Nobody wants ants in their kitchen unless they’re, well, ant farm enthusiasts or something. Therefore, it helps to know how to get rid of them, especially if you’re starting to watch them trickle into your home.
The good news is that you don’t always need to spend a fortune on pest control. In fact, you shouldn’t have any more issues just with some household ingredients or store-bought products. In this guide, we teach you how to get rid of ants in kitchens. Learn more below.
Why Ants Are in Your Kitchen
If you want to know how to get rid of ants in your kitchen, it helps to know why they’re in your kitchen to begin with. In fact, if you understand why ants are in your kitchen, you may be able to prevent the issue from continuing. Learn more about why ants might be in your kitchen below.
Food Crumbs on the Floor
A dirty kitchen is one that’s ripe for ants. If you have food crumbs on the floor, especially the sweet kind, you may notice an abundance of ants in your kitchen. Therefore, simply cleaning your kitchen is one of the best ways to prevent (and even remove) ants from your kitchen.
Unattended Pet Food
This might not be your first guess, but if your dog or cat is taking a long time to eat their food, this may be the reason that you have ants in your home. Keep an eye on their eating habits, and do your best to clean up food bowls, treats, and anything else you feed your pets.
Nearby Colonies
Ants in your kitchen aren’t always your fault. In fact, you may find that ants are in your kitchen because there is a colony nearby and they’re looking for shelter. Ants may also end up in your kitchen because it’s damp or because you have a leaky pipe that they found their way into.
How to Get Rid of Ants in Kitchen
Getting rid of ants in your kitchen has never been easier, especially with options like peppermint oil. Learn more about some of the best options below.
Peppermint Oil for Ants
Peppermint oil for ants is one of the best ways to remove ants from your kitchen. Peppermint oil is a natural, pet-friendly way to repel ants away from your kitchen space. Plus, it doesn’t smell bad like other chemical products; who doesn’t love a little minty freshness?
The reason that peppermint oil is great for ants is due to the menthol that it contains. Menthol irritates ants and messes with their pheromone trails. The result? Less ants in your kitchen, although the result is shorter term compared to other solutions.
Store-Brought Products
If you want to remove ants from your kitchen, there are some store-bought options that you can choose. Our favorite choices, however, include Raid and other similar sprays. These sprays tend to be safe for your home, and they kill ants quickly. You can also choose options that act as a barrier to prevent ants from entering your home.
While Raid is efficient, it’s not exactly perfect, so keep this in mind. Raid is a chemical product, so requires extra safety precautions, and you may prefer not to introduce it into your home.
Liquid Bait
Last but not least, consider liquid bait. You can opt for commercial gel bait, like Terro, or focus more on homemade options, like borax and powdered sugar. Ultimately, the goal with liquid bait is to trick the carpenter ant into bringing the poisons back to the colony. This can kill the ants at the source.
Liquid bait is a great choice, but it’s not for everyone. If you just need to kill ants that you see a few times, sprays or more short-term solutions may be more viable. Plus, you may not want to leave traps in your kitchen or home.
Our Final Thoughts on How to Get Rid of Ants in Kitchens
Knowing how to get rid of ants in kitchens is as simple as understanding what they dislike and like. If you have lots of food scraps laying around, for example, get rid of them. On the other hand, if you have peppermint oil or borax lying around, you can use that to remove the threat from the entire colony.
At the end of the day, you have options, and all of them that we covered in this guide are viable.