   
Spring and summer are when you start encountering different pests in and around your home. Some pests are just a nuisance while others are invasive. Either of the two types of pests can negatively affect your quality of life. A few even bring threats to your health and household items.
When it comes to ants, different species bring different problems to your living abode. You can get rid of ants by various means. One effective solution to solve the ant problem is using an ant killer spray. So, let us find some of the best ant sprays that kills ants and other insects.
What are ants?
Ants are social insects from the family of Formicidae. These insects are related to wasps and bees. Their colonies vary in size. Â In this case, small colonies may have only a few dozen of them. While a large territory may contain millions of ants.
The lifecycle of ants starts with the egg. The eggs hatch into larvae, and the larvae undergo metamorphosis to transform into adults. The worker ants feed the larvae in the colonies.
These insects are active the entire year in tropical areas. In cold regions, the ants undergo hibernation to spend the winter season. That is more than 12,000 species of ants spread across the globe.
Ants make their nests with soil and plant materials. But their preferred nesting areas are in the ground, inside logs, under stones, acorns, or hollow stems.
How do I get ants in my home?
Concerned about how you got ants inside your home? The main reason for getting ants is poor sanitation. If you have the habit of leaving food residue on countertops or dirty dishes in the sink for a long time, then you are giving a welcome invitation to the little creatures called ants.
If you see ants entering your house in search of food, it may indicate the presence of a colony in walls, house foundations, or lawns. Observing ants frequently in your kitchen or outdoor kitchen is not a very good sign.
You may contact a professional to find if there is an infestation in your home. If not treated, ants may become a year-round problem in your house.
Should I be concerned about ants in my home?
Irrespective of their tiny size, ants are a big concern. One big problem with ants is food contamination. These foraging insects carry bacteria that they can spread onto pantries and countertops. Very few species are known for transmitting disease, but you would not like to share your home with any of them.
Some species, such as carpenter and fire ants possess additional threats. Your home's wood beams could be damaged by carpenter ants. On the other hand, fire ant stings may cause serious health problems such as allergic reactions and pain.
How do you get rid of ants?
Prevention is always better than cure. And the best way to keep these insects away from your house is by practicing sanitation. Do not keep dirty dishes in the sink for long, cover foods with airtight containers, clean properly after outdoor cooking, and do not leave sweet dishes open for long.
Though such practices do not guarantee that you will not get ants, it reduces the probability by a good fraction. You need to be more careful about ants if you have pets in your home.
If you suspect any infestation by ants, it is better not to wait for the problem to get worse. You can take some D-I-Y measures or contact a pest ant control service professional for a complete 360-degree solution to remove ants.
Types of Ant Control Pesticides
You will find different kinds of pest control products in the market, including bait, gel, granule, and aerosol spray formulations. But you need to be cautious while using these products to minimize human, pet, and environmental exposure.
Baits and Gels
Ant baits are formulated as granules or solid blocks, gels, or liquids. Some products have their active ingredients in the ant bait station while others are provided as a package of liquid.
You will need to pour the liquid into a bait container to mix the ingredients. Reduce the risk of exposure to chemicals by using bait stations that do not require handling of the product. You will only need to spread it out.
Ant bait stations or gels require some time to kill the entire colony. If there are not enough ants to carry the bait to the nests, you may look for other pest control solutions.
Place the ant bait station near the line of ants to make sure that they carry the bait to their colony. Also, keep it out of reach of children, and pets, and also keep it away from food to avoid contamination.
If you are dealing with gels, place them in the cracks and crevices, and under appliances, cabinets, sinks, or closets. When found the liquid, ant groups carry the liquid bait to their nests. It will take a couple of days to eradicate all the ants, but you will see a drop in the population pretty quickly.
There are many different active pesticide ingredients used in ant baits. Using the same pesticide again and again will make the ants resistant to that specific pesticide. Hence, it will not work anymore.
The solution to this problem is using several bait products with different active ingredients. Maintain a rotation cycle for the products that you are using.
If you find that one of them is not getting the job done, make the switch to another. Some of the different types of active ingredients used in ant baits are listed below.
Boric acid or other borates
Baits containing borax or boric acid as its active ingredients are generally mixed with sugar or syrup. This combination makes them highly attractive to Argentine ants year-round. Borates are also used for grease ants.
The bait attracts forager ants that confuse the bait with food. The ants then bring the bait back to the queen. It kills the entire colony. Borates are toxic to plants and can be harmful to kids and pets.
Insect growth regulators
Methoprene and pyriproxyfen are insect growth regulators. They work by inhibiting the insects' development from one stage to the next. These regulators are primarily used for fire ants. Insect growth regulators can be toxic to humans and aquatic life. Dispose of used baits properly to prevent them from getting into the water.
What does an exterminator do for ants?
You may need to contact an exterminator to treat a mild to severe infestation both indoors and outdoors. The first and foremost task of an exterminator is to identify the species of ants and locate the nest.
Once the nest has been located, the exterminator will treat it with a variety of chemicals and spray solutions to remove it completely and to prevent infestation in the future. An exterminator is a professional expert who has good knowledge of ants and pesticides. He will follow proper norms and precautions while handling the chemicals.
Taking the pest control responsibility on yourself is not advised, as you may run into some trouble while dealing with a variety of chemicals. Taking the help of a professional also ensures the safety of your children and pets, as you do not require to store toxic chemicals in your home.
What do professionals use to kill ants?
Pest control professionals use one of the best ant killer sprays for the specific species found in your home. They use sprays and other solutions to kill ants indoors and outdoors. They sometimes use multiple chemicals for the best ant treatment if the ants got some immunity against certain chemicals. However, some of the popular chemicals are listed below.
Fipronil
Fipronil is a less toxic poison. It is a kill-on-contact poison that attacks the nervous system of ants. The moldy odor of fipronil attracts a variety of pest insects, including ticks, beetles, ants, cockroaches, and fleas.
Hydramethylnon
Hydramethylnon is a slow poison that kills ants and other pests ranging from crickets to silverfish and cockroaches. It will be killing ants in a slow process that allows the ants to bring the chemical to their nests for a couple of days. It eventually should completely solve your pest problem, as it kills all of them in a couple of days.
Piperonyl Butoxide
Piperonyl butoxide will not kill the ants on its own. Instead, it is added to pesticides to increase their effectiveness. The chemical inhibits the metabolism of ants, making them succumb to the poison faster.
How do you get rid of ants without harming pets?
Protecting your pets from toxic chemicals is necessary. At the same time, you will not like to have ants or any other pest disturbing your quality of living.
For a house with pets, you can take early preventive measures to avoid an infestation in the first place. And to treat an infestation without harming your pets, you can use nontoxic spray solutions and homemade killer spray to solve your problem.
What is the best homemade ant killer spray?
Early infestations can be taken care of by homemade ant killers without much difficulty. Some of the homemade spray solutions you can try your hands on are:
White vinegar and water
Make a solution of equal parts of water and vinegar, and fill it in a spray bottle. You may spray it on the ants and their entry points to kill the ants.
A mixture of dish soap and water
You can easily use this nontoxic solution that kills ants. The spray kills on contact helping you control their population.
Make a mixture of dishwasher liquid and dish soap and put it into a spray bottle, and shake properly. With that, your best ant killer spray is ready to be applied to ants. The spray solution kills the ants by suffocating them to death.
If you have identified the nest on a backyard plant, you can use this spray solution to treat the colony. The spray solution will cause no harm to your plant.
Soapy water ant killer spray
A soapy water ant spray eliminates the chemical ant trails left by the ants for their mates. Use ant spray made of a soapy water solution or window cleaner as a homemade kill-on-contact spray against indoor ants. Then you may use a citrus-based cleaner or peppermint soap to remove the chemical ant trails left by ants for his/her mates to follow.
These solutions help when you have identified early infestation. A mature colony or infestation requires more professional treatment to completely solve the ant problem. Contact us today to get a free quote for a variety of pest control services.
Diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth is sand made from fossilized shells of a type of small sea animal named diatom. Among the types of diatomaceous earth, one is food-grade and the other is used to clean swimming pools. The latter contain pesticides that can be harmful to your pets and children.
Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth around infested areas to kill ants. It kills on contact as the sand absorbs the oil on the outer covering of ants leading to dehydration.
Sugar-borax paste
You can easily collect borax from grocery stores. Mix 1 part borax with 3 parts of sugar to make a killer paste. Put it in a glass jar and dissolve in water. The sweet paste will attract indoor ants, and they will carry it to their colony which can kill their entire population. It is to be noted that it can be harmful to your pets and children.
How do you make an ant barrier?
Ants leave a chemical scent trail for mates to follow. It is how the number of ants increases inside your home. A soapy water solution spray eliminates the chemical trail. Spray it near probable entry points for ants. It will deter them from entering your abode. It is safe to use as soap water will not harm your pets.
What keeps ants and spiders away?
There are a variety of spray solutions that keep ants, spiders, and others away from your home. Some of the effective options are nonchemical ant sprays with essential oils, hot peppers, garlic, and Diatomaceous Earth.
Ant Killer Hot pepper Spray
Ants and spiders do not like hot peppers. To make a hot pepper spray for spiders, add about 1 ounce of hot pepper sauce that contains habanero or jalapeno to 8 ounces of soapy water. This solution is ready to spray on spiders.
For ants, mix 1 ounce of cayenne sauce or powder with 8 ounces of water to prepare the spray solution. Keep these solutions away from children to avoid any accidents.
Garlic
1 cup of crushed garlic cloves to a gallon of water, and your ant sprays are ready for use. You may also prepare the spray solution by mixing 5 drops of garlic oil with a quart of biodegradable soap water.
What is the best ant killer spray?
The ant spray market is flooded with a variety of options for both indoor and outdoor ants. While the majority of ant sprays will kill a variety of ants, not all ant sprays can kill some species like carpenter and fire ant species. To solve your problem, we have brought a list of the most effective ant killers under different infestation conditions.
Amdro Ant Block Home Perimeter Ant Bait Granules
Amdro 100099307 block home perimeter ant bait granules can kill the entire colony giving you permanent relief. The 24 ounces granules act as bait that the foraging ants bring to the queen.
The queen will die after consuming it, and the entire colony will perish. It is a long-lasting solution. One treatment lasts about three months and is capable of killing fire ants, carpenter ants, and more than 20 other species.
Create a protective barrier of bait by shaking Andro around the perimeter. The only thing to take care of is your pets and children, as it can be harmful to them.
Syngenta Advion Ant Gel
When it comes to gel, Advion Ant Gel is a very effective solution to control and remove the ant colony completely in a very short period of time. Attracted by the gel liquid, ant groups consume and take it back to the colony.
You may squeeze it into cracks and crevices or put it on cardboard under furniture. The active ingredient in the gel, indoxacarb, can be toxic to cats or dogs. A house with pets may skip this solution and look for some natural ingredient ant sprays.
Terro Outdoor Ant Killer Granules
Granules are very effective in outdoor use as it creates a barrier around the perimeter of the house, keeping ants away. The Terro Outdoor Ant Killer kills the entire colony as the ants. All you will have to do with these outdoor ant killers is unzip and shake the Terro granules packet around the home perimeter to spread the granules.
BioAdvanced Carpenter Ant and Termite Killer Plus
As the name suggests, the BioAdanced Carpenter Ant and Termite Killer Plus are effective against carpenter ants.
It is one of the best ant sprays that you can also use to control a wide variety of pests insects like ants, spiders, termites, cricket, and even scorpions. You will need to mix it with water to spray it on the pest with a spray bottle.
Ortho Fire Ant Killer Mound Treatment
A fire ant colony can be dangerous to your family and pets. This granule is capable of eradicating the entire colony of fire ants. Sprinkle the mixture on your lawn and apply water to release it into the ground. It will kill the existing colony while also preventing new fire ant infestations.
What is the safest ant killer spray?
When you are applying an ant killer spray or a granule, you need to be cautious about your pets and children. It is because many of the chemicals are harmful and toxic for indoor use. However, there are nontoxic ant-killer sprays that are safe to use around pets and kids.
Aunt Fannie's Ant Remedy Spray
This kill-on-contact spray is safe to use around your kids and pets indoors. It is very easy to use, and the spray kills the ants in a very natural way leaving no odor or smell behind. Though it is capable of killing these insects, it will not provide further preventive measures.
Raid Ant & Roach Killer Aerosol Ant Sprays
When ants, roaches, or other insects get indoors, Raid is a good option to keep in a handy place. It is safe to use around kids and pets. These indoor aerosol ant sprays can even be used in the kitchen.
It is a long-lasting spray, and your pets and children should have no problem with indoor use of this ant killer.
What is the best ant killer spray for the outdoors?
If an ant infestation has taken place outdoors, it is easier to find the ant colony. It may be in a hollow tree branch or the lawn. Then once you have identified the colony, you can spray chemicals to get rid of the ants.
Terro uses a contact-killing aerosol for a fast and effective treatment solution. Terro T1700 19 oz. outdoor ant killer spray is one of the best ant sprays for outdoor use.
The benefits of the Terro ant killer spray are:
- The terro ant spray comes at an affordable price.
- Terro spray is capable of killing ants on contact.
- The Terro spray also prevents further problems after treatment.
- Terro ant sprays work on a variety of pest insects, including carpenter ants, carpenter bees, Asian lady beetles, and boxelder bugs.
- The Terro spray comes with a nozzle that allows you to spray from as far as 15 feet without getting too close to the colony.
- You can easily use the Terro spray in crevices and cracks
Apart from killing insects, Terro ant spray can be used as a barrier to stop ants from entering your home. You can apply it in areas like outside of the doors, windows, or other entrance points.
Apply the Terro spray around the perimeter of the house when the ants are very active in the spring and fall. It is a long-lasting solution to your pest problem.
How do I permanently get rid of ants in my house?
If the ant species is harmful to your household or pets and children, it is better to get rid of the colony permanently. Colonies can be indoors or outdoors. Indoor colonies are located in inaccessible areas. Use ant sprays or other homemade remedies to control the indoor population.
Outdoor colonies are easier to locate. One very simple solution is treating the colony with boiling water. It is an effective solution for outdoor nests as they are easier to access.
Start by locating multiple entrances to the colony and pour boiling water into them. Repeat it a few times to ensure an overall dead ant colony.
If you are unable to locate the indoor colony, the probability is that the colony is inside your home. It may be in the walls, crevices, cracks, or inside the foundation. Using a spray to kill the ants in such a situation can be a tricky job. You may need a professional pest control service provider to get rid of the ants from inside your home.
A.N.T. PEST CONTROL NEW LENOX provides a complete 360-degree nuisance and pest control solution to assure a worry-free lifestyle. We can treat ants, bees, wasps, carpet beetles, spiders, and many more pests to ensure the quality of living for you and your family.
