Effective Ways to Eliminate Ant Infestations in Your Memphis Home

You’re spending a nice spring day in your Memphis home enjoying the sun coming through the windows when you notice something moving around on your kitchen counter.

At first you think it might just be some crumbs. Maybe you just imagined you saw something moving. But when you take a closer look, you see an ant crawling across a section of the counter you could swear you just cleaned.

Then you see another one … and another one. Now it feels like they’re everywhere. Where did they come from?

That’s really the tricky thing about ants. They can show up without warning … and they never come alone. Before you know it, you have a full-on ant problem.

You can prevent an ant infestation in your house in Memphis, TN and North MS. Let’s talk about how to get rid of ants permanently so you don’t have to face another day of finding them crawling on your counter like they own the place.

Ant Infestation In Your House: How Are Ants Getting In?

Even though to you they are just a nuisance, ants actually have a reason for coming into your home.

In fact, their motivations are driven by some common attractions that all homes possess. How to deal with an ant infestation starts with knowing what lures them indoors.

Motivation #1: Food

A common reason you have an ant infestation in your house is because you have food.

They are typically attracted to sugars, crumbs, and uncovered foods. If you don’t have food in sealed containers, for instance, that’s an ant magnet. Once ants find your food, they send a message to their worker ant friends, letting them know they found the jackpot. That’s when you can find swarms of ants coming into your home to grab some dinner for the rest of their colony.

Pet food is also attractive to ants. Ants also drink water, so if you have high humidity or water leaks, they may come into your home to seek out that moisture. This is especially true if it’s dry and hot outside.

Motivation #2: Shelter & Safety

You might be great at cleaning your home to ensure you don’t leave a lot of crumbs that can attract ants. But ants are also looking for some other things like shelter and safety.

So your home offers safety and comfort for you … and for ants, too.

Where can you find ants? Since they are so small, you might think they can fit anywhere, but really they prefer areas near food sources, moist spots, and protected sections like under appliances, beneath floors, and even in your walls.

But ant infestation pest control can help.

How to Get Rid of Ants Permanently

Ants are pretty sneaky pests in Memphis, TN and North MS.

Now that you know what draws ants in, now let’s talk about how to deal with an ant infestation.

Preventing Ant Infestations in Your House

There are some things you can start with to try and limit the amount of ant infestations in your house.

• Keep your home clean. Wipe away spills, store foods in airtight containers, and stay on top of proper trash disposal. Also, store your dog, cat, or bird food in airtight containers and clean pet bowls.
• Make sure you fix water leaks and that gutters and downspouts guide water away from your home.
• Seal spots where wires or pipes come into your home and caulk gaps in winters, doors, or around the foundation.
• Prune trees and shrubs that are close to your home to limit entry.
• Stack firewood at least 20 feet from your home since ants hangout there.

Ant Infestation Pest Control Tactics

While the above strategies help keep ants away when you don’t have them, when you do have an ant infestation in your house, the following techniques can help eliminate them.

At Lawn & Pest Solutions, we like to start with baits. This non-repellant ant control product hides a protein or sugar source as a bait so the ants think these pieces are food and then take them back to their colonies. This helps spread the insecticide to reach the queen and knock out any bigger ant infestations and – what’s most important – the source of your main ant problem.

To determine where ants are coming from and best places to target control, Lawn & Pest Solutions starts with investigation techniques. The experience of our technicians ensures we know where to look and what to look for to track down these tiny pests.

These tactics help us reduce callbacks and customer frustration.

If necessary, the next stop is contact insecticide, but the above steps usually help us avoid having to use this.

Then, exterior barrier treatments can help keep ants out because the product includes a smell or taste that ants don’t like so as they near your home and come in contact with the barrier treatment, they immediately go in another direction.

Ant Infestation Pest Control Can Work For You

Ants are a nuisance when they invade your home and ruin your peace by crawling across your clean countertops and floors.

Once the problem starts, it’s one thing. But when it is left unattended and continues growing, it becomes a bigger deal that can be tougher to manage. That’s when the right methods of ant infestation pest control can help.

We know dealing with an ant problem can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t know where to look, where the bigger colony is hanging out, or what to do to stop them from coming in.

Frustrated with the ants you can’t seem to get rid of in your home? Let Lawn & Pest Solutions help. We can offer a complete proactive pest control program that includes an inspection and treatment plan to eliminate those ants and keep them from coming back.

Do ants keep ruining your day? We’d love to help you take back control of your Memphis, TN or North MS home. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we’ll prepare a custom plan that is best for you. Then you can relax without constantly having to inspect your counters and floors for these tiny pests.

Image Sources | Black Ants