An army of ants crawling in your home is never a pleasing sight. These nuisance pests invade homes mainly searching for food, but any place that provides them a steady source of water and a place to nest will also serve as a welcoming sign for these pesky crawlers.
Preventing ants from entering your home can be challenging; their small size enables them to enter your home through the tiniest openings, such as gaps and cracks in the home’s foundation.
However, eliminating the most likely cause of what attracts these pests into your home can go a long way in keeping these critters at bay.
Why Do I Have Ants?
While a few factors may drive ants into your home, these creatures typically invade homes searching for food, water, and shelter. Various types of food sources are appealing to ants. Ants love to feed on fat and grease, but no food attracts these critters as sugar does. Organic matter like mulch, dead insects, and decaying tree leaves can also be a welcome sign for ants.
Like all living creatures, ants need water to survive. Moisture or standing water can also make your home hospitable to ants, especially during warm and dry weather. Moisture can also attract carpenter ants that love feeding on damp, decaying wood.
As ants seek a warm and safe spot to nest in addition to food and water, small openings in or around your home can easily provide a way inside. Gaps and cracks in the foundation, poorly sealed windows or door frames, and gaps and holes in other areas of the home can provide easy access to ants and other insects indoors.
Foods That Commonly Attract Ants
Ants are not picky eaters as they will gather around various readily available foods. Accordingly, to protect your home from these unwanted invaders, it is crucial to prevent access to food items by storing them in the refrigerator or airtight containers and keeping your home clean by wiping up spills and food crumbs, and other debris on a regular basis.
While ants will forage for any food, certain food items entice these pests more than others. These include:
Sweet or Sugary Substances
The scent of sweet food items is the number one trigger of a potential ant infestation. After a scout has discovered a sweet treat, a whole trail will soon follow and surround the item in little time. Nothing satisfies an ant’s quest for food like sugar does, whether it is syrup, honey, fruits, candies, jelly, or sweet baked goods.
Greasy Foods
Greasy foods containing proteins and fats are also a favorite for ants. These could include wrappers from meals you did not properly discard or kitchen surfaces or appliances with greasy residues.
Trash
Trash is another common attraction for ants. Wrap all perishable food items in plastic bags and close the bins with tight-fitting lids to prevent the odor from escaping and blocking access.
Expert Ant Elimination by Romney Pest Control
Eliminating common attractants that drive ants toward your home is the first step to bringing down the ant population in your home. However, a full-blown ant infestation can be challenging to eliminate once these pesky crawlers establish colonies in or around your home. Accordingly, leaving the matter in the hands of professionals is in your best interest.
Romney Pest Control is an experienced and trusted pest control service serving clients in Lewisville, Texas for over ten years. Call us today to request a free quote and say goodbye to ants in your Lewisville home for good!
