Regularly inhabiting kitchens and pantries, sugar ants are everyday annoyances for many homeowners across the country.
In the United States, there are multiple ant species called sugar ants, and they all come indoors to search for sweet substances.
Keep reading to find out how to get rid of sugar ants in kitchen spaces. No matter the species, we have tips to help you keep these pests at bay!
What are Sugar Ants?
The sugar ants in the United States aren’t the actual species. Camponotus consobrinus originates from Australia and inhabits the Eastern and Western regions of the continent.
Sugar ants in the United States aren’t one set species. A sugar ant is any small black ant that infests indoor areas to forage for sweet foods. These pests may scour through bags of sugar, honey jars, and syrup bottles to sate their sweet tooth.
Most ant species hunt for sweet things like fruit, pollen, nectar, and aphids to find their nutritional fix. However, not every species will seek out sugary substances like the sugar ants that invade your home.
While the Australian ant doesn’t live in the United States, other types of ants can cause enough destruction. These pests can infect the food in your pantry, making it unfit to consume.
How to Get Rid of Sugar Ants in Kitchen
You’ll want to act fast to eliminate an indoor ant infestation. These annoying pests can quickly overtake your kitchen or pantry without proper pest protection!
Check out our favorite sugar ant control tips here!
Secure all of Your Sweet Foods
Because sugar ants search for sugary substances indoors, they’ll head toward unsecured food. Sugar ants will forage through sugar, cookies, honey, molasses, jelly, and syrup.
Any groceries initially stored in loose or flimsy packaging need separate packaging to protect them from ants and other pests. These tiny insects can crawl through minuscule cracks and gaps to reach their prize.
Store your sugar products in tightly sealed plastic containers to keep the bugs away. Ants can’t chew through firm plastic products, and air-tight objects can keep insects from crawling inside.
Keep other sugary jellies and syrups tightly closed and cleaned. Residual messes left on the sides of your sweets containers could attract ants to your pantry cabinets. Any tops that aren’t tightly secured could also encourage ants to stick around!
Clean-up Left Behind Messes
Stray crumbs or leftover food may tempt ants to eat you out of your house and home! Uncleaned messes attract pests of all kinds, but flies and ants are common houseguests whenever your kitchen isn’t tidy.
After finishing your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, wipe down your counters, stove, and dishes to dispose of any left-behind food. Grab a broom and sweep up your floors to prevent sugar ants from finding anything to eat on the ground. This is how to get rid of sugar ants in kitchen spaces effectively.
Syrups, soft drinks, jellies, and jams can leave behind a thick residue that ants will be happy to eat! With a warm wash cloth and a kitchen cleaner, scrub and wipe away the sticky mess until your kitchen is squeaky clean.
Don’t forget about your trash! Always securely tie your rubbish together and promptly dispose of it after a few days. Even after you throw away your sweet leftovers, ants can comb through your garbage in search of their next sweet treat.
Use a Store-Bought Ant Bait
Here’s how to get rid of sugar ants in kitchen areas quickly! Whenever you want ants gone fast, consider taking a trip to the store and purchasing commercial ant bait.
Place the ant bait wherever the sugar ants frequent, like your kitchen counters, inside your pantry, or around your trash can. However, thoroughly read the product’s instructions and never use more than directed.
As the ants interact with the gel-based baits, they will ingest the incorporated insecticide poison. Not only will this eliminate foraging ants, but it will impact other ants in the colony as they feed on the collected bait.
Your ant problem may increase whenever you use an ant bait, but this is normal. More ants appear as they catch a whiff of the delicious-smelling appeal, and the ant population should decrease after a few weeks.
Use a DIY Solution
Do you want to know how to get rid of sugar ants in kitchen spots on your own? You’re in luck! We have the best tips to eliminate ants through effective DIY methods.
Borax and boric acid mixed with sugar, honey, or syrup can attract hundreds of invading ants to your homemade bait. You’ll successfully eliminate other colony members as the ants return to the mound with your pesticide concoction!
Borax and boric acid work similarly to destroy an insect’s digestive system. Instead of killing the ants on the spot, this bait will keep them alive long enough to spread the poison around the rest of the ants.
Vinegar sprays can also help eliminate sugar ants whenever you see them. The powder won’t stop the bulk of the pests, but you can dispose of the ants actively invading your kitchen or pantry.
Because vinegar is highly acidic, you’ll need to dilute the vinegar with water. In a spray bottle, fill half the bottle with water and then top it with vinegar. After mixing it, you can dispose of the invading ants.
Contact a Pest Control Agency
When you’re still struggling with sugar ants, it’s time to turn to reliable pest control methods to keep them at bay. Pest control is how to get rid of sugar ants in kitchen areas quickly. All you have to do is call!
Here at proof. pest control, our technicians are trained to handle over 30 pests! No matter the pest, we can eliminate them. Contact us here today!
