What Attracts Ants?

The most numerous creatures on earth, you probably have ants in your yard, and you might have them in your home. Ants play a vital role, breaking down earth and keeping it from being too compact. However, no matter how useful they are, no one wants ants in their home. In your home, they go from helpful environmental workers to annoying pests. They ruin your food stuff and create a nuisance for your home.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help keep ants out of your home. The most important thing is to get rid of things that attract ants to you. Like all other animals, ants want shelter, food, and water. In your home, you cannot really eliminate all sources of shelter. Ants are small and the nest underground, in walls, or in other hidden spots. However, you can take steps to get rid of food and water sources.

Eliminating Problematic Water and Food Sources

Ants are attracted to moisture. Of course, this means you want to eliminate things like leaky water faucets. However, ants are opportunistic. They will also drink from unattended water glasses, water features, or even melted pieces of ice on your floor.

Ants love sugar. While any type of food can attract ants, they find sugar especially enticing. Store sugar and sugary foods securely, and do not leave them unattended. Make sure and clean up spills quickly.

While sugar may be ants’ favorite food, it is not the only food they eat. They will eat just about any type of food. Not all ant species will eat all foods, but there are so many different species of ants that whatever crumbs are in your home are likely to attract some of them. Make sure and clean up crumbs around your house. You may want to limit eating to one or two rooms to help you manage crumb cleanup more easily.

Ants may also like grease. Not all ants like grease or greasy foods. However, some of them find grease very enticing and will travel long distances to get fatty foods. You want to clean grease up immediately. Use a cleaner that is designed to cut grease in order to make sure it is completely gone.

Do not forget about the pet food. Leaving pet food unattended is a surefire way to attract pets to your home. This is true for pet food inside the house as well as pet food in your yard.

Next Steps to Ensure an Ant-Free Home

Even if you throw out all of your refuse, it can still attract ants. Make sure you secure all of your garbage cans to keep ants from feasting on it.

If you have an ant problem or are just trying to avoid future ant problems, contact us at Flick. We offer a variety of different prevention and extermination programs, which are designed to keep your home and yard pest-free.