What Attracts Ants to the Home
They don’t always cause immediate harm, but their effects can accumulate over time and lead to complications down the road. It’s also simply annoying and unsettling to find ants crawling around your kitchen or bathroom all the time.
While the likelihood that they attack is greater during Melbourne’s warmer months, the problem is still avoidable when you know what attracts them in the first place (and then actively avoid these things).
Identifying your risk factors is the first step in domestic pest control, followed by the utilisation of ant control services if needed. These are some of the top attraction factors for ants. Avoid them if you want to keep your home free of ants all year long.
- Moisture
Ants love moisture of any sort, whether it be standing water in your bathroom or kitchen, a leaky pipe, a glass of drinking water that’s been left out, or a decorative water feature. There are even certain species, such as Carpenter Ants, that are especially attracted to moist areas and selectively choose to live and feed on them. - Sugar
As we know from depictions of ants in the media, they love sweets and other sugary substances. To minimise the chances that ants come crawling for your sugary foods or beverages, clean up spills straight away and cover all sweet food and drinks when not being consumed. While all ants are drawn to sugar, Australian Sugar Ants exhibit this feature more than any other kind. - Crumbs
Don’t leave a literal trail of crumbs around your home, as this will lead ants straight to your eating and cooking spaces. Different ants prefer different types of food, but crumbs from processed foods of any variety are likely to draw them and their friends to your home. - Grease
Not all ants like greasy foods, but those that do will come for it in a heartbeat. Pharaoh’s Ants, for instance, will travel long distances to forage for fatty goods like oil or butter. Any grease in your home should be cleaned up with alcohol to fully eradicate the remnants. - Pet Food
Most ants require a large amount of protein in their diet, and pet foods contains this in appropriate amounts. Therefore, ants will come marching for your animal’s food if it’s left out for them to access. Be sure to check food bowls and bags to see if any ants have come to dine on it. - Rubbish Bins
For ants, rubbish bins are like all-you-can-eat buffets. They contain all of the ants’ favourite foods and essential nutrients, including sugars, salts, fats and proteins. Be sure to seal all bins well any time they are full or contain meat/produce scraps. - Gaps & Openings
The good news is that ants can’t enter your home if they don’t have a way to get in, but the bad news is that they are small enough to enter through spaces you might overlook. If you have cracks in your home foundation, loose tiles, broken window frames or the like, be sure to repair them immediately to keep insects out. - Other Ants
While all ants live in colonies, some are larger than others. Certain varieties such as Coastal Brown Ants and Black House Ants nest near homes or gardens, meaning that if you spot one, their clan is nearby. Other types such as the White-Footed House Ant will even spread their colony into smaller, satellite groups, making them harder to fully remove.
This list is no doubt overwhelming, but the possibility of ants in your home doesn’t need to be. Take these steps to combat ant invasions in your Melbourne home. If you have ants on or near your property, Dawson’s Pest Control can exterminate them in the long term. Call us to learn more about our range of ant control services.
