“You’ve got ants.
It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Every spring in Metro Vancouver, around this time of year, the six-legged scavengers invade our homes.
The ants are hungry and have a nest full other ants to feed — and your home is full of food..”
Owner Mike Londry speaks with Scott Brown of the Vancouver Sun offering some advice to readers.
Ant Removal Tips
In the summer the ant scouts enter your Vancouver home looking for crumbs, spills, oil and grease, and any accessible items left on kitchen floor. Behind them, they leave an invisible trail that will be followed by an army of their ant friends and relatives.
To help you fight of those pavement ants this summer, our technicians share their best tips for managing these pesky buggers and keeping your paths ant-free!
1. Don’t Freak Out
Soap and water is your best early defence. Locate where the ants are entering your home and spray the area with a mix of dish soap and water. Don’t give into temptation and stomp them with your shoe.
2. Boiling Water
Boil one gallon of water and then pour it directly into the mounds. Repeat the procedure one time a day until all the pests are exterminated.
Pavement ant colonies can number 100,000 so although boiling water will slow them down, you will be winning only the battle, not the war.
3. Get Spicy
Ants hate cinnamon. Pull a jar down from your spice rack and sprinkle it around the entrances to your home. You don’t need a wall of it but just spread it liberally around the corners of the door. You want to do it right away when you first see ants, because once they are established and they understand the kitchen counter is where the food is at, cinnamon is not going to stop them.
4. Commercial Products
A good solution for small ant invasions is to try liquid ant bait which is sold at hardware stores.
Look for anything with borate. You don’t have to worry about the corrosive nature of the borate as domestic products available have 0.025 concentration of borate which is perfect for households. Anything higher than that concentration and you are going to get instant relief and kill any ant that comes in contact with it, and that’s not what you want. With the lower concentration, the ants will take some back to the nest for other ants to consume.
A 50/50 solution of sugar mixed with Borax. The insects are attracted by sweet things, and Borax is known to be fatal for them
Also try
- Corn meal. These unwanted visitors are unable to digest it properly, and will eventually die.
- Raw cream of wheat (or farina). When they eat it, the product will expand in their stomachs and kill them.
5. Early Prevention is Key
If you see one or two ants in winter or early spring we suggests leaving out an even more diluted mix of borate-based ant bait as these early foragers will be very weak and even more susceptible to insect control products.
Mix the domestic product with a sweet substance like apple juice and put it out in an upside-down bottle cap. They’ve gone all winter with no food so even the low-concentrated domestic products will be too strong and kill them. You want them to take the bait back to the nest
DONT: Don’t put down liquid bait and then spray insecticide as well —that just stops the ants from eating the bait!
Need Help With Pavement Ant Control for your Vancouver home?
After a few simple questions, free estimates can be given over the phone for pavement ant removal in Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland. Call the Vancouver Pest Control experts now at 604-559-9060 or contact Westside Pest Control by email.
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