The Best Way To Get Rid Of Ants In The Bay Area

If you have an ant problem, the solution is a multi-pronged approach that will give you long-lasting results. We're going to break this ant control process down into a few easy steps. Here's how it works.

Step 1: Get Rid Of The Ants

If you have a lot of ants congregating in one location, the first thing you need to do is remove the ants. This is a three-part process.

• See if you can track the ant trail and see where they're coming in. Inspect around the exterior of your home as well. You might see the trail continuing on the outside.
• Use a vacuum to suck up any ants that are crawling around. Dispose of the bag outside.
• Clean the surface where the ants were exploring. Use a lemon-scented cleaner for the best results. This removes the pheromone chemicals that ant workers leave for other workers to follow.

Step 2: Give Ants Fewer Reasons To Come Back

It is likely that the ants in your home don't actually have a nest in your home. When you get rid of them, they're going to come back and do what they did before. One ant is going to find food and recruit other ants to come into your home and gather the food. Your job is to remove the food.

• Clean and deep clean. Good sanitation is the bedrock of great ant control.
• Clean dirty dishes as you go, or leave dirty dishes in a sink full of soapy water until you're able to get to them.
• Clean your trash receptacle.
• Keep your recycling as clean as possible.
• Clean up juice spills immediately.
• If you have a pet, manage your pet's food. Put food down only during meals.
• Consider only eating in your kitchen and pantry. This prevents foods from being left in other areas of your home, such as a rotting apple in a bathroom trash bin or bread crumbs in your couch.
• Consider storing your pantry foods in sealed containers. This seals in food odors that can attract ants, and keeps ants from getting into your food.
• Repair any leaks in your plumbing system or leaky faucets. This will remove the water resources ants need.

Step 3: Make It Harder For Ants To Get Inside

It is impossible to seal every entry point an ant can use to get into your Bay Area home. Some species of ant have workers that are 1/32 of an inch in length. But it actually makes a big difference when you do your best to seal the entry points you can see. Fewer entry points will result in less ant activity in your home.

• Use a caulking gun to seal cracks, recesses, and openings in concrete. Fill in gaps around pipes. Fill in rotted wood holes. Seal around window and door frames. Many entry points can be addressed with a caulking gun.
• Inspect your door sweeps and weatherstripping. It doesn't take much of a gap to let an ant inside. Make sure your exterior doors have a good seal.
• Trim vegetation away from your exterior walls. Ants use plants to easily get to higher points of entry in your exterior.

Step 4: Address Exterior Attractants

Before ants get in, they are drawn to your yard. If you want to keep ants out of your home, you need to address ant activity and ant populations around your home.

• Keep your exterior trash receptacles free of strong odors and remove trash weekly.
• If you store recycling items in your garage, make sure they are as clean as possible.
• Refrain from storing nuts, sticks, and other natural debris near your home. Remove or burn the materials you gather during yard work.
• Blow leaves out from underneath structures and out of your landscaping. Leaf piles and leaf litter are ideal habitats for ants to explore.

You Might Be Done

If you apply these steps, you could see an end to your ant troubles, but each home has its challenges. You might have kids that accidentally leave ant food in hidden places, such as a candy bar wrapper lying on the floor behind your couch. You might have lots of plants in your yard, which are naturally attractive to bugs. Ants eat bugs both dead and alive. You might have lots of entry points you can't properly address. In these, and other cases, it may be necessary to have ongoing treatments to control the bugs that ants eat, and also to target ant colonies and eliminate them. The best way to achieve this is by investing in a residential pest control program.

7. Oriental Cockroaches Can Be Controlled.

It can seem like Oriental cockroaches are impossible to control because they are so resilient and resourceful, but the licensed pest professionals here at Bay Pest know how to arrest Oriental cockroach infestations and prevent these roaches from getting into homes and businesses.

Are you having trouble with Oriental cockroaches or some other cockroach pest? Reach out to Bay Pest today and request a pest control inspection. We take a look at your cockroach problem and guide you in selecting the right pest control solution. You don't have to battle those roaches alone.