Where do ants come from in an apartment? Danger and harm of ants to humans. Why can’t you delay removing pests? Features of the use of chemicals and folk remedies for red ants in the apartment. Preventative measures to prevent ant infestation.
If one ant accidentally enters the house, there is no need to worry about the threat. But when a whole colony of uninvited guests is discovered, urgent action is required.
Red ants in an apartment or house are a real disaster for owners, since the pests not only spoil food and bite painfully, but can also carry infectious diseases, and the process of fighting them is quite complex and lengthy.
Red ants: description of the species
There are many types of ants in nature. And often representatives of different species end up in houses. But only one can live in an apartment permanently - these are tiny red or ginger ants, called house ants. Forest and garden blacks are rare guests. They enter the house by accident and quickly leave it.
Red house ants are very small. They are only 2 mm in size. But they multiply quickly, populate the apartment with lightning speed and quickly move, filling the entire house. They can be seen swarming in the sugar bowl, in cabinets, on dishes, in the trash can. They move in groups along the paths. This makes it easier to fight them.
Only one can live in an apartment permanently - these are red or red tiny ants, called house ants.
Ants live in colonies. The number is scary - in one colony there can be up to 300,000 individuals. They organize them in an inaccessible place - somewhere under baseboards, between floors, under ceilings. It is almost impossible for a person to get to the colony on his own. This makes it very difficult to fight. In addition, communication is always maintained between the colonies. Therefore, small red ants, after they are destroyed in one apartment, quickly appear again. But you can still get rid of them. Moreover, if you consider that these insects can only live in an apartment - they are too heat-loving to live outside.
Ants live in colonies. The number is scary - in one colony there can be up to 300,000 individuals
Cleaning
But it is important to clean up the bathroom
- Spring-cleaning. You need to inspect the things in the bathroom, throw out everything unnecessary. Go under the bathtub with a rag, get into all the corners, take out the garbage, wipe off the dirt. Wipe surfaces and walls with disinfectants (Domestos), not forgetting the joints and crevices.
- Microclimate. Change the microclimate in the bathroom. Remove all water and wipe the bathroom and sink dry. Ventilate the room as often as possible to avoid dampness. Buy and install a fan heater in your house. Don't forget about the heated towel rail. Make sure that taps and pipes do not drip.
- Protection. In an apartment building, insects move from one apartment to another through cracks or ventilation grilles. Protect your bathroom from intruders by sealing any cracks and placing mesh over the vents.
- Use ant repellents to kill them or scare them away from your apartment.
General cleaning will help solve the ant problem
Ways to enter the apartment
Red ants get into houses in different ways:
- from other apartments;
- from the street;
- with products;
- with things.
The way to the house is opened by scouts from other colonies. If the scouts found food in the house with easy access and a lot of secret crevices, then it will soon be inhabited.
Scout ants from other colonies open the way to the house
How to find a nest
Red representatives of the family do not build houses with embankments; new passages and cells are built to the sides. One anthill can reach up to 2 m in diameter. Since the nests are located in hollow spaces, their location can be revealed by small holes on the surface of the tree, microscopic mounds of different materials.
If ants are crawling all over the kitchen, and the location of the nest is not known, you need to show a little patience and watch the hard workers. Pour sugar into a saucer and place it on the path where the ants run. After a few seconds, they will find a treat, grab the sugar, and pull it into the nest. Wherever the insects run, that’s where you need to look for an anthill.
Damage from ants
Little red ants spoil food. They are also carriers of diseases, crawling from the trash can to the sugar bowl. It is believed that insects can carry typhus, intestinal infections, and helminthiasis (they carry eggs of worms and other helminths on their paws).
In addition, in the cracks, small ants begin to create “waste sites” - burying their dead comrades, leaving inedible food. Molds and fleas reproduce well on such a substrate.
The smell of blood and sweat attracts ants. Theoretically, if there are a lot of these insects in the house, then they can begin to bother people, crawling on them during sleep and infecting wounds.
Little red ants spoil food. They are also carriers of diseases, crawling from the trash can to the sugar bowl
Where do they come from?
Pharaoh ants are representatives of countries with a humid, warm climate. A large number of them were discovered in Egyptian tombs. They settled throughout the globe in the last century, along with cargo from exotic countries. In our harsh climate, they quickly adapted to human homes, where it is always warm and there is something to eat. They multiply rapidly at high temperatures and dampness.
In houses, they initially inhabit the basements and foundations, then they make their way into the kitchen. To build nests, hollow spaces are chosen - cracks in walls, foundations, floors, as well as cluttered places. Small insects reproduce rapidly, so they can cover several floors in a short time. They sneak into the new apartment through cracks, wiring, and ventilation shafts. Often the grocery store on the ground floor is a breeding ground for red ants.
Fighting ant colonies
It is difficult to fight these visitors in an apartment, since successful victory requires an integrated approach and, ideally, the cooperation of all residents of the entrance. But you can do something on your own to get rid of insects, at least for a while.
For complex control use:
- thorough cleaning of the premises;
- chemicals;
- folk methods.
Before you start using drugs against ants, you need to wash the apartment, review all things, shake them out and pack them tightly for the duration of treatment.
The fight against red apartment ants should begin with thorough cleaning
It is very important to get rid of ants in the kitchen, as these small insects make food unfit for consumption. Food should also be removed, dishes washed and dried. All discovered cracks in floors and baseboards must be carefully sealed.
Reasons for appearance
Before you fight ants, you should find out where they came from. Factors that make a room attractive to ants are:
- infrequent cleaning, accumulation of garbage, dirty clothes, leftover food;
- constant high temperature and humidity;
- the presence of an ant colony in neighboring rooms;
- family migration;
- garbage chute, dryer or damp basement several floors away;
- accidental contamination with vegetables, fruits, street dirt or on clothing.
Each of the reasons can turn a cozy human home into an attractive place for building a new ant colony. The little scouts are happy to share all such “addresses” with their brothers. After which the premises are used to obtain food or expand the network of existing anthills.
Chemical control
Chemicals are used to kill adults and reduce the population. It is worth remembering that many drugs have a strong effect and quickly kill insects - so quickly that they do not have time to return to the nests and infect the queen there. Therefore, there remains a risk of the population resuming after some time. Because of this reason, potent chemical agents must be supplemented with long-acting agents or folk methods that kill ants slowly. This way you can get rid of small pests for sure.
The fight against red ants can be carried out using both chemical and folk remedies.
The most effective means include:
- "Raptor";
- Off;
- Raid;
- "Combat";
- "Dichlorvos";
- "Deta."
They are available in aerosols and are easy to use. With such means you can treat all rooms in the apartment, paying special attention to places under the sink, behind cabinets, and ventilation shafts.
In order to fight as a whole, it is better to simultaneously use pencils or crayons against crawling insects. They should be used to coat baseboards, the back surface of kitchen cabinets, apply stripes above furniture, along the sink, around ventilation shafts and openings. Having walked along such paths, the ants carry poison on their paws to the colony, where mass death soon begins. In this way, you can get rid of queens, which cannot be killed with ordinary aerosols, because it is impossible to reach them.
Prevention
Only comprehensive preventive measures will help you get rid of ants in your apartment forever:
- keep the kitchen clean, thoroughly wipe work surfaces from food debris, do not leave dirty dishes for too long and be sure to wash the stove regularly;
- do not leave food out in the open. Meat, sweets, bread and pastries are especially attractive to ants. Fruits are also best stored in the refrigerator;
- keep cereals, sugar, sweets only in sealed containers;
- Take out the trash regularly - it serves as a real bait for ants;
- Place mint sprigs, bay leaves, jars of aromatic oils in your kitchen cabinets and smear the baseboards with ant chalk or a piece of laundry soap. You can stick a strip of tape on the threshold; it will hold back the onslaught of uninvited insects;
- After feeding your pets, immediately remove leftover food and wash bowls;
- Fill all cracks in the house using silicone sealant, plaster, glue, etc.
Be sure to hide food and sweets, do not leave cookies and other goodies on the table open.
Prepare protective barriers at possible entry points for ants. Make a strip at least 1 cm thick using one of the following ingredients:
- crushed activated carbon;
- chalk;
- ground pepper (black, chili or cayenne);
- petrolatum;
- turmeric;
- cinnamon;
- talc.
If there are few ants in the house, there is no point in using aggressive insecticides and once again exposing the family to danger. You can use other, safer methods
Be patient and carefully monitor the cleanliness of your home. If the ants have nothing to profit from, they will stop being so persistent and, disappointed in your hospitality, will eventually find a more suitable route.
Classic folk remedies
After a chemical attack, it is necessary to consolidate the result and prevent the population from resuming. To do this, you need to use the most effective folk remedy - boric acid.
- Boric acid is a terrible poison for crawling insects. It corrodes the intestines, dehydrates the body, and has a nerve-paralyzing effect. In this case, the insect dies under its influence after a few hours, and, therefore, manages to come to the colony and poison the remaining individuals. The surviving insects begin to lose their ability to reproduce. Fighting ants with boric acid is more beneficial because it does not develop addiction.
- Unrefined sunflower oil, garlic, parsley, lemon peels, anise, and caraway seeds can be used as food deterrents. These products do not kill insects, but do prevent them from getting into food.
After you have managed to get rid of red ants, you should acquire the useful habit of not leaving food in the public domain and always clearing crumbs from the table and not hoarding dirty dishes.
After you have managed to get rid of red ants, you should acquire the useful habit of not leaving food in the open and always clearing crumbs from the table and not hoarding dirty dishes. Then the scouts will return to the colony “empty-handed” and, perhaps, the colony will not want to repopulate such an inhospitable house.
