How to get rid of ants?

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Ant Behavior: Understanding These Social Insects

Ants, these small creatures living in well-organized societies, can make our lives a little less peaceful.

Field or Pavement Ant

Field ants, or pavement ants, are distinguished by their brown or black color and their small size. Always in search of food, they proliferate in sandy areas and generally establish their nests outside, near the foundations of houses, in cracks in slabs or asphalt areas. The small sand craters formed by the digging of galleries often bear witness to their presence.

Carpenter Ant

The carpenter ant, often black with shades of red or brown, is among the largest species of ants found in Canada, measuring 7 to 10 mm. Unlike termites, carpenter ants, also called wood ants, do not feed on wood. They dig galleries in wood softened by humidity in order to establish their nest. Although their natural habitat is the forest, some settle near homes, notably in firewood, stumps and rotten structures of fences or balconies.
Sometimes, they even infest the interior of homes, attracted by damp wood and especially by the food available in certain rooms (crumbs, sugar, protein sources, etc.). Home infestations often result from the formation of satellite nests without a queen. Thus, the felling of a tree or the repair of a balcony may be enough to explain the appearance of such a nest.

How to Prevent an Ant Infestation

There are several simple ways to keep ants away from your home.

Outside :

Remove wood waste from around the property and keep firewood away.
Cut tree branches that touch the house.

Inside :

Install screens for all openings and repair them as necessary.
Do not let household waste accumulate in the house.
Inspect damp areas of the house, structural wood exposed to outdoor conditions and where the wood comes into contact with the ground.

Keep Surfaces Clean in and Around Your Home

The most important measure to prevent ants from entering your home is to maintain a clean environment and store food in airtight containers.
After a meal, it is essential to clean up leftover food and dirty dishes, as they instantly attract ants. Be sure to keep your floors clean in areas where food is consumed to eliminate food crumbs that may go unnoticed.
Ants are attracted to sweet and sticky substances, so wipe counters and other surfaces with cleaning products or vinegar and water to prevent them from being attracted to these substances.

Seal Cracks Around Your Home

Once food is put away and access is blocked, seal any cracks around your home to keep ants out. Look for potential areas for ant entry and use caulk to seal cracks around windows, doors and foundations.

Fix Water Leaks

Ants are attracted to water, so be sure to repair any water leaks as soon as you spot them. Inspect your plumbing regularly for potential leaks under sinks and basins.

Control Ant Colonies Around Your Property

If you find ants in your home, it is likely that there are one or more colonies around your property. To control ants in your home, you also need to take action against colonies in your yard. Apply ant extermination products to colonies and the surrounding area to effectively eliminate these insects and prevent their spread.

Ants

Why are there Ants in my House?

The main reason ants enter a home is to search for food. This is true for both common ants and carpenter ants. To prevent them from being attracted to food, it is essential to maintain the house and ensure proper waste management. Additionally, they are attracted to food and can detect its scent from miles away, prompting them to enter your home in search of food. These little creatures can also be attracted to heat and light, and can easily squeeze through small gaps and cracks in walls and floors.
However, the presence of these little undesirables in winter or the sight of winged ants, reproductive insects within a colony, probably indicates a strong presence inside the property.

The presence of ants in homes is not uncommon. Whether you live in an apartment or a house, in the city or in the countryside, you have surely been confronted with these insects. These particularly well-organized creatures form colonies that can accommodate up to several million individuals. These colonies can be found outside, but also inside homes. The fight against the invasion of ants is all the more difficult because a colony can be made up of several nests linked together.

Once established in your home, ants can cause problems by damaging your furniture by building tunnels through it, and contaminating your food by leaving droppings. Additionally, ants can be difficult to get rid of because they reproduce quickly. Fortunately, there are several ways to combat ants and prevent them from entering your home.

How to Recognize an Ant Infestation

When you're dealing with an ant infestation, it's often carpenter ants. Signs of a carpenter ant infestation include small piles of sawdust around the house, rustling noises in the walls, hollow sounds when tapping on wood, and clusters of insect wings near the Windows. You can also observe live ants, especially in the evening when they are most active.
If you notice ants roaming the second floor floor or moving along the walls or on the kitchen floor, you might wonder how they got there and if there is cause for concern.

Here are some possible scenarios:

A few isolated ants explore a room, a counter or a window sill. These are usually workers looking for food or a queen looking for a place to start her colony. It is recommended to eliminate them and remain vigilant to prevent their spread.
A large number of ants move continuously and inconveniently in a specific location. In this case, you can try to control the infestation with ant extermination products.
Winged ants emerge through cracks in walls or ceilings and attempt to escape through windows. This emergence of winged adults usually indicates the presence of a well-established ant colony somewhere in the house or near the foundation. In Canada, only carpenter ants host winged adults during the winter, while in other species, winged adults leave the colony during the summer.

Ants in the kitchen