Most people want to know how to get rid of ants in the kitchen because when you open up your locker or cupboard to grab your jar of sugar or a package of pasta, a box of flakes, or beverages, there they are. A perfectly uniform line of ants, marching across the cabinet shelf or up the wall. Ants quickly become pests when they invade your home, especially your kitchen, seeking food, shelter or even both. The last thing you or anybody would want is to have unwanted guests taking up residence in your home, especially the kitchen.
To get rid of these ants, most of the time you reach out for intense chemicals. You try your best to kill the ones you see, but you know there’s plenty more where they came from, and it makes you feel hopeless.
Killing one ant in the kitchen is not the solution because where there’s one ant, there’s usually a colony nearby, and each ant leaves behind a trail of chemicals called pheromones that attract its species in the vicinity. Until you wipe out the ant colony where the egg-laying queen stays, she will continue to reproduce and send additional worker ants into your home to score free refreshments on your kitchen countertops and inside sinks and cabinets.
There is a lot you can do to stop kitchen ants in their tracks. The best part is that most solutions don’t even require you to call in professionals. Below are natural ways you can get rid of ants in your homes using natural methods.
How To Get Rid Of Ants In The Kitchen
1. Eliminate Their Food Source
Ants make a camp in your home to because of food and storage. Your food storage room or cupboard is the perfect marketplace for ants to shop for all types of food. Always make sure to store food in tightly sealed plastic bags and reusable sealed containers. Prevention is better than cure, that is why when it comes to getting rid of them, the most effective solution is to never have to deal with them in the first place. So to prevent ants, clearing away food remains and spills is the first thing you need to do.
Ants are attracted to starchy and sweet things, such as honey, cornmeal, and sugar infact all kinds of food. Ensure that there are no smears, splatters, and spills of food items anywhere in your kitchen. And always clean up food crumbs around your appliances and in garbage cans.
Ants do not just love human foods they are also attracted to pet food. Your dog and cat food should be transferred from its original packaging into an airtight container. Also, keep ripe fruits in the refrigerator, rather than leaving them out on the kitchen counter, to prevent a swarm of these critters.
2. Clean Your Kitchen
Always clean up your kitchen because your kitchen is an all you can eat buffet for ants. When your kitchen or house is dirty, it becomes very easy for ants to relocate into your home.
Never forget to clean up the area around the pet bowl as well after they are done eating. Generally, the cleaner you keep your kitchen, the further the ants infestation, cockroaches and rodent infestation in your kitchen and house in general.
3. Block Every Entry Point
How to get rid of ants in the kitchen is by blocking of the entry point. Sealing tiny crevices with caulk, replacing damaged window and door screens, and replacing any rotten wood around entry points is also a great preventative measure to keep ants, and other pests, out of the kitchen. It may be impossible to seal every nook and cranny, but try as much as possible to seal cracks, and holes in walls, radiators, and near floorboards.
Follow their trail to find out their entry point. Don’t forget to check around window frames, screens, and doors.
Read Also: How To Unclog A Kitchen Sink
4. Use Ant Deterrent
Even after blocking every entry points, it’s still possible to spot ants in the kitchen. In this case, you can start applying ant deterrents, like pepper, cinnamon, curry powder, salt, or chalk. Ants, like many insects, rely on their sense of smell to find where their next meal will be. Instead of reaching for harsh and hazardous poisonous, sprays, and traps, certain scents will do the trick just fine.
Also, soak a few cotton wool balls in citrus or peppermint essential oils and place them in the corners of your cabinets and drawers and they will stay away because the smell deter them. Lining your doors and windows with talcum powder petroleum jelly and coffee grounds, is also effective in keeping ants away.
Or, consider placing a pouch of Stay Away Ants & Cockroaches on your kitchen counters. “These all plant-based deterrent pouches harness a research-backed blend of plant fibers and essential oils, such as peppermint oil, lemongrass, thyme oil, to keep ants and cockroaches away from treated areas, guaranteed, without poisoning or killing them.
5. Do Not Use Spray Repellents Or Poisons
Do not spray ants with insect repellent. When the queen’s workers are in danger, she will spit her colony. This will multiply your ant problem. Instead, you need to find the source of ants. Drenching an ant nest is a last resort, but sometimes a necessary one. Drench the ant nest with an insecticide spray if you need quick results.
Natural and Homemade Products You Can Use
There are many ways to eliminate ants and their colonies in the home. While professional exterminators may be necessary in some cases, some natural solutions can eradicate the problem without adding chemicals or toxins to your environment.
Here are some of the best ways to kill and repel ants naturally using ingredients found in the home or at a local store.
1. Boiling Water:
If you see ant hole anywhere close to your house, pour boiled water into it.This method will effectively and immediately kill many of the ants inside. Anthills may appear small, but the ant colonies underneath them are vast.
The boiling water won’t be enough to kill off the entire colony it will kill as many ants as possible. For this reason, make sure to treat every ant hole you see within your home’s proximity.
2. Hand Soaps Or Liquid Detergent:
Ants leave a scented pheromone trail behind when they walk, which acts as a map. This method can remove the scent and deter the ants from re-entering your home. This our everyday home product can also be handy in controlling ants in your kitchen and home. Mix soap into water and pour it into a little plastic container with a spray head, which you can sprinkle the mixture around your kitchen. Soapy water clears the scent of ant pheromones, which they use in following trails. Without the scent, they are unable to communicate with each other, scattering in differing places.
3. Ground Black Or Red Pepper:
Black pepper is a common cooking spice that can be found in most kitchen cubboard.Black or red (cayenne) pepper is not only a food enhancer,but is also a natural and effective pest repellant as the insects appear to find the smell irritating.
One easy way to get rid of ants kitchen using this method is to sprinkle pepper in areas where ants are likely to be spotted. Ants hate the strong smell of pepper. This is a great option because it’s safe for pets and children, so you can use it everywhere.
4. Peppermint:
Peppermint is a natural insect repellent that is effective at deterring ants and other bugs, like cockroaches and mosquitoes.
To use peppermint essential oil as an ant repellent, all you have to do is to mix 10 to 20 drops of peppermint essential oil with cups of water in a plastic spray bottle. Spray the mixture around the baseboards and windows of your home, especially the kitchen.
You may be able to find peppermint essential oil at your local grocery chain or health food store.
5. Vinegar:
This favorite food ingredient also makes for a great remedy for ants. Simply create a 50-50 water and vinegar solution and spray it around your kitchen. You can also use vinegar alone, and it works by killings ants and also by repelling them. Unlike humans, ants can smell vinegar even after it dries, making it a great remedy.
- Diatomaceous Earth (Silicon Dioxide)
- Tea Tree Oil
- Oil Of Lemon Eucalyptus (Ole)
- Corn Starch
- Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
- Neem Oil
- Coffee Grounds
- Boric Acid
- Borax (Sodium Tetraborate)
Read Also: 20 Effective Plants That Repel Mosquitoes
Conclusion
Ants are common invaders of homes across Africa and are mostly harmless. How to get rid of ants in the kitchen can be difficult, but it is possible to repel and eradicate ants over time using the natural methods described above. Keeping your home clean and removing possible places for ants to enter and hide can prevent future infestations.
