Picture yourself walking into the kitchen to grab a snack from the refrigerator. Suddenly, from the corner of your eye, you spot a thin, dark line sliding its way beneath the door into the pantry. A closer look and you realize that dark line is actually a parade of black ants marching in a column along the floor and under the door.
Before you hit the eject button and head for the nearest hotel, the best way to get rid of ants in the house is learning a little bit about them. For starters, there are over 12,000 ant species crawling the Earth today, but only a few pose a pest problem in North America. Those would be the Argentine, Odorous House, Carpenter, Fire, Pavement, and Pharaoh ants. It’s important to know because identifying the species is the first step to get rid of ants in the house.
Ants generally nest outside and only invade the home to gather food and water. So if you see ants in the house, it’s likely they’ve found sources of sustenance. And that marching column you see? Those are worker ants following a pheromone trail left by previous scout ants. That pheromone trail is used to guide worker ants from the colony to the food and water source. So, understanding how ants use a pheromone trail to tell others in the colony where sources of food and water is also a key piece of information when it comes to getting rid of ants in the house.
It’s precisely along those pheromone trails where Combat® Baits should be placed. Combat® is an extremely effective time delayed insecticide formulated with a carbohydrate-rich attractant that ants can’t resist. Combat® time delayed mode of action allows ants the time to consume Combat® and bring it back to the colony to share with other ants in the nest, especially the queen.
As Combat® deadly poison is spread throughout the nest, the entire colony will be wiped out in a domino-like killing effect. Most importantly, the insecticide kills the queen. That’s something spray insecticides just can’t do because aerosol insecticides can’t reach way down into the nest where the queen lives.
Use Combat® baits in the kitchen, bathroom and living room. In addition to baits, you can also use Combat® Gel to fill in small cracks and crevices ants use to gain entry into the home. It’s also a great idea to place Combat® baits around the outside of the house every 10 to 20 feet along the foundation and at nest openings if those can be found. Plus, it’s good practice to refresh ant baits a regular intervals since ants will likely consume all the bait within the first couple of weeks.
For more and information, visit our prevention tips page or view our “5 Ways to Outsmart Ants” video to keep ants from bugging you.
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