What are the living habits of ants? Learn how to get rid of ants in your home

Ants are insects of the family Formicidae. Their body colors are mostly black, brown, yellow or red. They are harmful to humans, biting and disturbing people, spreading pathogens, polluting the environment, and damaging buildings. So, what are the living habits of ants? How do you get rid of them when they come into your home?

1. What are the living habits of ants?

1. The family Formicidae consists of social insects that live in colonies and have a strong attachment to their nest. Most species build nests underground or in trees, and the colony mainly includes three types: female ants, male ants and worker ants. Generally, an ant nest is one family. A colony has one or several queens (female ants), while worker ants are the most numerous and specialize in building the nest, foraging and raising the young. The main function of male ants is to mate with female ants, and they die after mating.

2. Ants of the family Formicidae can grow normally within 15-40 °C, with the best temperature between 25-30 °C, soil moisture controlled between 10%-20%, and relative air humidity controlled between 70%-90%. In winter, when the temperature drops below 10 °C, they enter their burrows, but they do not hibernate; they simply stop being active as frequently and eat the food stored in autumn.

3. Ants of the family Formicidae have complex feeding habits. The more primitive species are carnivorous, feeding on insects, small animals and even sick or dead large animals. The more advanced species are carnivorous and herbivorous, able to feed on both animals and plants, eating seeds, fungi and other plant matter, and are especially fond of the “honeydew” secreted by aphids and scale insects. Other species are omnivorous, mostly feeding on seeds, fruits, insects and so on.

4. Ants communicate using the scent of their secretions. If an ant finds food, it leaves a trail of scent on the way home; other ants then follow this route to find the food and continuously strengthen the scent. If an ant is crushed, it gives off a strong odor that immediately alerts other ants, putting them all in an attacking state.

2. How do you get rid of ants when they come into your home?

The places where ants are active are very dirty, and they may carry many viruses and bacteria. People who come into contact with them may become infected. They also contaminate food, bite people, bore holes in walls, and chew through wooden furniture, so they must be eliminated.

Method 1: Clear away attractions. Ants do not come into your home for no reason; they may be attracted by food they like, such as a trash can that has not been cleaned for a long time, food dropped on the table or floor, or sugary foods such as cake, brown sugar or honey. Clean up these things in your home that attract ants to avoid attracting more of them.

Method 2: Clean your home. Ants like sweets and prefer dark, damp environments, and they like to appear in the kitchen. Clean up the food ants like and do not leave food residue behind, and thoroughly clean the places ants like, especially the kitchen.

Method 3: Wipe out the main nest. If ants build a nest somewhere, find their nest immediately and wipe it out. You can spray insecticide at the nest entrance, or apply laundry detergent water at the entrances where they appear. If they build a nest in a flower pot, you can water it to drown them.

Method 4: Cut off their routes. If you cannot find the ants' nest, you can block their routes by spreading things ants fear along the paths where they frequently appear, such as laundry detergent, camphor balls, cilantro and celery, rubber, chili powder or talcum powder, so they cannot get into your home.

Method 5: Prevent them well. If you want to stay away from ant problems for the long term, you need to do prevention work well, such as cleaning regularly, regularly cleaning, washing or sun-drying clothes and bedding, and regularly killing insects. Without affecting people's comfort, you can spray insecticide in dark corners and dead corners.

The above are the living habits of ants and methods for getting rid of them when they come into your home. We hope it is useful to everyone.