Ants are insects that definitely deserve attention: they are intelligent, live almost all over the planet, communicate with the help of pheromones and are divided into castes within their colonies. They even dedicate books to them! But all this is absolutely not happy when insects appear in your kitchen.

Under what conditions will ants get started in the house

If you find an ant wandering alone in the house, it's too early to worry. Perhaps he just got off the street on clothes or shoes. But it can also be a sent scout who finds out how suitable the area is for living. And he will bring friends with him if he finds food available:

a pot of pasta on the stove or an unpressurized bag of cereals in a drawer,
dirty dishes in the sink (insects, unlike your half, like it),
garbage in an open bag or bucket (in addition to ants, it will also attract cockroaches).

The earlier you start taking measures, the more likely it is that insects will be able to be exterminated before they create a nest in your apartment. And in this case, getting rid of ants will be much, much more difficult. Harmful arthropods will march along the baseboards, along the walls and boxes in orderly rows.

How to get rid of ants if they just appeared

If insects have been seen in small numbers, preventive measures are sufficient:

If possible, destroy the scouts by external mechanical action. In short, just crush them.
Wipe the possible routes with a solution of vinegar or soap (a liter of water, a tablespoon of liquid soap, a couple of drops of citrus essential oil). For convenience, the mixture can be poured into a sprayer.
Draw barriers. Draw a continuous centimeter-wide line on the ant paths using crushed activated charcoal or chalk, black pepper or turmeric. Vaseline or flavored baby powder is also suitable.
Seal yourself. Block all entrances and exits to the ants: check the ventilation, baseboards and all the cracks. If it is not possible to plaster and fill the whole house with silicone sealant, tape will be enough as a temporary measure.

How to get rid of ants if they have already settled in your apartment

Aromatherapy

Ants communicate with the help of pheromones: insects need special smells to mark delicious or harmful food, send danger signals and multiply. That's where we're going to play. Having filled the apartment with pungent odors, we will inform you in the language of aromas who is the owner here. So, ants don't like smells:

mint (bunches of fresh or dry can be hung around the house),
garlic (rub the baseboard and ventilation grate with a clove),
camphor,
daisies (buy dry flowers at the pharmacy and scatter around the perimeter of the dwelling),
bay leaf (put a couple of leaves in the boxes with the stocks of cereals),
aromatic oils of clove, lavender, lemon and orange.

If you conduct aromatherapy sessions regularly, other measures may not be required. If it didn't help, then we continue to fight in other ways.

Traps

You can place them in the places where the ants are likely to follow. Traps are made according to one principle: a fragrant bait is placed in the center, and the edges are processed in such a way that insects cannot get out. Here are a couple of examples:

Double-sided tape cover a cardboard or a sheet of paper around the perimeter, and put a sweet in the middle.
In a glass of water, dissolve a couple of spoonfuls of jam.
Brush the edges of a deep bowl with vaseline, and crumble the cookies inside.

The disadvantage of traps is that they only destroy worker ants that are looking for food for the colony. However, the uterus and other insects will continue to live and produce new pests.

Folk remedies

The most effective way is to force worker ants to carry poisoned food into the heart of the colony. So both the young and the uterus will come under attack, which means that new individuals will cease to appear.

Boric acid + yolk. Mix the boiled egg yolk with honey or jam and 20 grams of boric acid. Roll the balls out of the mixture and spread them out where the ants are supposed to move. Upgrade the bait until the colony is completely destroyed.
Boric acid + honey. Dissolve a teaspoon of honey and 10 grams of boric acid in several tablespoons of water (it can also be taken in liquid form). Leave the droplets of the solution in suspicious places. Update as needed.
Borax + minced meat. Mix both components in an arbitrary proportion, roll them into balls and spread them around the apartment. Boric acid in dry or liquid form can be used instead of borax.

Chemical attack

The insecticide market is full of all kinds of products: crayons, traps, gels, pastes and sprays. Choose any remedy for ants, but when using, remember the precautions: follow the instructions, wear protective gloves, protect children and animals from poison.

If you are not confident in your abilities, contact insect extermination specialists.

Do ants bother you? If so, how do you deal with them? Share tips in the comments.