Interesting Uses For Coffee Grounds A Natural Ant Repellent! Ants are common household pests since they will eat almost anything. Ants are especially attracted to sweets indoors, as well as greasy, protein foods.
So, if you find a trail of ants on your kitchen countertop, just know that they’re probably working hard to find a food source and bring it back to their colony. They’ll also alert thousands of other ants of where delicious food can be found by leaving a trail of pheromones behind, which can last a remarkably long time.
Proactive Pest Control for Ants
Although it’s recommended to consult an expert exterminator to deal with the root of an ant infestation before it becomes full-blown, there are several helpful steps that you can take at home to reduce the likelihood of an ant attack, including:
Coffee Grounds as a Natural Ant Repellent
Coffee grounds have a number of handy uses around the house, beyond brewing up your morning cup of Joe. If you’ve noticed ant hills around the foundation of your home, you can sprinkle used coffee grounds in your garden and around the perimeter of your house. Ants are naturally repelled by the scent of coffee grounds and will be less likely to invade your property.
Additionally, when ants trek through coffee grounds searching for food, nitrogen in the used coffee grounds will burn the ants’ legs, deterring them from walking across. This same natural pest control method can be used to cover ant holes in a mound to destroy a colony.
To make a more potent repellent remedy, you can mix coffee grounds with cinnamon, chili powder, peppermint, or black pepper. All of the aforementioned ingredients will naturally deter ants and could kill a colony when poured directly onto an ant hill.
When to Get Professional Help
Although this natural remedy can help to keep ants at bay, it’s critical to contact a professional exterminator at the first sign of a legitimate infestation. Many homeowners make the mistake of only focusing on controlling the ants that they can see. This approach will normally be met with minimal results because ants sent out to forage for food represent only a small portion of a larger colony.
Normally, a full colony consists of thousands of ants; this is why it’s important to consult an exterminator to eliminate the queen, who is responsible for laying eggs to keep the colony populated. Ant colonies indoors may be located in cabinets, behind appliances, in the walls, and even in the foundation of a home.
If you’ve observed trails of ants around the house, you can bet that there are many more where those came from. A professional Birmingham Pest Control company will be able to detect where ants have created a nest to eradicate the source of the issue.