Many pests, including ants, like to invite themselves into your home. Once inside, they are likely to march to their favorite room—your kitchen. Implementing a few preventative measures can help to deter these pests. We’ve made a list of five tips to help keep ants out of your kitchen.
1. Seal Entry Points
To keep ants out of your home, you’ll want to block their entry. Following an ant trail can help you determine where these pesky bugs are slipping in.
- Seal cracks, gaps, and holes on the exterior of your home.
- Repair or replace loose siding or bricks.
- Make sure your door and window screens are in good condition.
- Check your weatherstripping and door sweeps to make sure they don’t need replaced.
- Pay attention to the area near doors, windows, and your home’s foundation.
2. Remove Food Sources
Ants love your kitchen because they can often find something to eat. These pests are attracted to sugar, grease, and protein. Removing food sources will help to prevent an infestation.
- Regularly wipe down your counters and clean your floors.
- Clean up crumbs and spills, making sure to remove sticky residues.
- Don’t forget to clean under and behind appliances.
- Keep your food in containers with tight-fitting lids.
- Ants aren’t opposed to eating your pet’s food, so be sure to store this properly too.
- Don’t leave food on your counters or dirty dishes in the sink.
3. Minimize Moisture
Water is a necessity for ants, so you’ll want to keep your kitchen as dry as possible.
- Repair or replace leaks in your home and in your yard.
- Ensure your drains are working properly and aren’t clogged.
- Keep the area around your sink free of water.
- If you have a pet, clean up any water spills from their bowl.
- Check for water damage since damp wood can attract carpenter ants to your home.
4. Keep Your Yard Clean
Ants visit your yard before heading indoors. Making your yard as unwelcoming as possible can help to prevent ants from getting into your kitchen.
- Trim vegetation and tree branches so they aren’t touching the side of your home. Ants can use these as a bridge to your house.
- Regularly mow your lawn.
- Remove leaves, weeds, sticks, and other yard debris that can act as shelter.
- Minimize standing water in your yard.
- Check for any ant nests. These will look like mounds of dirt with an entry point. You can treat nests with our plant-based Spider & Insect Dust. Carefully apply dust into the entrance hole.
5. Use an Ant Bait
If ants have taken over your kitchen, ant bait can help to get rid of them. Our No Spill Ant Kill and our Ant Killer Bait are designed to allow ants to feed on the bait and return to the nest. They share the bait with the colony, which helps to eliminate the source of the infestation.
Here are a few tips for effective ant baiting:
- Place bait near foraging ant trails or near their nest.
- Occasionally check the bait and replace it if it’s gone.
- If bait appears dry, add a few drops of water to rehydrate it.
- In spring, ants may be looking for protein instead of sugar. Our Roach Killer Gel Bait is a protein-based bait that is effective against ants.
Ants may love your kitchen, but you don’t have to share your space with them. Removing potential attractants is the best way to keep ants away. If you’re dealing with an invading ant army, we have your back! For a more environmentally and family-friendly solution, check out our Maggie’s Farm Simply Effective™ Pest Control products.