Summer and Spring are almost everyone’s favourite seasons. The weather is fine and you can do all your favourite outdoor activities but unfortunately, you won’t be the only ones who will be enjoying these seasons.

With the coming of summer most crawling and creeping insects come out of wherever they have been hibernating throughout winter.

Among these are notorious ants which can not only make their colonies in your home but invade your homes in search of food.

Most ants are not that lethal but they can be really a nuisance. Some fall into your milk, sugar or any other sugary beverage and it won’t be so good to drink or eat food with ants in it.

Some ants can also cause great damage by destroying structures. Carpenter ants to be particular, are guilty of this crime. They live in damp wood and feed on wood so if they attack your wooden structures, you might incur some losses.

All pests including ants come into your home for one thing and that is food. If you want to keep ants away from your home then make sure you don’t leave any evidence of food lying around in your house as this will definitely invite the ants into your home.

If you want to live a stress-free life by having an ant-free house then here are the top seven tips you can exercise to keep ants away from your house.

1. Store food in sealed containers

Ants are very tiny and can get inside your house through the tiniest openings. It is very hard to control ants from getting into your house but very easy to prevent them from visiting your home ever again.

Ants are always in search of food so keep your food especially sweet things in sealable airtight containers. Some ants can get into jars that are not properly sealed so make sure your food is in airtight containers.

2. Take notice of scout ants

If you ever spot an ant or two in your house then know that they are scouts which are there to see if there is anything to eat in your house.

If they find anything they can leave a trail of pheromone, a chemical that will make other ants follow that trail and soon your house will be full of ants coming in for food.

What you can do about these scout ants is to make sure they won’t find any food in your home so that they won’t have anything to take back to the colony.

If they don’t find anything, they will definitely look for the food somewhere else which is not your house.

You can also place baits for these scout ants to take back to their colonies. That way you can wipe out the entire colony if the ants ever carry these poisonous baits to their colonies.

The best way to keep ants away from your home is simply to stop giving them a reason to come back again.

3. Seal off cracks and all openings 

Ants can make shelter in cracks on 

your walls or pavements near your home so it is better if you seal off such cracks to keep the ants away. If they ever make a colony near your house then your house will surely become their primary hunting ground.

You wouldn’t want that do you? Of course, no one wants their house to be infested with ants so make sure you repair all cracks that might make habitat or entry points for ants.

4. Remove ant trails

If you see a trail of ants in your home then know that you already have an ant problem. To keep them from coming in anymore, clean any trails that you see inside your house.

Such trails normally lead to a source of food so clean off the trail using vinegar water to get rid of pheromone, the chemical that they use to mark the way from food sources to their colonies.

Clean off the food source too so that other ants will discover it and make another trail.

4. Keep surfaces inside and around your home clean

Cleaning is not most people’s favourite chore but if you want an ant-free environment then you don’t have any choice but to do it. Clean all surfaces like shelves, kitchen counters and even floors. Keep them clean and free of any food mossels or spilt beverages.

At times you can see ants gathering at a place where you spill juice or any sweet beverage so clean up anything you spill and get rid of food residues in places where you prepare your food so that ants won’t find anything to scavenge on when they come in.

If they don’t find any food they will probably not come again and also won’t have to call other ants to come into your place. 

5. Wash dirty dishes after every meal

I know doing dishes is the last thing you want to hear after having food but it’s a mandate if you want to keep ants away. Leaving dirty dishes in the sink or anywhere is a sure way of inviting ants into your house and they will gladly accept the invite.

Ants are so determined that they can go anywhere as long as there is food even if it kills them. You may find some ants drowning in your sink whilst trying to salvage food from your dirty dishes but the bad news is that not all of them drown in the sink. 

Some of them succeed in taking food back and forth until they call out the whole colony to come as well.

To avoid such scenarios make sure you always wash your dirty dishes and clean your sink properly so that you won’t leave anything for the ants to eat.

6. Throw away trash

Trash inside and around the house can also attract ants into your house. Empty your indoor trash cans before you go to sleep and always keep your rubbish in sealed trash cans to avoid attracting ants.

Do not store rubbish near the house as this will also make ants make their colonies there and then sometimes enter your house. 

7. Destroy ant colonies

If you come across any ant colony be it inside or outside of the house then destroy it immediately. Make sure you wipe out the entire colony so that even when the scout ants come back, they won’t find anything there and relocate.

Clean your house regularly especially in hidden corners and behind furniture because ants usually make their colonies in such places. Clean your attic too and destroy any ant colony that you might find there.

Ant colonies are not hard to detect as they always leave a hip of debris around their colonies. The debris consists of food leftovers l, dead ants and some soil.

If you see any of this, sweep away all the debris, cover the hole and always check if there will be any ant activity again.

Ants generally come into your house looking for food and shelter so if you want to keep ants away make sure you keep your place clean both inside and outside, secure your food and make your home not to be ant friendly. By exercising all these tips to avoid ants you can be free of these home invaders.