In a village with fields at the end of the garden, an ant trail can run a long way before it reaches your back door. Follow it before you spray anything.
Ants live in colonies, and the workers you see in the kitchen are a tiny fraction of the whole. They are sent out to find food and bring it back, and they lay scent trails that others follow. Killing the visible ants treats the symptom, while the nest keeps sending replacements. In the common garden species, a queen continues to lay eggs, so the colony can last for years.
Staunton is a rural village in the Newark and Sherwood area, surrounded by farmland. Gardens there often back onto fields, with long lawns, hedges, vegetable beds, wooden sheds and old stone or brick walls, all of which suit nesting. In warm, dry weather, ants may be drawn to the kitchen from a nest in a flower bed, under a patio or in a dry bank, and a trail may be several metres long.
Choose a quiet moment and watch the line. Note where it enters and where it disappears. Look outside for the same line on a wall or path. Many trails start at a crack in the patio, the foot of a wall or a lawn edge, where you might see small piles of fine soil. Do not spray or wipe the trail until you have traced it.
A contact spray kills the ants it hits and leaves a film that others avoid. The result is often a nest that splits or a trail that moves to a new entrance. Bait, which workers carry back to the nest and share, tends to give a better outcome, but it has to be placed where ants will take it. Timing, weather and the species involved all affect how long treatment takes.
When the colony has been dealt with, seal gaps round door frames, pipes and threshold plates, to make it harder for new scouts to find a way in.
Weather plays a part. After heavy rain, nests in low ground can flood and workers move to higher, drier places, including the foundations of a house. Hot, dry spells push them indoors for water. If you notice a sudden increase after the weather changes, that is usually the reason, and it tells you the colony is close to the building, not at the far end of the field.
Call 0115 937 5117 to arrange a visit. A free pest prevention survey and free advice come with all treatments.
Colonies are most active in warm weather, and dry spells make water and food harder to find outdoors. That sends more workers into kitchens looking for moisture and sweet food.
Pouring boiling water on a nest may kill some ants but often misses the queen and deeper chambers. It can also damage plants and paving. Professional treatment is more reliable.
Tell us what you have seen and where, and we will come back to you. Prices are fixed and there is no call-out charge.
