Sugar Ant Control

Sugar ants love a dirty house. Believe me, I know from experience. There have been times in my life (college) where I lived a chaotic existence of slovenly filth and apathy towards cleanliness—and the ants came along for the ride. They mostly liked the area around our sink, which was perpetually filled with dirty dishes. They would walk in a line to and from their nest, feasting upon our leavings. Such an infestation has a simple solution: clean your damned house! Don't leave food-caked dishes lying around. Sweep your floor if there are crumbs. Vacuum crumb-laden carpets. Take out your garbage. If you have pets, clean their feeding area on a regular basis. Don't eat in bed.

Store your food in ant-proof containers. Even if you do keep a clean house, it is possible you are attracting ants to your ample pantries. Those paper sacks for staples like sugar, flour, and grains are no match for an ant. You need to invest in sealable tin or plastic storage containers. They will prevent ants (and many other pests like mice, flour beetles, and pantry moths) from feasting upon your food stores. It is also important to keep your cupboards clean. Sweep out any spills and clean the counters with a white vinegar/water solution. Another area that attracts ants is the sticky outside of honey and syrup bottles, jars of jelly, and the crumb tray inside a toaster.

Use ant baits to control ant populations. As someone who has spent an inordinate amount of time working in commercial food service kitchens, I am very familiar with a variety of ant baits. Some are essentially sticky traps, which kill the ants, but miss a larger opportunity. The best kind of ant baits encourage ants to take poisoned food home with them, thus triggering other ants to follow the trail and do the same. Once the poisoned food is in the nest, it is passed around and ingested by large numbers of ants and eventually kills them. The most common bait poisons are Fipronil and Borax. Both are very effective, slow-acting poisons.

Ant sprays and dusts will also kill sugar ants. Don't kill individual ants; it doesn't do any good. You need to follow them back to their homes and murder their families. Following one ant through the inner workings of your house will be difficult, but if you set out some food, it won't be long before there is a trail of sugar ants—much easier to follow. The nest might be inside a wall, in a crack/void in your foundation, or in the soil outside your house. Powder based insecticides (like Sevin) are better for spraying into voids. If you find a nest outside, open it up with a shovel and apply your insecticide.

Decomposing debris attracts ants. Keeping the inside of your house clean is a good first step, as is storing your food in ant-proof containers. But it is important to remove decomposing plant matter from the periphery of your home. Some ants will visit your house just for the rotting leaves and sticks that pile up around your foundation. Speaking of foundations, if you have noticeable cracks or spaces between bricks, seal those up right away. Besides exposing the interior of your home to a plethora of pests, it could also mean your home has become structurally unsound. This is something you really should be worried about—if you're not.