While ants do not usually cause big diseases, they are still unhygienic and can become a nuisance if they get large in numbers. Not only are ants frustrating when they keep running around your home all the time, but they cause damage as well. Some ant types, such as the red ants, also known as fire ants, bite humans and cause painful stings.
If you want to get rid of tiny red ants in your home and protect your family from their stings, you should call pest control before the situation worsens. While fire ants rarely cause human deaths, allergic people can experience a life-threatening reaction. It is important to seek immediate medical attention if you experience allergic symptoms.
Remedies to get rid of fire ants at home
- Cayenne pepper.
You can make your own fire ant repelling solution at home without using any harsh chemicals. All you need is boiling water, cayenne peppers, and cayenne pepper powder.
First of all, boil water and pour it over the cayenne peppers. Let the mixture sit for 24 hours. Next, sprinkle some pepper powder in the area frequented by the fire ants. Then, pour the cayenne water into the ant hill. Even if the ants try to escape their hill, they will die when they come in contact with the powder.
- Make your yard unlivable for fire ants.
It is natural for fire ants to become attracted to your house and build a home there when you make the place ideal for them. If you keep stumbling upon their colonies in your yard, break it up with landscape features, so there is not enough room for them to build hills. Pests love damp areas, so it is important to keep your yard dry.
Additionally, remove decaying wood, such as logs, tree stumps, or fallen branches. These are water sources for the ants, and you do not want to fulfill their needs for living.
- Dish soap.
Dish soap is a common household item; we use it daily to wash our plates and bowls. However, fire ants are not much of a fan. Dish soap contains certain chemicals that can break down the exoskeleton of the fire ants when they come in contact with them. This causes the ants to become extremely dehydrated, and they die.
To kill ants with dish soap, create a mixture of water and dish soap and pour it into a spray bottle. Spray this mixture at any common ant entry points and over their colonies.
