How to Prevent Ants in Your Home

Ants outnumber people by an incredible number. This doesn’t mean that they should be able to wander into your home and crawl all over your belongings and yourself. You can be proactive and take several preventative measures to prevent an influx of ants in your home.

Stay Clean

The first thing that ants do before entering your living space in full force is send some scout ants to check out the area, especially the kitchen. They’ll then return to the rest of their friends to let them know that your kitchen is ripe for eating and living. This means that you must keep your kitchen impeccably clean at all times.

Don’t leave any food or dirty dishes out and be sure to clean your stove and toaster once a week so that all the sources of food crumbs are eliminated. Wipe all kitchen surfaces with vinegar. It will disinfect and clean those surfaces and create a smell that repels ants. Be sure to rinse out your recyclables before placing them into bins. Always keep the lid tightly closed on the kitchen garbage and take it out when it is nearing capacity. This way, ants will be less tempted to move in.

Seal Entryways

Do some investigative work to determine where ants might enter your home, especially areas near the kitchen. If you ever see an ant, follow it before killing it. Find out where it enters and exits and then seal off those spaces. You can use sealants like paste, silicone caulk, poster tack, petroleum jelly and putty.

Use Odors To Deter Ants

You can sprinkle specific odors around your home to discourage ants from entering the kitchen and other living spaces. Ants dislike the smell of garlic, peppermint, laurel/bay leaves, lavender and camphor. You can apply them either as an oil or in their natural form. Consider growing mint or lavender plants by your home’s entryways as an extra potent deterrent. Ants are extremely attracted to sugar and flour so try to keep one of these odors, especially bay leaves, by your home’s supply of sugar and flour.

Use Barriers

You can erect numerous barriers to prevent ants from entering your kitchen. A barrier should only be used if the ants aren’t already in the kitchen. It should have a width of a quarter inch and have no cracks or open spaces. Many common household items can be used as defensive barriers. These include powdered cleansers, baby powder, powdered charcoal, turmeric, vaseline, cayenne pepper, citrus oil and turmeric. Vaseline is especially useful as a defensive barrier around windows and doors.

Speak to a New Jersey Pest Control Company

If you’ve tried the above recommendations and none works as effectively as you desire, lean on the expertise of an experienced ant control service. Precise Termite & Pest Control has a variety of proven baits that will eliminate your ant problem once and for all. When you rely on the state of the art equipment of a NJ ant control service, you’ll no longer have to burn valuable time and effort attempting to control your ant problem yourself. Call (866) 971-2847 to schedule a free inspection of your home and get rid of the pests once and for all.