Kill Sugar Ants
Sugar ants, are small ants with light brown or tan bodies. Sugar ants got their nickname because they primarily feed on sweets such as sugar, jelly and honey. These ants are also attracted to breads, cakes and fatty or greasy foods, making them a common household pest in many regions.
Contents
Steps
Prevent Sugar Ant Infestations
- Limit eating to the kitchen area only and clean up food spills as soon as they occur. A couple of drips of fruit punch or jelly sitting on the counter is enough to encourage scouting sugar ants to look for more food sources.
- Store all shelf-stable sweet products, such as cookies, candy and bread inside of tightly closed containers or in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Add fresh caulking or insulation around windows and doors and seal any known holes that the ants may use for access.
Bait Sugar Ants
- Encourage foraging. Colonies of sugar ants consist of 1 or more queens, reproductive males and non-reproductive worker females. The working females forage food to bring back to the queens.
- Put jelly into a squeeze bottle. You can use an empty ketchup or mustard bottle to make the jelly easier to dispense. Jelly is a favorite of the sugar ant, and will provide them with an easy food source to take home.
- Pick an area in your house where you have seen ants and you have an open surface to work with. Either dispense jelly directly onto the surface, or put some masking tape down first. Using masking tape to cover an area, such as along the back of a kitchen counter, makes jelly cleanup easier.
- Sprinkle a small amount of baby powder around the food so ants taking the bait home will leave an easily visible trail to the nest. If killing them through baiting doesn't stop the problem, it may be important for you to know the nest's location.
- Monitor the bait food to see if the ants are taking it home, and where they are carrying it as they leave. If ants are carrying the jelly off, you found a good location for your bait. If not, test another area until you find a good feeding spot.
- Choose a slow-acting poison to allow foraging ants time to bring the bait back to the colony before they die. Ant baits containing hydramethylnon or boric acid are often effective.
- Mix the poison into the jelly and put the bait food out in your test area. Follow package recommendations for the number of baits to set and the spacing of bate stations.
- Re-supply the bait stations as needed until you are no longer seeing ant activity. Depending on the size of the infestation, it may take 3 to 5 weeks to kill the ants completely.
Other Ways to Kill Sugar Ants
- Try a natural home remedy to kill sugar ants if you don't want to use chemicals.
- Feed the ants cornmeal, which they are unable to digest. Mix it with powdered sugar to make it more appealing.
- Spray ants directly with vinegar or a solution of water and baking soda. You can also spray these products directly on the nest or in and around areas where the ants are entering your home.
- Use a chemical granular or spray insecticide marketed for use on ants. There are many chemical insecticides that work equally well to kill ants, including diazinon, permethrin, cypermethrin, allethrin and others.
- Treat ant nests directly with an insecticide if you are able to locate them. If the ants have been around for a while or the infestation is severe, there are most likely multiple nests. Therefore, you should not discontinue treatment after killing only one nest. As the sugar ant colony grows, portions of the colony break off to occupy a new nest.
- Spray the foundation of an infested building from the outside with an insecticide to prevent additional ants from entering.
- Call in a professional exterminator or pest control company if your efforts to kill sugar ants have failed.
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