one is around the house, no mess is around, no crumbs or whatsoever, you might still be surprised to see a lot of ants passing by. Close all windows properly, make sure your doors are in the appropriate size so that any type of critter would be trespassing if you encounter one inside.
Having ants in your homes is not really normal but it’s not a threat as well. Although it can sometimes be just nothing, you need to address this concern right away as it can lead to something worse. Remember, ants and other wood critters might feed on your furniture. This is why you should get rid of ants as early as you spot them.
