How To Keep Ants Out Of Your Kitchen

December 09, 2020

Is your kitchen under attack by ants? The pest control experts at Green Pest Guys have put together some proven tips on how you can shoo those unwanted guests away.

Ants in Texas — commonly of the acrobat, carpenter, fire, odorous house, and rover varieties — are some of the most common household pests in Texas and are infamous for taking up residence in the kitchen. These critters can enter your kitchen through cracks and seams in walls, foundation gaps, inside the floor, open windows and screens with holes, poorly sealed doorways and gaps where utility lines connect to your home.

You can stomp out one of these six-legged squatters when you see it crawling across your countertop, but doing that is not going to solve the problem permanently. Where there is one ant, you can be sure that there is a colony nearby. This is because ants leave pheromone trails behind wherever they go that other ants can smell and follow. Until you wipe out the entire colony, you will find ants searching for food and water on your countertops and inside the sinks and cabinets.

Continue reading to learn how to get rid of ants crawling around in your kitchen for good.

1. Identify The Entry Points.

The first order of business is to observe the ants in your kitchen for a few minutes to determine where they are coming from. Is it through cracks in the floor? Crumbled caulk along a windowsill? A torn window screen? Small holes inside the cabinets mounted against an exterior wall? Once you have found the entry points, you can focus your efforts on these areas for a more effective ant extermination.

2. Find The Nest.

Once you have found the entry points from which these critters are entering your kitchen, you need to track their trail to see where they go after exiting your kitchen. This will take you directly to the nest the rest of the colony calls home. The nest may be located indoors (e.g., underneath the kitchen sink or in a moisture-damaged wall) or outdoors (e.g., on the ground or in a tree), and will typically resemble a mound of debris or a pile of decaying leaves.

3. Destroy The Nest.

Once you have found the nest, you can destroy it with some proven DIY methods. If it is outdoors, you can use an outdoor non-repellent insecticide or pour a half-gallon of boiling water over it to kill the ants inside. If it is indoors, you can apply a very thin layer of boric acid powder using a plastic squeeze bottle directly over the nest to terminate the colony.

4. Use Traps To Kill The Colony.

What if you fail to find the nest? Well, you can still use a store-bought ant trap or create one using a small, sealed plastic container filled with one teaspoon borax and quarter-cup corn syrup. Position the trap as close to their entry point, so the ants have no problems finding the bait. Remove all other food sources around the traps, so there are no distractions. Once the ants find the poisonous bait inside the traps, they will carry it inside to feed the rest of the colony, in effect killing off every single ant over a period of a few days.

5. Clear Out Remaining Ants.

Even after you have wiped out an entire colony, you may still find a stray ant or two roaming around in your kitchen. To clear these remaining ants out, sprinkle a scant amount of food-grade diatomaceous earth in their path to dehydrate and kill them. You can also spray them with a soapy solution (one tablespoon dish soap and 12 ounces of plain water). This solution will immobilize the ant(s). You can then simply wipe them away with a paper towel.

6. Seal The Entry Points.

The entry point you identified earlier must be sealed so that new ant colonies can be stopped from invading your kitchen in the future. For sealing cracks around windows or doorways, caulk will work just fine. If you want to seal off small drywall voids, though, a joint compound will be a better alternative.

Keep Your Kitchen An Ant-Free Zone.

Use these tips to keep out future ants from your kitchen:

Keep your kitchen surfaces (countertops, floors and cabinets) clean and dry.
Clear away any food residues from the surfaces and store leftover foods in airtight containers.
Take the trash out as often as you can to reduce the possibility of ants feeding on food near and in your garbage can.
Even a little residual moisture in the sink can provide a water source for ants. So, regularly inspect your kitchen for leaks. If you find any, fix them as quickly as possible to avoid any moisture damage to the indoor structures.
Keep tree branches that touch the siding of your home trimmed.

Waging War Against Ants? Call Us Today!

If you live anywhere in Austin, Dallas, or North Houston, get in touch with Green Pest Guys to deal with an ant infestation in your kitchen effectively and safely.

Our experienced technicians will be able to find and/or identify the unwanted intruder, discover how they may be gaining access to your kitchen, exclude future intruders by sealing potential entry points and terminate the current habitants by using a combination of natural and synthetic pesticides. Our work is guaranteed, so you can rest assured that we will get the job done!