The Ants Keep Marching... And Won't Stop!

Ant Baits are one of the most effective methods of stopping ant infestations. They're cheap and they hit the nest where it counts: right at the queen. The following tips can help you bait more effectively, while saving money and time.

The trick to baiting is to allow the offending ants to find the ant bait, eat it and then take it back to the nest to the queen. If everything works as planned, the ant bait will destroy the entire colony within a few weeks. When baiting, do not use aerosol sprays or other insecticides at the same time as these will kill the ants before they ever reach the bait. Make sure the bait is the only thing the ants have to eat!

At DoMyOwnPestControl.com we sell two types of baits: ant gel baits and ant granular baits. Gels can be applied in small pea-sized dabs almost anywhere ants forage, including window sills and in cracks and cervices. The granular baits can be spread in large areas such as crawl spaces and basements.

Sweet-loving ants are perhaps the easiest to control. Dr. Barb Ogg from the University of Nebraska recommends placing a ribbon of jelly about 1 ½ inches long on masking tape and then placing these “survey stations” in several places where the sweet ants are foraging. Once the ants start feeding on the jelly, you can place the poison bait nearby until the ants start feeding on that as well. The jelly simply helps you place the bait more effectively (saving you money and time), and the masking tape makes the jelly easy to remove.

Big-headed ants, little black ants and pavement ants prefer grease/protein-based baits such as Advance 375A Select Granular ant bait or MaxForce Insect Bait. Just as in sweet-ant baiting, place the granules in areas where you see ants foraging and make sure that they are taking the bait. Be patient and replace the baits as needed.

Carpenter ants eat a wide variety of food including sweets and protein. For carpenter ants use Advance Carpenter Ant Bait and/or MaxForce carpenter ant bait gel. Carpenter ants can be tough to control so many customers find that using the MaxForce Carpenter Ant Bait gel along with the Advance Carpenter Ant Bait is more effective. Carpenter ants forage during late afternoon and evening hours, so make sure the ant bait is available at this time of the day.

Once the baiting has been effective and the indoor/outdoor ant infestation is under control, you may want to follow up with a periodical spray insecticide (such as Demand CS, Talstar One, or Suspend SC) around windows, doors and other places of entry to make sure the ants don’t enter your home again.


What if the Ants Won't Eat the Bait?

Ants need sugars and proteins to survive. Most of the gels we sell are sugar baits, and the granules tend to be protein baits. An ant's desire for both sweet and protein may change periodically and so if an ant bait gel doesn't seem to be working, then try using a granular bait such as Maxforce Insect Bait or Advance 375A Ant Bait. Also, make sure that the bait you are giving the ants is their only source of food, and that the surface where you are applying the bait is not contaminated with a cleaning agent or another type of insecticide.

Good luck!


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