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How to Remove Ants At Home

All types of home ants look the same at a glance: they are black, small in size, and attracted to many sweet things like food debris and spills on the floor or table.

In fact, it could be that the ants that come into your home are different types of ants from one another in terms of both appearance, interest, and the distractions they may cause in your home.

By identifying in detail some of the most common types of ants found in your home, every homeowner can understand how best to prevent them before they create real disruptions for people in your home, such as:

  • Causes of ants entering the home
  • Some types of home ants
  • How to remove some types of home ants

Causes of ants entering the home

Before thinking about preventing ants from entering the home, every homeowner should know what the real reason or cause is for ants entering the home.

As with most home pests, there are at least three reasons or causes for ants entering your home, including:

  • Finding food sources: Once an ant finds the food they are looking for, they will return to the nest with the food and leave a trail of scent (pheromones) behind.
  • Searching for water sources: Just like most insects, ants need water to survive. They generally get most of the water they need through the food they eat.
  • Find a place to live or nest. Most ants prefer to nest in an area outside your home. But that doesn’t mean that none of the ants can stay inside your home. You need to know that ant species that nest or find food and moisture in the home tend to be the most difficult to control; for example, carpenter ants or pharaoh ants.

Some types of home ants

While their small, at-a-glance stature is harmless, finding an ant lined up inside your home is certainly not a sight that every homeowner would like to see.

There are some of the most common types of home ants found by every homeowner in Indonesia, including:

  • Sugar ants
  • Carpenter ants
  • Pharaoh ants

How to remove some types of home ants
In this article, there are several ways to remove home ants, such as sugar ants, carpenter ants, and pharaoh ants, that you can work on yourself at home.

Sugar ants

Spoon Full of sugar with ants

Sugar ants (Camponotus consobrinus) are one of the most common types of ants complained about by every homeowner in Indonesia. Because of the fairly common presence of every homeowner, it’s no surprise that almost every home has to be willing to deal with the problems of this type of ant.

Just as the name suggests, sugar ants have an interest in sugary substances such as sugar, honey, or other sweet foods commonly consumed by humans, such as breads and cakes.

This type of home ant does not sting people and causes spots and itching like fire ants, but finding sugar ants in kitchen or dining room areas would be very annoying if left unattended.

How to remove sugar ants

Here are some ways to remove sugar ants that you can do yourself at home:

  • Clean up spills and remaining foods regularly; this is done so as not to invite sugar ants to come.
  • Consume sugary foods and drinks only in the kitchen or dining room area; this will allow you to reduce the chances of crumbs or spills from sugary substances that are a favourite food of this type of sugar ant.
  • Placing foods in tightly sealed containers is important, especially with sugar, syrup, or honey-containing foods.
  • Patching cracks and gaps around your home area: make sure that there are no gaps or cracks in your home that sugar ants can use as access to your home.

Carpenter ants

Carpenter Ants Nesting

Carpenter ants, or Camponotus pennsylvanicus, are another type or species of ants that are most commonly found in your home.

Because the damage it causes is similar to the symptoms of a termite attack at home, many often think that this type of ant is a termite. While carpenter’s ants do not eat the same wood as termites, they build a nest by perforating the moist wood from the inside of the wood and forming a gallery.

Beyond nesting outside the home (e.g., in shrubs and lumps in the backyard), this type of home ant is also known to love building nests inside your home. They have an interest in nesting in damp places such as around windows, in cabinets, and in kitchen sink ducts.

How to remove carpenter ants

Here are some easy steps you can take to remove carpenter ants in the short term:

  • Ensure that you always adopt clean household habits routinely and regularly; this includes arranging the proper storage and disposal of food in your home.
  • Make sure the moisture level in your home is controlled – check that there are leaking pipes around your home.
  • Pay attention to early signs of the presence of carpenter’s ants, such as wood powder buildup or damage to wood that is almost similar to damage caused by termites.
  • Maintain routine and regular housekeeping, such as trimming tall lawns, removing dried leaves, and removing wood scraps that are often overlooked in your home grounds.

On average, in one carpenter’s ant colony, there are 15,000 worker ants. This is the main reason why removing carpenter ants at home is not easy to do on your own without the special assistance of a professional ant remover who is accustomed to handling various home ant-type issues in Indonesia.

Pharaoh ants

Pharaoh Ants

Pharaoh ants are a type of tropical ant that goes inside your home to take advantage of food crumbs, spills, and moisture coming from inside your home.

These ants with the Latin name Monomorium pharaonis are often found nested in hidden places inside houses, such as the smallest gaps on walls, along pipes or waterways, and even in other uncommon and unexpected places such as wardrobes, furniture, and even under carpets.

Because of their small shape and ability to comfortably stay at room temperature and stay indoors, pharaoh ants are known as one of the most difficult indoor pests for homeowners to control.

How to remove pharaoh ants

Keeping the house as clean as possible can prevent the pharaoh ants from coming and staying inside. Here are some other ways you can work on your own to eliminate the pharaoh ants in the house:

  • Avoid leaving food or remaining food around the home (especially on the floor).
  • Closes all cracks found around the home building.
  • Keep branches of trees and shrubs away from homes.
  • Ensure that no leaking pipes are in the structure of the home building, reducing the level of moisture coming from your home.
  • Consider asking for help from home ant removers to eliminate all pharaoh ant colonies with the use of a special gel bait.

If you get pharaoh ants and they nest inside your home, do not try to remove this type of ant at home by spraying insecticide. Because this will actually cause the situation to worsen! New colonies of pharaoh ants are often formed in nests that have been disrupted by humans.

Did you know that pharaoh ant colonies can range from a few dozen to 300,000 ants inside?

Remove ants with the help of Rentokil

If the above ant removal method does not work well for your home, immediately contact one of the nearest Rentokil branches to schedule a survey or inspection as soon as possible before the ant problems become larger in your home.

Our experts, or pest specialists, can provide further advice and recommendations on how to prevent and remove ants at home quickly and effectively.

Contact Rentokil now, and we’ll help you deal with your home ant issues through:

  • We will arrange a time that matches your schedule for free on- and off-property inspections.
  • A pest specialist will recommend an appropriate treatment plan based on the magnitude of the ant problem in your home and offer it afterwards.
  • Once the treatment plan offer has been approved, our pest specialist will come and perform the treatment at your site.
  • Rentokil can also prepare for regular ant inspections at your site to ensure that ant problems do not come back.