Home ants are unwanted and very specific guests in any house and apartment. But you can’t call them too stubborn insects: knowing the peculiarities of their biology and being ready to apply really effective modern means, you can get rid of them quickly enough. Today, the fight against domestic ants is a well-established process that takes one day of time with the right approach and gives a reliable result.
In order to properly deal with ants in an apartment, you need a little: an effective means of destroying insects, its correct use, and interaction with its closest neighbors. If at least one of these three "whales" will not be - the fight against ants in the apartment will either not work at all, or the effect of the efforts will be temporary.
Therefore, first, let us designate the basic rules for the efficient breeding of domestic ants.
General rules for breeding ants
The main feature of ants is their coloniality. One colony must have a nest in which the uterus is located. Near the uterus are the eggs and pupae of the ants, and feed reserves are collected here. If you find such a nest and destroy it, all working ants, no matter how many of them, will simply die out in a week or two. If the nest lives, it is possible to destroy the working ants running in search of food for as long as desired - their shift will constantly grow in the nest.
Therefore, the fight against ants is precisely the destruction of their nests. And for this, by the way, it is not at all necessary to find it: today's methods of dealing with domestic ants make it possible to eliminate it in a kind of remote mode.
Further, in a large apartment building, there are almost certainly several dozen ant nests. Insects from one nest can scour several homes on several floors at once in search of food, and in one dwelling there can be pests from different colonies.That is why before fighting with domestic ants, it is necessary:
- to coordinate their work with neighbors, and in the ideal case - to conduct joint processing of apartments
- consider that ants can temporarily leave the housing in which they are poisoned and then re-enter it
- when using insecticidal agents, strictly follow the instructions and process the room as carefully as possible: it is worth being lazy for five minutes, and after a couple of weeks the process will have to be repeated
- pay attention to the prevention of ants in the room.
So, today, ants can be fought in several ways, differently effective and suitable for different conditions.
Ways to combat domestic ants
All the most effective and popular ways of dealing with domestic ants are divided into:
- Use of insecticidal gels
- The use of insect spray
- Harassing ants with dust and crayons
- Call Special Disinsection Brigades
- Mechanical destruction of the nest and individual working ants
- The use of folk remedies.
Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages.Fighting domestic ants in an apartment or private house with the use of any of them can be quite effective with the right approach.
Sprays for fighting ants
Insecticidal aerosols are very effective means of controlling red ants, if insects are to be removed here and now, without stretching this pleasure indefinitely. Their main advantage is the opportunity to get ants in those places where people do not reach out with their hands. They spread to the most secluded corners with the air and insects cannot avoid the penetration of poison into the body.
The fight against ants in the house using aerosols requires preparation and at least one day of work on the treatment of the room itself. The sequence of use of aerosols in general is as follows:
- All people and pets are removed from the room, aquarium covers and terrariums are covered with cover glasses and the compressors are turned off.
- Furniture is removed from the walls, hanging carpets are removed, windows and doors are closed.
- The maximum number of surfaces sprayed with aerosol. You need to be prepared that you will have to spend at least three ordinary cylinders for a one-room apartment (for example, Raptor or Combat).
- The apartment is closed and abandoned for several hours.
- After settling in the room is a general wet cleaning. Surfaces to which pets and children cannot reach - the walls behind the furniture, the internal walls of the bedside tables - are not rubbed so that the preparation is preserved for them as long as possible.
The most popular ant sprays today are DEET, Combat, Raptor, Get, Raid, Karbofos, Mikrofos.
You can successfully fight red ants with virtually any insecticidal spray aerosols. It is only important to avoid outdated Dichlorvos and similar drugs with increased toxicity for warm-blooded animals.
Feedback
“For as long as I can remember, my grandmother always suffered with ants in the house. Only she hunted them with all sorts of smelly Dichlorvos. They returned a month later. My husband and I once bought three Kombat bottles, sprinkled the house from head to toe, washed the carpets, and for a year now no insects have returned. ”
Marina, Belyaevka
It should be remembered that the ant sprays can give a "misfire". This is due to the fact that their nest itself is located outside the apartment - in the front door, in the neighbor's apartment, on the dryer - and only the working individuals are killed with aerosol.Therefore, when deciding how to deal with ants in the house, for sure, you should prefer drugs whose action is somewhat stretched in time, but which in any case will reach the very heart of the colony of insects.
Insecticidal Gels
The principle of action of insecticidal gels is different from that of aerosols: gels attract ants as a food source. Insects actively eat them themselves, and then drag them into the nest to feed the uterus and larvae. Moreover, the insecticide itself as part of such a gel does not act immediately, allowing the doomed ant to poison several more of its fellows.
Of course, in one day the fight against ants in the apartment with the help of gels will not give a visible result, but in a few weeks you can even destroy ants that live in neighbors.
It is interesting
Ants have a very developed phenomenon of trofollaksis - the transfer of liquid semi-digested food for the exchange of information and the identification of fellows. Including due to such communication at home ants there is a transfer of a poisonous bait.
Gels compare favorably with powders (dust) in that they can be applied on vertical surfaces.When the fight against house ants successfully ends, the remnants of the gel can be wiped off with a rag, and in their place there will be no greasy stains.
Choosing a gel from the ants, you should look at its composition. If Permethrin, Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin, Diazinon is present in it - it will really be effective in combating domestic ants. At the same time, such gels will be completely safe for animals and people: they can lead to allergies only when eaten large quantities, but manufacturers add natural bitterness to all means. Insects do not feel them, and the child or pet immediately starts spitting from just one drop of money.
The most popular today are gels Globol, Brownie, Raptor and gel-paste Sturm.
Powders and pencils as the most well-known means of combating ants
The well-known dusts and crayon Masha, along with his Chinese slaughter counterparts, are in our country the most popular means for fighting domestic red ants, as well as cockroaches. Sometimes they are even included in the list of folk remedies, despite the fact that their composition is not less synthetic than that of aerosols.
On a note
Dust and insecticidal powder - it can be said the same thing. Powders, these tools are called in the common people.
Measures to combat domestic ants using these tools are quite simple. Powders just crumble where ants are most often found, stripes are drawn in the same place with crayons. Even if an ant runs through such a barrier, he will have crumbs on his paws, which he will certainly want to remove in his calm jaws and swallow.
The main advantage of this group is the availability and low cost. One pencil Masha You can handle the entire apartment, and all the pleasure will cost only 10-15 rubles.
Dusts and crayons are very good as preventive measures: if the apartment is clean, but there is a risk of ants appearing in it, the funds should be applied in places where insects could enter the room.
Pyrethrum, Ant Killer, Fas, Pure House are very well known from ant powders, and Mashenka and Chinese funds that are nameless for a Russian user are very well known from pencils.
Ant traps
These means against the ants in the apartment they are rather ineffective: in any case, only working individuals fall into the trap, which has almost no effect on the life of the colony itself.However, if you simultaneously fight ants at home with the help of other, more effective drugs, insecticidal traps can be used as an aid.
Velcro traps are also effective against ants. If you install one such adhesive tape on the path of insects, a few hundred pests can stick to it in a day.
Most efficiently use traps, if the ants visit their neighbors and the ways of their entry into the house are known. One bait installed on the trail will reliably shield the premises from these insects. It is only important from time to time to replace it with a new one.
Folk remedies for ants
Folk remedies to combat ants in an apartment are no less diverse than industrial insecticides. At the same time among them there are deterring drugs, and means for the destruction of insects.
The first includes sunflower oil, bay leaf, garlic, kerosene, turpentine, denatured alcohol. In order to effectively deal with indoor ants, these means need to be rubbed on the places where insects move, and lay bay leaves around the products to which they should be prevented.
Natural poison for domestic ants are boric acid and borax, simple and brewer's yeast. There are many recipes for the preparation of effective baits based on these substances, which can be fought with house ants as effectively as with the help of synthetic insecticides.
Call Special Brigade
However, no matter how sensitive the ants are to different insecticides, the fight against them will be the simplest and most reliable if entrusted to it by professional exterminators. Private brigades and sanitary services kill ants quickly and efficiently, and then give a guarantee that no insects will appear in the house for a certain period of time.
This method has only one drawback - the relative high cost. It is cheaper to fight small domestic ants on your own even with the most modern means than to call special brigades.
Very important in the fight against ants in the house is to prevent them from getting into the room. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an apartment, a private house or a summer house — if you initially protect the premises from the entry of insects, then you don’t have to use special tools to destroy them.
For such prophylaxis, it is necessary to initially lay out the scaring agents in places of insect penetration and use simple and cheap traps. But maintaining cleanliness in the house to protect it from ants is less important than the same measures from cockroaches: ants can constantly patrol even the cleanest rooms in search of food. Therefore, the prevention of them requires special measures.
Useful video: how to get rid of household ants in the apartment
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Hello! Of course, there are no ants in my house, but my neighbor, she lives in a private house, a lot of insects in the garden ... She was advised to use tobacco dust to fight them. It seems that while it is not bad, they slowly run away))
I tried different methods and tools. Called "specialists" and still appear after a while again. The last time was helped by the destruction of the nest with queen bees, they piled it in an economic glove, they dragged all the queens there. After the destruction were gone. Two weeks flight is normal. We are waiting for guests.
And what should I choose if the house has pets and ants all the time in their bowls? ((
Good afternoon, affected by ants. Himself became a victim of pests. For more than two years, he unsuccessfully fought with these petty harmful villains. All means available on the Internet did not allow to get rid of them completely, but made it possible to partially control their number. The solution to the problem came quite unexpectedly.In the spring, mosquitoes climbed out of the basement through the ventilation shafts. I had to turn on the fumigators in the apartment. One morning, on a windowsill with a working fumigator, I noticed a handful of ants writhing in agony. The decision was born immediately. With the windows closed on the weekends, we include fumigators in all rooms, collect all animals, including cats, dogs and fish, and go to the cottage. And lo and behold, red bandits are dying, for the repellent used in the fumigator seems to have the same effect on all cold-blooded people when breathing. The procedure must be repeated several times. So I got rid of ants. I wish you all good luck.
Andrei, hello! Thanks for the recommendation. What kind of fumigator helped, please specify.
Home ants will disappear forever, for this you need to mix a tablespoon of borax (used for soldering) and two tablespoons of non-salty minced meat. Spread out in places where the ants. Do not worry, the first days the insects will climb to eat the crowd, there may be a ribbon of them. That they carry food to the nest, feed the uterus and children. In a few days the whole house will forget about them.Do not use toxic chemicals in the apartments, the nests are located inside the building structures and always remain alive. The method with brown tested (not boric acid, and borax!)
Consulted in a company providing a pest control service (consultations were free). They said that it was necessary to find a nest and destroy it, the bay with boiling water. That's just to find this nest is not so easy, since it is likely to be located somewhere in a very remote place for humans.
Good afternoon, comrades in misfortune! I also encountered these crazy ants, only I decided not to look for any nests myself, but called for a special service. At first they consulted, and then decided that they should help me, because I’m generally afraid of all insects.
At the same time, I, as a student, did not spend a lot of money, but now I live normally, knowing that ants will not eat me up somehow. In general, in this matter, I recommend that you contact the special services to solve this problem once and for all.
Disinsection specialists help exactly three months!