Getting rid of Ants
Ants are pesky insects that can be really frustrating to get rid of in your home. Many people think that ants are so small that they cannot do much harm, but despite their tiny size, and communities can be very large so getting rid of huge colonies of ants is a real problem for homeowners.
When dealing with an insect infestation, the first steps to take are to remove their food source and block off their entry points. However, ants are tiny and resilient pests that can make good use of even the tiniest crumbs of food and smears of grease on work surfaces and can get through the tiniest of cracks in your walls.
Most ants like to set up a nest somewhere in your house, so even if you meticulously seal up every tiny crack you find, they may have already established a cosy nest in your home, maybe under the floorboards, behind a skirting board or a kitchen cabinet.
How to get rid of ants
While you might automatically think of a DIY solution such as an ant spray or powder you can buy from a garden centre, these products are an easy way to spread pesticides around your home, which may be bad for any pets you have, especially fish.
Most DIY ant products will only treat the visible ants you see at any given time, but it doesn’t stop the remaining ants from laying eggs in their nest, which can add up to hundreds of new ants, especially if the ant colony contains more than one egg-laying queen, which most of them do.
To effectively remove ants from your home you need to remove the whole colony including the egg-laying queens, eggs and grubs to prevent the next generation of ants from invading your home.
Remember that a professional Northampton based pest controller can do a much quicker and more effective job of removing the whole ant colony than you could achieve with DIY ant products.
A professional pest controller can use specialist products such as bait that ants don’t recognise as poison. They will carry this back to the nest to feed the colony, and while it may take a couple of weeks to take effect, it will treat the whole colony and prevent any new ants from hatching.
A professional pest controller will know the best places to leave the ant bait so that it doesn’t pose any risk to the health of your family or pets while it takes effect. There are many different types of ants in the UK, so your pest controller will know what types of bait to use with your ants as they can be quite picky about what they eat.
Keeping yourself safe
When you have children and pets living in your home, you need to be very careful when treating your home for ants. Most DIY over the counter ant powders or sprays are well known to be harmful to pets, especially cats and fish, especially goldfish and pond fish which is worth considering if you are planning on using these products outdoors near a pond or where cats can reach it.
Professional pest controllers in Northampton may choose to use plastic bait stations that they load up with a bait mix that is suitable for the type of ants you have. They will be placed out of reach of children and pets such as cats and dogs, but in places where the ants use common walkways to get around your home.
