How to Get Rid of Ants
Most house-invading ants are small, six-legged, and travel in visible trails.
How to identify them
Most house-invading ants are small, six-legged, and travel in visible trails. You will usually see them single file along counters, baseboards, and foundation lines, heading toward food or moisture. Common home invaders include pavement ants, odorous house ants, and the larger carpenter ants, which prefer damp wood.
Where they hide
Ants forage hardest in the warm months, from spring through early fall, and push indoors when it turns hot and dry or after heavy rain. They follow scent trails other ants leave behind, so a couple of scouts quickly become a line. The colony nests outdoors in soil, under pavers, and along foundations, and only sends workers inside for food and water.
Why it matters
A trail of ants in the kitchen is more than a nuisance. They contaminate food and surfaces, some species bite or sting, and carpenter ants can tunnel into damp wood. Because the colony lives outside and only sends workers in, squashing the ones you see does nothing to the nest.
How to get rid of them
The fix is to treat the outside, not chase trails indoors. You spray a barrier around the foundation, entry points, and the trails leading in, which knocks down foragers and breaks the scent trail so new ants stop following it. Repeat on the schedule we send to keep the barrier fresh through the season.
Killer Pro Plan
Answer a few quick questions and we match you to the right kit for ants. It ships the same treatment the pros use and a schedule that keeps the trail broken.
Safe around kids and pets. Follow the label, and your family and pets can be back in the yard. Clear instructions ship in every kit.