Oftentimes, you may see ants crawling around the home, while their nest is outdoors. You may also come into contact with a nest in your garden, but the ants have not made their way inside quite yet. Generally, an outdoor nest will not bother you, but if you start to notice ants in the home, it may be time to get rid of the nest. Here’s how to do just that.
Natural solutions
There are several solutions that use natural or non-commercial chemicals and materials. These solutions can be used to destroy an ant nest, thus eliminating the source of the infestation. Here are some effective solutions and methods that you can use:
- Boiling water – One of the oldest and best known ant control methods is using boiling water on the ant nest. Try to find several entrances into the nest and then pour the water into them. You will likely have to do this several times to destroy the nest completely.
- Dishwashing soap combined with cooking oil – When you combine dishwashing soap with oil, you create a solution that infiltrates the exoskeleton of the ant and suffocates it. The solution is simple – one quart of water, one and a half teaspoons of oil, and half a teaspoon of dish washing soap. You can use part of the solution in a spray bottle for ants outside of the nest, and you can pour the rest of the liquid into the nest as you would with boiling water.
- Sugar and boric acid – One of the most effective natural ways to get rid of an ant infestation, a paste made out of sugar and boric acid can be placed near the entrances of a nest, and the ants will eat it and spread it around the nest, until it gets to the queen. Once the queen eats it, it along with the other ants in the nest will die off.
Market products
If natural solutions don’t work out, you can try some products from the ant control market. Here, your options are:
- Bait – Ant baits can be found pretty much anywhere, and they work on the same principle as the sugar and boric acid paste. Ants will find the bait and take it back to the nest, where they will spread it around until it eventually reaches the queen and kills her. There are many options out there, and you can choose slow or fast acting baits, bait stations that protect kids and animals, and others.
- Direct-action pesticides – Direct-action pesticides work by killing ants instantly. This option is useful when you have frequent ant incursions into your home, and you can notice them on your counters or floors. However, direct-action pesticides do not destroy a nest.
Do you have a large outdoor infestation?
Sometimes, even the best products on the market can’t get the job done. If you have a large outdoor ant infestation, and you need help to deal with it, contact us today, and we will send over a pest control specialist.