How to Eliminate Ants
How to Eliminate Ants
Introduction
Ants are social insects, but that does not mean that you want to have them in your home. If you want to eliminate them, here's what you need to do.
Overall Things You'll Need
- Laundry powder
- Mint or lavender
- Baking soda
- Petroleum jelly or chalk
- White vinegar
- Peppermint oil
- Freshly ground pepper
- Caulk
- Bait: baking soda, powdered sugar and dry active yeast or powdered vitamin C
Instructions
Step One
Make it more difficult for ants to get into your home. Caulk cracks in your exterior walls, trim branches that hang over your home, and tighten door frames and window frames.
Step Two
Maintain a clean home. Vacuum daily and properly store food. Keep all trash secured so that ants cannot get into it.
Step Three
Make a bait out of baking soda, powdered sugar and dry active yeast or powdered vitamin C. This will kill many ants.
Step Four
Create barriers where you do not want ants to be able to go by drawing lines with petroleum jelly or chalk. Other deterrents include white vinegar, peppermint oil, baking soda and freshly ground pepper.
Step Five
Spray nests with white vinegar or sprinkle them with crushed chalk or talcum powder.
Overall Tips & Warnings
Keep a log of where you see ants in your home; this will help you to determine patterns and find the nest, which will make it easier for you to eliminate ants.
The best way to prevent an infestation is to keep things clean and keep your pets' bowls (including water bowls) off the ground.
Laundry powder, mint and lavender, as well as petroleum jelly, can all be used to deter ants.
Many pesticides are harmful to children and pets; try natural alternatives first.
Killing ants is not enough to eliminate them; in order to get rid of the pests you need to destroy the nest and kill the queen.
How to Eliminate Termites
Introduction
Termites are not just large bugs, and they can do significant damage to your home. Follow these steps to begin the process of eliminating them.
Instructions
Step One
Keep an eye out around your home for obvious signs of a termite problem. These include but are not limited to tunnels of mud, a powder similar to sawdust near doors or windows, or small holes on wood surfaces that are either inside or outside of your home.
Step Two
Make sure that you do not have wood touching the ground near your home. Trim back your shrubs. Inspect crawl spaces under your porch and seal cracks on the outside of your home. These steps will help to keep more termites from getting in.
Step Three
Contact an exterminator. In most cases, this is the only way to be sure that you can eliminate termites.
Step Four
Discuss your options. In most cases, you will want to choose a whole-house treatment, but other options are available.
Step Five
Settle on a plan with the exterminator. This may include sprays and baits both inside of and outside of your home.
Overall Tips & Warnings
Make your home less appealing to termites by keeping the outside of your home free of moisture, standing water and dead wood.
Maintain the paint on the exterior of your home; chipped or peeling paint can give termites access to your home.
When you find termite damage, the problem is often already significant and will not be easy to deal with.
While there are do-it-yourself termite baits and sprays, eliminating termites is something that you can rarely do by yourself.
Eliminating termites can be an expensive project.
How to Eliminate Carpenter Ants
Introduction
Carpenter ant sitings in and around homes are very common. Often, homeowners notice only two or three foraging for food. However, if a homeowner notices twenty or more carpenter ants inside the home, a well established colony is suspected. These colonies can damage wood inside the home when they enlarge their nests. Follow these steps to eliminate carpenter ants.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You'll Need
- Sugar
- Bendiocarb, Diazinon or boric acid
- Drill
Instructions
Step One
Lay small piles of sugar around the kitchen and bathroom to determine the location of the nest. The piles should be two to three feet apart.
Step Two
Examine the piles of sugar late at night and follow the carpenter ants back to their nest.
Step Three
If you don't find the nest in steps one and two, apply a household spray that contains pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide to any cracks and crevices You will soon see the ants leaving the nest and will be able to locate it.
Step Four
If you find the nest in a wall void, dust it with bendiocarb, Diazinon, or boric acid.
Step Five
Drill small holes in the wall where you find the nest so that the pesticide will be able to penetrate the nest.
Step Six
Apply pesticide five feet around each side of the entrance point.
How to Eliminate Fire Ants
Introduction
Fire ants are nasty little creatures that leave a painful sting. If you step into a fire ant nest without shoes, you'll be suffering for many days. Follow these steps to eliminate fire ants.
Overall Things You'll Need
- Professional ant baits
- Talstar granules
- Demon EC
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Step One
When you locate a fire ant mount, soak it in a liquid such as Demon EC. The middle of the morning hours is the best time to do this. You'll need to use one gallon of the liquid for each foot of diameter of the mound.
Step Two
Apply granules such as Talstar granules on the entire area where you found the mound. Spot treatment will not be effective.
Step Three
Water the area you treated in Step 2.
Step Four
Be sure to keep children and pets off of the area until it dries.
Step Five
Be sure not to disturb the mound in any way before applying the treatments. The fire ants will move their queen to safety, rendering the treatments useless.
Step Six
You can use professional ant baits in the spring and early summer to kill a colony. However, if the area around your house has not been baited, the treatment will only be effective for a short time. Since professional baits are expensive, drenching the mound and using granules is the best way to eliminate fire ants.