During the summer months is when you can count on ants to try and ruin your outdoor events. Whether you are having friends over for a barbecue or, you are just trying to enjoy a picnic lunch in the lawn with the kids, ants are pesky little creepy-crawlies that try to crash the party.
In addition to be irritating outdoors, ants can come in the house also looking for food and water to take back to their nest and store for the fall and winter months. Sometimes you will just see a couple of ants and not think much of it, until you come back the next day and the countertop is crawling with them. This is because ants send out scouts to look around and see if there is anything good to eat or a source of water. If they find one, they send for reinforcements and before you know it you have an infestations.
Luckily, there are some things that you can do to keep ant infestations contained:
- Keep the floors of your home clean of crumbs and tiny bits of food. Vacuum your carpets weekly and keep the kitchen floor swept and mopped. Any little scrap of food, whether it be from rinsing dishes off at the kitchen sink or throwing something away in the trash can will attract ants.
- Ants are not above crawling around in the trash can. Once your kitchen garbage can is full, make sure to take it out to your main garbage can for pick-up. Try not to throw away bits of food without first putting them in a small plastic grocery sack or, wastebasket bag. If you are simply scraping food into the trash can, you could be setting yourself up for ant invasion.
- As much as you hate to do it, before you take your tired body to bed at night make sure to wash the dishes that are in the sink and wipe the counters down. Waking up to ants crawling all over the kitchen counter is not how you want to start a day.
Ants are a normal part of the summer months. Nature is all around us and we have to do our best to try and co-exist. But, that does not mean that we have to share a home! Follow these tips for keeping ants outside and away from you and your family.
