After writing, how to get rid of bed bugs?, how to get rid of cockroaches?, how to get rid of fleas?, and how to get rid of termites?, we are now writing the best ways to get rid of sugar ants naturally. Among the various types of ants, sugar ants are mostly found in every household. The reason for the presence of the sugar ants is eatables or sugary products that are left untouched. And, the nature of sugar ants can be described as those types, who prefer to consume their food on the spot and carry less food back to their nest.
In this article, we will explain the various ways to get rid of sugar ants naturally or kill sugar ants naturally. They mostly leave behind a trail in order to come back on the same path to collect their food. They also have the tendency to store in safe place according to them but that is usually located far from the source of origin. Thereby, here you will discover some of the best and easy home remedies to kill sugar ants. It will help you get rid of sugar ants naturally and fast. Therefore, you can kill sugar ants naturally without pesticides.
Habitat & Diet of Ants:
Sugar ants prefer to live and hunt for food in local or provincial areas. In the wild, sugar ants typically linger in woodlands, forests, and heaths. Sugar ant colonies can be found in soil, between stones, rocks, in holes, in woods and around the branch of trees or shrubs. When sugar ants build their den in the soil, they can be identified by large soil hills surrounding the colonies entrances. They can be found hunting inside the house and in streets during the warm summer period and they favor warm and humid climates.
Home Remedies to Get Rid of Sugar Ants:
Contents
1.) Use Turmeric Powder
Turmeric is a strong spice that has its strong odor that can’t be resist by the ants. When ants try to locate their food and if any kind of strong essence has surrounded the place, they try to avoid that area. So, you can use the turmeric powder to get rid of sugar ants naturally. All you have to do is locate the trail of the sugar ants. Then pour the turmeric powder in form of a boundary to not let them reach your kitchen or dining area. With the spread of the essence of turmeric powder, the sugar ants will change their direction.
2.) Spray Lemon Essence
Lemon is another remedy that will help you to get rid of sugar ants naturally and completely from your house or office. Sugar ants tend to avoid sour flavor and smell too, as the essence hit their pheromones directly. And this makes them uncomfortable. So, next time when you spot the sugar ants trail and their next try this home remedy. All you need to do is add some lemon juice with water in a spray bottle. And spray it directly on the sugar ants till their trail ends. They will never come back on the same path.
3.) Pour Some Salt
Sugar ants as we all are aware of the fact that they live on sugary products. Thereby, they do not like the taste of sodium chloride. This makes them uneasy. So, you will only need to pour salt on them to make them go away. Hence, take few pinches of salt and spread over them and across their trail till their nest. This will force them to change their habitat and move away from your house.
4.) Use The Baking Soda
Baking Soda is not only useful in cooking or baking process but to act as fighter to get rid of many problems as well. For this method, you will need sugar powder and baking soda. Mix both ingredients in equal amount. Now, make a trail of your own mixed powder nearby the already existing sugar ants. Sugar ants can’t digest the baking soda and baking soda fails their digestive system. This is the best way to kill sugar ants naturally.
5.) Make Use of Vinegar
Vinegar is also counted among those remedies that is a strong agent to kill sugar ants naturally. All you have to do is make a dilute solution of vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Now spray the solution over the sugar ants following their trail towards their nest. It will instant let the ants disperse and move away.
6.) Use The Cloves
Clove is another spice that ants can’t resist. Thereby you can make best use of cloves to get rid the ants in the house. All you need to do is crush the cloves or just use it as a whole. Then place it over the path of the sugar ants following their trail to the nest. It will help to prevent the sugar ants to come back further on the same path.
7.) Combine Mint Leaves and Cinnamon
You can use the combination of a herb and a spice to make a strong remedy to kill sugar ants naturally. To make a perfect combination you will have to take crushed mint leaves and grounded cinnamon. Mix it well and place it over the places, where you have noticed the trail of sugar ants. Also, you can sprinkle the cinnamon powder into your kitchen shelves to keep the sugar ants at bay.
8.) Use Coffee Powder
Coffee is not only a good beverage to drink but also acts as a home remedy to get rid of sugar ants naturally. As the strong smell of coffee sends an aroma around your house that makes you feel good, but ants will not be comfortable with it. All you have to do is spread crushed coffee beans around your kitchen area. With this remedy you can get rid of sugar ants naturally.
9.) Use Mustard Oil
Mustard oil is quite effective in preventing the sugar ants to move around your house. The slippery way and the strong essence of mustard will keep the sugar ants at bay. You will have to soak a cotton ball in mustard oil and rub it in the places where you usually notice the sugar ants. Else you can even pour the liquid directly by dropper which will help you to pour few drops at once.
10.) Use Soapy Water
The soapy water solution will be very helpful to get rid of the sugar ants naturally. You will require dish wash liquid, water and a spray bottle. Mix the dish wash liquid and water in the spray bottle and it on the areas where you notice the trail of ants. The ants will be killed with soapy water and also prevent further sugar ants to come in.
11.) Use Essential Oils
Here are some essential oils and ants hate their aroma as they become irritated. Oils such as eucalyptus, cinnamon, clove, peppermint, and citrus oils can be used. We need to put about 10 drops of cinnamon essential oil and water into a spray bottle. Then spray this solution in the entrance areas and along to the paths they used to follow. Try to reapply a few more times after it dried in order to kill sugar ants.
12.) Mint and Other Herbs
We like the aroma of these herbs, but ants don’t like it, they get irritated. Try placing your small herb plants near doors and windows or other entryways to keep away ants or place the herb leaves or leaf pieces straight in cracks and slits. In addition to mint, here are other herbs ants totally dislike such as basil, lavender, rosemary, and thyme you can also use them.
13.) Use The Boric Acid
Boric Acid is another remedy that you can opt at home to kill sugar ants. The boric acid will help to keep the ants at bay. You have to make a mixture of homemade pesticide that is effective to prevent the sugar ants from your home.
All you have to do is add 1 tablespoon of boric acid, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of honey with 2 tablespoons of water. Mix it well to make a solution. Now pour the solution over the sugar ants identified areas. The sweet content will attract them while the content of boric acid will kill them.
Eliminating Sugar Ants to Get Rid of Sugar Ants
1.) Check Where the Ants are Entering in the House
Before taking any action for ant’s problem, first you have to notice from where the ants are coming in the house. Best way to search on common entrances, common entrances can be windows and doors. Make sure, you also check any cracks and floors are also common places where ants can enter in your house. So the first step to get rid of sugar ants is figure out the entry points of ants.
2.) Attracts Ants with Baits Near the Entry Point to Poison the Ants
Once you get to know, where the ants are entering the house, just place the ant bait near the entry point. The ants will carry bait back to the nest. This will result in the death of the ant colony and you will surely get rid of sugar ants.
3.) Check Windows and Door
To get rid of ants, it is important to check the entry points of ants to restrict their entry. You should make sure that windows and doors are sealed tightly. Always seal any whole and cracks as soon as you discover them. If you take care about these little things then these issues can prevent an infestation of sugar ants in your home. It will also prevent ants to entering in your house when you kill them with the ant’s bait.
4.) Clean the Floor Properly After Every Meal
To get rid of sugar ants, it is very important to wipe the floor gently to remove the food particles that attract the ant’s colony. If you keep the clean from food debris that it will surely prevent the ants infestation. Always vacuum or sweep the floor after eating. Then, mob the area to eliminate the sticky residue to prevent ant’s infestation.
5.) Gently Clean the Dishes after Every Meal
Ants get easily attract with food particles. So to get rid of sugar ants, you need to take care about that no food particle should left on the floor or any area to avoid the ant’s infestation. It is really important to clean the surrounding areas especially kitchen. Avoid keeping dirty dishes and food debris that attract the sugar ants. Make sure, you clean all the dishes out, make sure you clean them properly.
6.) Clean the Garbage Bag Daily
Removing the trash out every day will eliminate the possible food sources for sugar ants. Make sure, you clean the garbage trash once a day and throw all the garbage from the house. You can also use dustbin with tightly sealed lid to help the deter ants.
Killing the Ants to Get Rid of Ants
1.) Check out the Most Effective Ant Bait
Ants get easily attracted by the food and you must have seen that they also take the food back for their ant’s colony. Those ants that bring back the food in the rest colony are known as scout ants. To get rid of these ants, you need to prepare a pre-bait in the areas of your house where you have seen the the most amount of ant activity. You just simply prepare a small plate of sugar based food. You can take honey, syrup and jam, which are very tempting for ants. You have to notice which flavor attracts the ants. You don’t have to leave this pre-bait out for long to see which types of food are the ants prefer.
As ant’s food preference can changes depending upon the time of the year. So it’s a good idea to do pre bait. As pre-bait will surely help you to know the ants preferable food. If you will get a success in getting ant’s favorable food then you will get rid of sugar ants easily. You just have to buy the poison ants bait targeted to particular taste. As the ants bait poison comes in two different forms that are solid and liquid. Go for the liquid form which is best and easily absorb in the sweet food.
2.) Have Patience While Attracting the Ants with Bait
You have to maintain patience while the bait attracts and kills the ants. Right After when you set the bait on mostly seen ant’s area then will notice the increase in number of ants around your house. It is because of the bait that attracts the ants. And this is the best thing, as more ants will come and so the more ants will take back the food in the ants colony and die.
Baiting process will take some time. You have to keep this in your mind that the process will take some time as you are not only killing the ants which are walking around your house, but you are killing the multiple generations which include adult, larvae, pupae and eggs. This process can take few days or few weeks to get rid of sugar ants completely.
If you will still notice ants after two weeks of letting the bait sits then replace the kind of bait you are suing it. As it will not be as much effective as it would be.
3.) Prepare Home Made Ants Bait
You can also make homemade ants bait. For homemade ants bait, you need to mix 1 tablespoon of boric acid into 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or any kind of sweet syrup like jam, honey etc. You just have gently spread the boric acid on a piece of bread or crackers. Then make small holes in the cardboard box and place the bait in it especially in the center of the box. The smell of food will attract the ants in to the box and boric acid will kill the ants and ants colony.
4.) Take Help from Professional
You can call a professional if you face problem in dealing with ant problem. In that case, you might need to call an exterminator and have them do an assessment if your method is not working properly.
A professional exterminator would be able to check the entryways and maybe identify the other nests.
Few Tips to Follow Regularly:
- Cover the leftover food that you are placing in your refrigerator.
- Always keep your sink and kitchen area clean and dry.
- Keep your trash cans or garbage bins fully covered and try to place it little far from your house.
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If any sugary liquid spills on the floor, don’t leave it unattended. Try to clean it immediately