The experience of having ants at your house or in the garden is far from being pleasant. As a rule people got tiered of numerous attempts to get rid of these annoying little intruders. They tend to spread all over your house as fast as fire and turn your life into the obsession to kill the unwanted guests. And some of ants can be not only annoying but dangerous for you health, as fire ants for example, thus the question of eliminating them becomes urgent and vital. In this article an overview of effective ants and roach traps, which will help get rid of pests.
Previously powerful poisons containing pesticides and mechanical products were used to kill ants. Fortunately, nowadays insecticide market all over the world is ready to offer more effective and safe methods to combat ants.
First of all, please read the article how to get rid of ants.
As a rule, several various methods are used for this and they can and even should be combined to achieve long lasting results.
Contents:
How Does It Work?
One of most effective way of killing ants is using special traps with poison killing the insects. Despite they work a bit slower than special dusts or sprays they are pretty effective due to the fact the traps affect distant insects as well.
The principle is extremely simple: ants (all types of them, including pretty dangerous fire ants) reach for the trap and eat some of the gel or solution placed in it. They not only die themselves, but also spread some of the poisonous treat to other insects which helps to quick eliminating of all of them.
Each bait as a rule consists of 4 major components:
- Attractant. Mainly it’s some food or maybe a pheromone accepted by ants.
- Palatable carrier, providing physical structure.
- Toxicant. The element must be slow in action, but effective in its killing action.
- Other materials. The elements are as a rule added to the bait for formulation purposes.
So, the trick of using ants trap is making sure that insects find the bait inside it and not only eat themselves, but also bring some back to their nest and share it with the queen. It’s really very important, because if you don’t kill the queen, it will in no time rebuild the whole population of ants and you’ll get attacked by them again.
If to compare traps with sprays, the first are better in effectiveness because after sprays the majority of ants will die without taking poison to their nest, and considerably the general efficiency of this particular method is much lower.
There are several factors that influence the speed of killing ants with traps:
- Whether ants like the taste of this particular bait;
- Whether they can reach for some other food in your house;
- What type of pesticide producers put into their traps.
Safety Measures
As it has been said previously up-to-date means for combating ants are maximum human and pets friendly, but still they include poison and thus can be dangerous for your health. Setting a trap, no matter homemade or professional one, follow the simplest safety rules:
- Always use gloves while setting the trap;
- Pesticides in the traps are not to be exposed, thus if you find some by chance, leave them alone;
- In no case move the poison, open it or put into your mouth;
- If it happened so that you’ve touched some of the pesticides inside the traps, immediately wash your hands with much water and soap to remove any poison from your skin and avoid the risk of contamination.
Ants Traps with Your Own Hands
Modern chemistry industry provides a great selection of various means for combating ants. But still there’s a row of valid reasons why some people opt for making ant traps themselves. The very first reason is financial one: people want to save some money on the traps. Others, who have pets at their homes, do not want to hurt the animals with various commercial means of killing ants, thus they choose something more natural and safe.
And finally, you might fail to believe the fact, but there are people who need a method that doesn’t in fact kill the insects. If your goal is to get rid of ants and you are looking for an effective yet safe homemade method, then there’s something worth your reading here.
What you’ll need to make a really effective homemade trap for ants:
- Borax (you can always find it in the most of grocery stores);
- Honey;
- A tea spoon;
- A metal jar lid;
- Some water.
Now let’s start making the substance that will let you get rid of ants’ invasion at your home.
Step one: Take two tablespoons of honey and 2 tablespoons of borax, add one tablespoon of water and stir the mixture thoroughly.
Step two: Find the place where your little intruders enter your house or where there are a lot of them, for example on the countertop, and set your trap. Pour some solution into the lids. Already in no time you’ll see many of ants marching to your «treat». Some of them will die right in the place and others are going to die from borax a bit later. Be sure, just in several days your house will be totally free of unwanted intrusion.
You can try using sugar or syrup instead of honey, but the last proved to be more effective for the purpose. Also, there are people who prefer make more of killing solution than they currently need and store the rest for future use. I find freshly made solution more effective for getting rid of insects.
Is Borax Safe for Your Pets and Children?
Many people are puzzled with this question and you might have the same concerns after reading the advice above. The fact is for making the traps you are going to use a tiny amount of borax: it’s enough to kill insects and will bring no harm to your pets.
As to kids, you should keep a watchful eye on them and make sure your traps are at places where they can’t be reached by children. You or your child will get no harm if the mixture gets on your skin, but problems can be pretty serious in case the solution is ingested. Thus, despite the amount of poison used in the trap is minimal, it’s better to keep it out of children’s reach.
Specialized Means for Killing Ants
If your attempts of freeing your household from unwanted intrusion with ants have failed and you feel really exhausted with this fruitless combat with ants, it’s time to think about some more radical options. And this doesn’t’ mean using some extra powerful poisons that are not safe for your health. In this case it means looking for something more working and efficient.
Many up to date producers can boast really effective traps that will help you solve your problem. You’ll need to study thoroughly all the means provided at the modern market and pick up something that will work in your case. Luckily, the options are numerous. Just be careful and thoroughly examine the products offered.
The Trap That Is Really Working!
Many producers boast their traps are most effective but there are products that are really top popular with consumers and thus provide great effectiveness in killing ants.
One of them is TERRO Ant Baits, the means that have fairly won its popularity due to great results in getting rid of ants in your house. This means has been a top seller among Pest Control Traps for long time already. The trap features liquid filling and is designed for indoor use. According to producer, the trap will exterminate all kinds of ants, including most dangerous fire ants.
The trap features safe construction protecting it from leaking, thus it’s absolutely safe for home use and won’t harm your animals or children in case they contact it by accident.
The trap will work until the last one in the colony is exterminated, including ants’ queen, which is the key moment in combating the insects. Though, the manufacturers advise on being patient and not expect very quick results: it’s considered to be a slow action weapon. The contamination will work gradually but inevitably, ensuring extermination of the entire unwelcomed guest from your household. Thus, although consumers often criticize TERRO baits for their slow action, they still consider it more effective than the analogous products of other manufacturers.
How to Combat Ants in Your House: Review of Specialized Means
Despite ants traps are considered the most widespread means of killing ants, there are some other means that can be successfully used for this purpose.
- Ant gel with a plunger. It’s not cheap, but very effective product featuring numerous positive reviews from consumers. The gel contains a special attractant that turn anything covered with it into a highly effective trap for ants.
- Special insecticides for killing ants. Here you’ll find a great variety of forms starting from dust up to granules and concentrate. The main advantage of using so called dry insecticides like dust is that they are waterproof and are made both for outdoors and indoors use. Also, it’s pretty easy in use and allows reaching hard places for killing insects.
Granules work the pretty same way. You can also solve them in liquid thus getting liquid means for killing ants.
- Insecticide envelopes. Special insecticide for dissolving in water. It’s meant for spraying and keeps working as a repellent for up to 3 months.
- Insecticide concentrates get the highest ratings from consumers. Their effectiveness in case of proper use reaches 100%. It’s extremely powerful and will kill all the insects around, not only ants. It serves as a repellent for several months as well.
- Ultrasonic pest repellers. Provide a really effective, safe and economic solution for killing ants. It will not only kill your unwanted guests but will also prevent them from another intrusion in future.
