Some species of ants live in colonies outside and come to your home to search for food. Other ants build their colonies inside your house. Whether ants live indoors or outside, they are a nuisance when they march over your kitchen floor or get in your dog's food bowl. Ants can be difficult to eliminate since they live in such large colonies. Here are some tips for ant control and why you should get rid of ants in your home and sometimes even when they're outside.

Why You Should Eliminate an Ant Problem

Ants are annoying, but that's not the only reason you want them out of your house. Ants are drawn to a variety of foods. Some like sweets and others like fatty foods. Ants can ruin the food you leave on the counter, and they can get in boxes and sacks of food in your cabinets. Ants can also bother your pet's food and keep your pet from eating because the bowl is filled with ants.

When ants crawl on your food, they can spread diseases. Some ants sting, and in the case of fire ants, the stings are quite painful. Other ants, specifically the carpenter ant, can destroy your home in a similar way as termites. For all these reasons, it's best to eliminate stinging ants from your yard and other ants from your home, especially if you have kids and pets.

How You Can Get Rid of Ants

Ant control begins with blocking ants from getting inside your house. Do things like put on a door sweep, fix holes in screens, caulk around pipes, and plug holes where ants can enter. Also, move vegetation away from your house so the area near your foundation is in full sun to keep ants away.

Identify problem ants if you can, so you know what you're dealing with. You probably want an ant control professional to remove fire ant mounds outside as soon as you see them so the ants don't swarm you or a pet. You'll also want to know if there are ants around that can damage the wood in your home. Even knowing the type of harmless ants you have is important because it lets you find out the type of food they like so you can leave out bait they like.

If you can't keep ants out and killing ants as they march around your house doesn't decrease their numbers, then you may need professional pest control treatments. The exterminator may need to treat rotted wood in your house that's attracting the ants.

A pest control professional can get rid of ants that build colonies inside as well as outside. When you have a serious ant problem and the ants are coming in from outside, the exterminator may find the colony and treat it to eliminate the ants in your yard. Contact companies like Good News Pest Solutions to learn more. 

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