Ant Exterminator Portland

Ant Control FAQs

How long do ants live?

Adult odorous house ants can live for 2-3 years. Plenty of time for them to build large nests. So if you’re battling ants year after year, or not getting good results with repellent sprays, this could be partly the reason why.

How to Get Rid of Ants in Kitchen

To keep ants out of your kitchen, you’ll need to seal every crack & crevice, keep all food in sealed airtight containers, and clean nightly.

In our experience, ants can always enter through practically microscopic cracks, or through the gap at the foundation-to-siding wall junction.

And many impeccably sealed & professionally cleaned homes still have ants sometimes.

Candidly, odorous house ants (sugar ants) seem more interested in the ideal warm, sheltered habitat within our walls, than the crumbs on the floor. Although clearly they love that too…

That’s why we recommend learning a bit about how odorous house ant work, and using baits in order to get the best & safest ant control.

For tips on managing odorous house ants without pesticides, check out Northwest Center for Alternative to Pesticide’s guide on small ant control here.

Borax Ant Killer Recipe

One of the best home remedies for ants is borax bait. When mixing borax and sugar ant killers, aim for a 1-10% borax and 1:2 simple syrup solution. Use higher borax concentrations for for smaller ant infestations or for carpenter ants, and lower concentrations for large ant colonies to allow for better movememnt back to the queen.

For odorous house ants aim for around 3% concentration of borax, and 1:2 water:sugar syrup:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 heaping tsp borax

Mix together until it is a thick liquid or gel, and place on active ant trails, out of reach of pets and kids. When baiting ants, remember not to spray or wipe their trails or else you will disrupt the movement of bait back to the colony.

Can Ants Fly?

Yes, ants can fly! But only at a certain point in their reproductive cycle when they are looking to mate and create new colonies.

Flying ants are called alates, or “swarmers,” and appear suddenly. Alates are born with wings that develop in their pupal stage. Whereas regular “worker ants” are born without wings.

In Portland carpenter ants, odorous house ants & pavement ants swarm in the Spring. If you see flying inside your house, there are probably ants inside your walls which might be good to have inspected by a professional.

Photography courtesy of Wikimedia commons. Pavement ant photo author NY State IPM Program at Cornell University, dampwood termite photo author Judy Gallagher.

Termite vs. Flying Ant

Termite swarmers are easy to distinguish from ant swarmers, because they both have two sets of wings. In general, all four wings on a flying termite are the same length, whereas ant swarmers have one shorter set of wings. 

Best Ways to Get Rid of Ants

There’s lot of different ways to approach getting rid of ants naturally. Here are our suggestions to get the best ant control:

1. Keep vegetation & tree branches trimmed away from your home.
2. Caulk any obvious gaps around windows, doors and cracks in the foundation.
3. For light infestations, clean and sanitize any areas where ants are foraging.
4. For heavy infestations, use a bait product and allow the ants to take it back to the colony.
5. If ant activity persists after baiting, reach out to an eco-friendly ant control company who can help you further.

Portland ant control is affordable, easy & safe with Pest & Pollinator. Give us a call or text today.

Pest & Pollinator LLC is committed to our mission of helping the Portland OR community solve pest problems while reducing pesticides and protecting biodiversity.