What Attracts Ants Your to Home

Ants are admired because of their hard work and organization but no one wants to see lots of them inside their house. When your home seems to have been invaded by ants, you may immediately wonder what they're looking for. This article will explain what attracts ants to your home and what you can do to deter them from coming back.

What attracts ants to your home?

If ants have entered your home, it's probably to gain things that they need for survival, such as water and shelter. If times are hard outside in your garden, ants will enter your home in search of food.

The Search for Food

Ants have over 400 odor receptors in their tiny bodies. That makes it hard for them to ignore the scent of sweet drinks, tasty meats and crunchy cereals that wafts toward them from your kitchen. If they line up and head to your pantry, it's because the scent of something delicious has attracted them.

You can sometimes prevent this by making sure all of your food is stored in airtight containers. This includes things like uncooked rice, since ants will make do with that in a pinch. However, they do prefer things like cheese snacks, which are tastier and have a more attractive fragrance than uncooked rice.

Water

Some species of ants like to build their nests in places that are damp. If you have areas like these inside your home, that will attract these species of ants. Carpenter ants are like this and prefer to build nests under bathroom tiles and sinks, since these areas are moist. You're not likely to spot these nests at a glance but a professional who is familiar with the behavior of Carpenter ants would know how to find the nests.

A Place to Rest

Ants want a place where they can feel safe and take care of their young. If it's raining heavily outdoors and their nests have been flooded for the past few days, they will move to your home. If they find everything that they need there, they will decide to stay for quite a while and you may need to ask a professional to help you get rid of them.

Pest control processionals understand the behavior of each species of ants. They can identify the one that has infested your home and develop an appropriate method of removal, so you'll no longer have to worry about these hardworking intruders.

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Learn about carpenter ants here