An ant or two can do no harm – that’s true. But you have to remember that when there’s one ant, there’s also a colony nearby. They may be small but can certainly do a lot of damage when they start to invade your home.
Ants work as a team. They are strategic and embedded in them are systematic ways of doing their specific role in the colony. They are organized and motivated especially when presented with the opportunity to gather food and build their colony.
Needless to ask, the most prone area of your home for ants’ evasion is your kitchen. It is where you have food storage, food scraps, among others. These are the things that ants love to scavenge.
But no matter how organized and strategic these ants are, there’s no reason to press the panic button and spend a significant amount of money to hire exterminators. Here are five easy, natural, and effective ways to get rid of ants in your kitchen:
1.) Eradicate their food source
It’s no secret that ants are attracted to sweets. Hence, make sure to wipe clean and leave no trace of sweets whenever you use it as ingredients when cooking. Whenever you need to have your meal on your kitchen countertops, make sure to clean the area afterward.
Also, there will be times when you have to throw food waste or leftovers in your garbage bins. It is best if you will seal or wrap with plastic your food waste. Ensure that you clean regularly and pull out garbage inside your kitchen bins. By eradicating the food source, you are basically giving no reason for ants to wander in your kitchen.
2.) Cut off their entry points
Identify the entry points of ants. The most effective way is to lure them. If you have spare time, place a pinch of sugar on the floor or table. Leave it for about an hour until the ants find your bait.
The ants will leave behind a trail of scented pheromone to get them from your bait to their point of entry. You can repeat this procedure until all points of entries are identified. Once the entrances are identified you can then seal off using appropriate sealants.
3.) Use liquid detergent or hand soap to disconnect their trail to the colony
Ants can only do damage when they are in huge numbers. Without the help of their fellow ants, they are basically at a loss. To disconnect them from their colony you can make a spray using a mix of water and liquid detergent or hand soap.
Spraying the ant’s trail with a liquid detergent erases the scented pheromone that is left behind by ants to serve as their guide back to the colony. This results in disorientation to ant’s movements. This is just a way to disconnect the ants from their colony, and will not kill them, so it is important to trace the trail and block their entry point.
4.) Sprinkle pepper to deter ants
While sweets are known favorites of ants, pepper is the exact opposite. Laboratory experiments show that when a certain area is known to have pepper, ants are inclined to either move to the opposite side or maintain a certain distance away from peppers.
This makes pepper a cheap yet effective deterrent to ants entering your kitchen or any areas of your home. All you have to do is sprinkle pepper to the entry points of ants and just leave there for a month or two. It is worth noting that some people don’t like the smell of pepper, so just have it sprinkled in areas where ants may gather for food like near the trash bin or sink.
5.) Keep your kitchen clean
There is no better way of keeping ants away from your kitchen than keeping it clean. Cleaning does not kill ants, but ants less likely to wander in cleaned areas where no food is found.
Make it a habit to clean your kitchen after preparing food. Not only will this result in a clean kitchen, but also saves you a lot of money from hiring exterminators, and also the use of harmful chemicals.
These are just some of the natural and effective ways to get rid of ants in your kitchen. It doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to do is to keep in mind the above-mentioned tips and be very consistent with the implementation.
Do you know other effective but also natural methods of getting rid of ants in the kitchen?
