Ants follow the trail of food and can easily make their homes in our houses. They love to get into our dry goods like sugar, sweets, crackers, and flour. They also can quickly find their way to uncovered food left on the table. Some ants like the small red ants can really be irritating when they start making their homes in our towels and clothes. It’s really horrifying when you dry yourself and you start getting ant bites or when you put on a pair of pants and suddenly you’re hopping and itching from the burning pain of their bites. What can be done to stop them from getting in our stuff? Swarm Pest Control Brisbane gives sound advice on how to keep ants from overtaking your house.

Make a big stink: A big stink to the ants that is. Ants don’t really like the smell of some spices like cinnamon, peppers, cloves, and garlic. Spread out these spices in the areas where you find ants. Not only will your house smell nice, these spices will keep ants away. I’ve seen hot chili peppers like the small red Thai chili peppers put in bags of rice to prevent ants from getting into the rice sack and eating the rice. The chili dries up and doesn’t mold and stops ants from getting into the rice.

Chalk your house: You can buy chalk sticks or chalk powder (sports gear sellers would sell these or stores where they sell school supplies). Wherever you see ants traveling into your rooms, chalk the area around it. The ants will not go through the chalk line. This will redirect them back to where they came from. If you have an open house, it might be difficult to chalk a big area. What you can do is protect the stuff that they’re after. If you have to leave food out on the table like cupcakes, draw a chalk circle around it and the ants will not touch it. It’s a pretty amazing solution.

Spread out used coffee grounds: Coffee grounds can be put on or in the dirt in your flower beds around your house to deter ants from nesting around there. Put them in your garden in between the rows of vegetables.

Poison the source: If you’re really desperate or have a really terrible infestation of ants, take drastic action. Buy poison that the ants will take back to their nests to ultimately feed the queen. This will kill the ants and stop them from multiplying. Many ant killers just kill the ants straight away but you have to buy the one that they will bring back to their nests to kill the queen. Otherwise they will keep breeding and they’ll keep coming back to bother you.

Instant relief by poison: If you have too many ants, to kill them off right away you can mix some borax with sugar water to make a homemade poison. Put these in little containers near the ant nests and when they ingest it, it will kill them. Be cautious that your family and your pets will not ingest or touch this solution. Warn them of what you’re doing so that they are aware that there is poison. Keep your pets away from the area where you put your poison.

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