Kitchens are a hotspot for ants for the same reason that you and your family likely spend so much time in your kitchen. There is plenty of food and water the ants need to survive. From stray crumbs to sugary spills to unsealed food containers, kitchens are one of the top places for ants to be.
This quickly becomes a problem when a nearby ant colony is foraging for food in your kitchen. Although most of the ants in the Sacramento and Roseville area are harmless, they can still contaminate food and be a general nuisance, particularly when their numbers get up into the hundreds or thousands. Ants explore, so even if you currently only have ants in your kitchen, they will eventually be all over your home. But with the right methods, it is possible to remove ants from your kitchen.
How to Remove a Kitchen Ant Infestation
The best place to start with ant control is understanding their behavior. Most ants in Roseville do not live inside homes. Rather, ant colonies build their nests in your yard or in adjacent open spaces. Scout ants then set out to find sources of food and water, leaving a trail of pheromones as they go. When you only see one or two ants in your kitchen, these are likely scout ants.
If the rest of the colony has not yet followed, you may be able to stop the infestation here by killing the scouts with soapy water. This gets rid of them and covers up the pheromone trail so more ants cannot follow in the future.
If you do not manage to stop the scouts, they will find food and return to their colony, reinforcing that trail of pheromones as they go. The rest of the colony will then follow, marching into your kitchen
in a line until you have hundreds of ants. At this point, you will lead a more focused effort to get rid of an ant infestation. Simply sweeping away the ants you see is ineffective since the entire colony is still nearby. Instead, successful ant control requires:
- Locate Their Entrance – Ants get into your home by crawling through tiny gaps. When you can find and seal these gaps, you make it harder for ants to get inside. Try following the trail to see if you can trace it back to the entry points.
- Find the Nest – Whether or not you found the entry point, you should next find the ants’ nest. This can be anywhere in the vicinity around your yard as ants can travel a significant distance to their food source. If you find the nest, treat it with an insecticide or boric acid to eliminate the entire colony.
- Use Ant Baits – It is not always possible to find the nest. In situations where you are not able to locate it, you can also place either store-bought or homemade ant baits made of a mixture of boric acid and sugar. Ants think the bait is food and will carry it back to their nest where it will hopefully kill the entire colony.
- Clean Up the Remaining Ants – After you have successfully eliminated the colony, you will need to get rid of any ants remaining in your home. You can use an ant spray or sweep ants up with your vacuum.
Even with the right knowledge, getting rid of ants on your own can be tricky. Ants are adaptable insects and their nests are often well hidden. This is why it can be helpful to work with ADAPT Pest, a licensed and experienced ant control company in Rocklin and Roseville. We have years of training and first hand experience in finding ants. We know where to look and what methods to apply to efficiently get rid of ants. Contact us today to get started with professional ant control.
