Most often, ants can be seen in food products – especially next to sweets: near a sugar bowl, near an open jam jar, a candy vase. These insects that crawl around the house are ordinary worker ants looking for food.
The main danger is the uterus, which is much larger than the rest and has wings. It is the queen who raises the whole colony.
Therefore, it is extremely important not only to find the nest of ants in the house, but also to destroy their queen. Otherwise, insects will appear again and again in the house.
There are a large number of techniques used by those who live in private homes. All of them are based on the use of the most common ingredients by locals, advises the author of the KhozNauka site.
Boric acid
You can mix boric acid with something sweet by adding a little water to the solution. This mixture should be left in different places. As a result, worker ants will carry the infection on themselves and transmit it to the uterus and larvae, and they will die: boric acid destroys the digestive system of insects from the inside.
You should always remember about safety: do not let children or pets find the poisoned bait, do not leave food in an open space – infected insects can move along them.
Vinegar
You can lubricate the paths along which the ants travel with a solution of vinegar and water; for convenience, you can use a spray bottle. The insects will be confused by the pungent smell and will go in search of a more comfortable home.
The most effective way is to spray the insect nest. For greater efficiency, it is best to repeat the operation. By analogy with vinegar, ammonia can be used. Its pungent smell also repels ants.
Soap
To find paths leading to food, ants secrete certain pheromones when creating their paths. Soap can overpower the smell of pheromones, and ants get lost and leave.
It is necessary to mix a soapy solution in a spray bottle and treat the places where insects accumulate with the resulting mixture.
Essential oils
Since ants cannot stand strong smells, an effective way to deal with them is to use essential oils: they are impregnated with pieces of cloth or cotton balls and placed in places where insects accumulate and on the beaten track. Clove, lavender, cinnamon, wormwood, and pine needle essential oils will help.
Dried fragrant plants
Dried fragrant plants work on the same principle: chamomile, mint, bay leaf and parsley. Bags containing fragrant herbs are placed wherever insects may appear. Lemon zest will also help.
Professional help
However, you should always remember that trying to get rid of ants on your own is risky. Insect nests are carefully hidden from humans, so they are hard to find. Insects can adapt to the means used against them.
Professional disinsection completely destroys the colony of insects, after which the risk of their reappearance remains low.
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