Like you, ants appreciate the convenient access to food, water, and shelter. Here’s how to keep them out.

Ugh. When you go into the kitchen to make your morning coffee, you see an ant highway leading into the garbage can beneath the sink. While these social insects are intriguing, you should not examine them closely at home.

Starting with the current infestation of ants Expel the ant-infested trashcan or another covered object from your home as soon as possible.

Next, get rid of the creepy crawlers—inside your home, in the trashcan, and the outdoor waste container. If you don’t want to use pesticides, fill a spray container with a 3:1 mixture of white vinegar and water. Follow ant trails to the entry location and spray it. Vinegar kills ants on touch and removes their scent trail, which attracts more.

Continue reading to learn what attracts ants and how to keep them out.

How Do Ants Get Inside Chicago Home?

Ants must first enter your home to plunder your rubbish. Sadly, that’s not hard. Ants are little, resourceful, and abundant. They often enter through the door or window, and any small opening or crack is enough to get them in. Ants can enter a property through a foundation crack, pipes, wiring, vents, wall cracks, or even the subflooring beneath carpet, wood, or tiled floors.

While it’s difficult to seal every possible access point, weather sealing doors and windows and correcting wall and floor cracks and gaps can help. Examining potted plants, outside eating dishes and utensils, and yard toys before bringing them inside also helps. To be safe, rinse anything left outside before bringing it inside.

Ants Need to Eat As Well.

Ants are drawn to your home by the promise of food. Ants have a high sense of smell, allowing them to locate a wide range of meals. Just like you may have a “sweet tooth” for sugary treats, most ant species do as well.

The sweetest foods attract ants inside your home: spilled soft drinks or fruit juices, candies, jellies and jams, cookies and other sweet baked goods, honey and syrup, and overripe fruit. A zealous ant colony can even steal chewed gum.

But ants are drawn to sweets as well. Most animals need protein and fat. That’s why ants swarm on oily cooking spills, meat, eggs, pet food, nuts, cheese, and butter. Also, most ant species will eat other insects, dead or alive. Unlike sweets and fats, cereals like bread attract some ant species.

Cleaning up spills quickly, routinely taking out the trash, rinsing dirty dishes before putting them in the sink or dishwasher, cleaning pet food bowls, and firmly sealing food storage containers all help prevent ant infestations.

Ants Seek Water Sources.

Ants, like humans, need constant hydration. Ants not only consume water at the source but also bring it back to their colony to store it. That’s why ants sometimes appear in unexpected places, like down the drain, inside the dishwasher, on moist wood, or in a damp basement or garage. This happens frequently during dry spells when ants can’t locate water outside.

Remove potential sources of water to lessen ant infestation danger. A dehumidifier in the basement may be essential if leaks are swiftly repaired and wet towels or moist clothing are not left sitting for too long.

Ants frequently seek water in potted plants, both indoors and outdoors. The soil can be treated with insecticide, or diatomaceous earth can be spread over the entire surface, killing ants and other insects but not pets, people, or pollinators who only contact the flowers and not the soil.

Ants Need A Warm Place To Nest.

Ant colonies have a complex hierarchy of queens, sterile female worker ants, and male ants who die shortly after mating with the queen. This society needs a home, and when the weather is dry, they will build it within yours.

Ants want a house that is close to food and water sources, warm, and dark. Your house’s walls, floor, attic, and garage all meet these criteria. Ants have been known to nest within the exterior unit of your air conditioner (the condenser).

They eat through electrical lines, wood, and insulation, causing electrical shorts and significant damage. Ants looking for a quick meal and drink aren’t the only pests that need to be dealt with by a professional. Sealing cracks and gaps around your property, fixing rotten wood and trim, and eradicating ants quickly will help prevent this annoyance.

Ants Adore Blooms

Ants are a necessary element of the ecology and are usually not an issue when left outside. But ants in your outside plants can be a warning of disaster. The ants in your garden? Aphids and nectar are two other common causes.

Many ant species benefit from aphids. Aphids are wingless insects that can be green, yellow, brown, or black. An aphid taking sap from a plant weakens it and causes distorted leaves and blooms. Aphids secrete honeydew, which ants love. Ants will defend aphids in exchange for honeydew.

Ants are drawn to flowers because of the sweet nectar they provide. Ants, like bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, can pollinate. Penstemons and peonies are among the most popular flowers for insects, which often crawl all over peony blossoms. Ants prefer low-growing plants with small flowers, like spurge.

Eliminate aphids to deter ants from visiting your blooms. Using an insecticidal soap spray is simple. A spray of 1 tablespoon castile soap in 1-quart water is sprayed on the plants every few days until the aphids are gone. Castile soap is a natural plant-based soap that won’t hurt most plants. Avoid putting insecticidal soap on ferns, succulents, ivy, waxy-leaved plants, and new seedlings since these plants are more sensitive and may suffer leaf damage.