How to get rid of ants: 7 genius ways
What comes into your mind at the thought of creepy crawling ants and how to get rid of ants? How do you react at the sight of a colony of ants in the house? Do they make you cringe? These insects can be stubborn. That, therefore, gives us the need to crack this nightmare on how to get rid of ants naturally. Fortunately, this is not as hard as many may think it is.
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Before we get to the stage of getting rid of ants, there are a few points that we need to take in. One of those questions is what attracts these insects into your house. You probably cannot comprehend why these tiny creatures infest your home during particular periods of the year and stay in those areas of your house.
Gaining knowledge of these two aspects will help you come up with better and more effective ways of doing away with ants in your home. just like any other creatures, these insects tend to seek warmth during the cold weather. That is why you will find them on the walls. They also infest the kitchen to feast on food droppings.
Inasmuch as the reasons why ants infest homes are pure, there is a threat since there are two thousand different species of these tiny creatures. Out of the two thousand species, there are those that can bite and can cause skin diseases. The most common ant that is known for this is the fire ant. This is another reason why most people are never comfortable at the sight of insects in their houses.
How to get rid of ants permanently
So many people have tried to come up with solutions to the menace that insect infestation brings. The problem is that most of the solutions are temporary. Most of these solutions would require you to be on constant check for the return of the insects. That is why it is necessary to understand how to eliminate them completely. Here are some of the solutions you could try out;
1. Lemon juice
The kitchen is among the places that ants seek refuge in. What makes these insects infest the kitchen on most occasions is the fact that they have a high sense of smell. Spraying lemon juice in the kitchen alters their scent trail. This is an effective method of changing the trails that the insects follow whenever they smell food. The lemon juice should be a mixture of water and lemon juice in the ratio of three to one.
2. Cinnamon
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Another simple way of completely doing away with insects is using cinnamon. Inasmuch as cinnamon is one of the healthiest spices, it has effects on these insects. Cinnamon is ant poison. All you need to do is to grind a few cinnamon sticks and sprinkle the ground cinnamon on the ants' trail and their hideouts. The cinnamon will suffocate these creatures. Alternatively, you can also use cinnamon oil if it is available.
3. Vinegar
Vinegar solution is another ant poison. Ants generally hate vinegar. That makes it easier to get rid of them using vinegar solution. All you need to is mix half a spray bottle of vinegar with the same amount of water and spray on the ants. They will die before you notice it. It is also advisable to spray the vinegar solution on the areas that these creatures crawl over. White vinegar gives better results.
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4. Dish soap and water
A solution made by mixing dish soap and water is also an ant poison. This solution suffocates these insects within minutes. All you need to do is combine one part of dish soap and two of water in a spray bottle. To obtain the best results within minutes, spray the solution over the insects and watch them suffocate to death.
5. Mint
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Most insects are never comfortable around mint. The scent that mint plant emits tends to repel insects. If your question is how to get rid of ant naturally, this is your solution. You will obtain the best results without moving an inch and incurring any extra cost on insecticides.
6. Baking soda and powdered sugar mix
The presence of sugar in this mix may sound ironic. Each one of these two components has its benefits in the common goal of permanently getting rid of ants. The sugar attracts the insects. Baking soda, on the other hand, kills them. The mix proportion is one part of baking soda to one of sugar. You do not need to spray this mix on the creatures necessarily. The best strategy is spraying it on the surfaces that they infest like cabinets
7. Essential oils
Ever wondered what mechanism ants use to infest your house? These insects have a slightly higher sense of smell. They can sense food from afar using their antenna. They then create a scent trail from their anthills to your house. The trick to getting rid of ants here is hindering this scent trail. You can do so using the wide variety of essential oils that are available. The strong scent in most of these essential oils will make these creatures go away. Here are some of the essential oils that you could try;
- Tea tree oil
Tea tree oil is one of the heavenly oils that has ever existed. Apart from its dermatological uses that most people know of, you can also use it to get rid of ants. The oil has a strong scent that interferes with the scent trails of ants. All you need to do is apply it on the surfaces of your kitchen using a cotton round. You can also leave the cotton round in cabinets. The ants will go away.
- Peppermint oil
Peppermint oil also works well when it comes to hindering the scent trails of ants. The procedure of applying peppermint oil is the same as that of tea tree oil.
- Clove essential oil
Clove essential oil contains a component called eugenol. Eugenol is a natural insecticide. It, therefore, gets rid of ants as well. It, however, fades off quickly. Clove oil has a strong scent that makes it also useful in doing away with these creatures.
With all these remedies, the menace caused by ants should be a thing of the past. Most of these products are available in the house. All you need to do is make good out of them. The good thing about nearly all these remedies is that they do not tamper with the nature of your food.
You can also work on preventive measures such as maintaining high levels of hygiene, especially in the kitchen. To add on it, you can try out products such as salt that make the insects change their course and not get into your house. This way, you will save those coins that you have been spending on insecticides for something else.
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Source: Briefly News
