How To Get Rid Of Sugar Ants
Maybe you have them crawling all over your kitchen right now. They are those tiny little black ants that relentlessly swarm every sweet thing in sight, making your counters look like miniature battlefields of marching soldiers. As of today, we are sitting just about a month and a half away from Christmas, and you probably can’t think of too many things that you would rather not spend money on than on your ant problem. You were hoping that they would die off in the winter, weren’t you? You were hoping that is what this article was about, but I hate to be the one to tell you that they might not.
Sugar ants are a type of soil ant, meaning that their nests start in the ground. However, the fact that they are crawling all over your kitchen and bathroom right now tells me that they no longer have a nest in the ground. They probably no longer have a nest outside at all. More likely, they are living in your walls right now, enjoying the nice warm insulation. Now, no matter how cold it might get outside, these little ants will remain warm, toasty, and healthy.
Now, there is still a chance that the colony is living outside, but just using your kitchen for food, and if that is the case, you might get lucky. But, if you are not lucky, they might be hunkering down for the cold, hard winter with you. If this is the case, let me give you a few pieces of advice:
1) Don’t spray them with ant spray
This seems like an odd bit of information, but trust me, sugar ants do not respond well to “ant spray.” The reason for this is because ant sprays all have repellents in them, which create some panic within the nest. Once the nest becomes panicked, the queen will start reproducing more. This is not the case with other types of ants, so go ahead and use them on different species of ants, just not sugar ants.
2) Go ahead and use a store-bought bait
Ant baits work okay and certainly do not have a negative impact like a spray might. Now, they don’t work great, but they are worth a try.
3) Clean, clean and clean
If you have been fighting these for any length of time, you probably are all over this already. Most people that have issues with sugar ants do a good job of wiping counters and floors, but to get these pests under control, you should pull your oven and refrigerator out and clean behind them. A good deep cleaning can go a heck of a long way.
4) You could always call us
Look, we understand that you want to save the money, but do you want sugar ants crawling over the pumpkin pie and cranberries at your holiday dinner? We can get them under control for you and will even give you a coupon here.
If you have more questions about sugar ants and would like some pest control in Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, Washington, be sure to give us a call.