The ants trailing across your kitchen counter almost always nest outdoors, in the soil, mulch or under the slab, and come in to forage. That is why spraying the trail feels effective for a day and changes nothing: the colony is untouched and simply sends more.
What Do House Ants Look Like?
The common indoor invaders here are odorous house ants, which smell faintly of coconut when crushed, pavement ants, which trail from expansion joints, and acrobat ants, which raise the abdomen over the body when disturbed. All are small and uniformly sized, unlike fire ants.
- Uniform worker size, unlike fire ants which have mixed sizes in one colony
- Trails follow edges: countertops, baseboards, patio joints and the foundation line
- Odorous house ants smell like coconut or blue cheese when crushed
- Activity spikes after heavy rain, when nests flood and colonies relocate
Are House Ants Dangerous?
No real health risk. They contaminate food and they are relentlessly annoying, but they do not sting like fire ants and they do not damage structures like carpenter ants can.
Why Is My Yard Full of House Ants?
Water, food and a way in. Rain floods outdoor nests and pushes colonies toward the dry, warm slab. Mulch piled against the foundation, tree limbs touching the roof and unsealed weep holes all give direct routes inside.
How Do You Get Rid of House Ants?
Treat from the outside in. A foundation barrier plus a granular ring in the beds hits the colony where it lives, and sealing the entry points closes the route. Interior spray on the trail is the least useful thing you can do, because the ants you can see are a tiny fraction of the colony.
Foundation barrier, granular bed ring and weep-hole dusting, from $35.99 a month.
See the Home Defender Plan
