Sugar and sweets. It probably sounds like a recipe for breaking your diet, but it’s a recipe for another problem too – sugar ants. A few spilled grains of sugar after your morning coffee. An unsealed box of brownies on the counter. Leave items like these out for too long, and you’ll be dealing with a sugar ant invasion in your kitchen. Fortunately, there are ways (besides wiping your counters down routinely) to deal with this problem.
Step 1: Identify the Problem
The very first thing you should do is to make certain you’re dealing with a sugar ant invasion. Lots of little black ants are called sugar ants, including pavement ants and pharaoh ants. The proper name of this species is Camponotus consobrinus. And, they range from just a few millimeters in size up to fifteen millimeters in size. The males are winged and completely black. The females, though, have an orange tint to their dark bodies. Outside, they have big dirt hills to surround the entrance to their colonies. They come inside to forage for food.
Step 2: Think About Your Battlefield
Sugar ants are primarily a problem in the spring and summer, so your goal should be to ensure your battlefield, better known as your kitchen, is ready as soon as March but as late as September. If you want to control the problem, make certain your sink is completely clean when you leave it each night. If you’re leaving dishes in the sink, rinse them out well. Wipe your counters down, and consider pouring a bit of bleach down your drain each night so the smell of the food doesn’t attract them. You may also want to consider a light bleach solution when you clean your kitchen counter-tops. Then turn to the floor. Sweep and mop your kitchen floor every single night to keep those ants out. If you have carpeting in your kitchen, vacuum it regularly. You’ll also want to take your trash out routinely.
Step 3: Prep Your Army
You might imagine this step involves heading to the hardware store to grab a DIY spray off the shelf. That couldn’t be further from the truth. For real ant pest control, Melbourne residents and those in the surrounding areas turn to Slug-A-Bug for help. We can be your army, ready to march against those sugar ants and help you reclaim the battlefield that is your kitchen. To learn more, contact us today.