how can I get rid of ants in my house?

I live in a Mobile home in the Chicago area. For the first time in 25 years we are getting Ants in the house. How do I get rid of them? I have sprayed the perimeter with Raid as well as under all the sinks and appliances but they are still aroung. Is there anything I should be looking for to find the source?

In most all cases, the source of your ant problems will be from outside the home. If you read through our ANT CONTROL article, you’ll learn most any ant will forage inside if you allow them to live close to or adjacent to the home. This means no matter what, you need to treat around the home throughout the year. Even in the winter ants can derive enough warmth from the cement and siding of the home to keep them active. From there it’s only a matter of time before they get inside because they will naturally try to get where it’s comfortable.

Now that they’re inside, you have a couple of methods that can solve the problem. However, neither effective method involves the use of a spray like “raid”. That’s because using a fast killing spray on active ants will only get a very small portion of their nest. And with the rest of the nest still very much alive, they’ll keep coming back. So for now, don’t spray any more.

Next, get either some MAXFORCE GEL or PHANTOM AEROSOL. In most cases, the Gel will work. The only time it has trouble is in the winter when ants aren’t feeding normal like they do in the spring and summer. But if you’re seeing clear and distinct ant trails, the gel should do the job. Simply apply some in little dabs anywhere ants are active. They’ll find the placement, feed and bring some back to share with other members of their colony. In a few days their nest will be shut down. Use the gel until spring time when you can start treating outside again because in the end, getting the outside treated will keep them from getting inside.

Alternatively you can do a thorough spraying with Phantom. Unlike Raid, Phantom doesn’t kill quickly. It will take several days to do the job and during this time it will be getting into and throughout the ant nest. Phantom works by getting on an ant that picks up a dose from your application. Phantom is undetectable so this ant will go about business as usual and in the process share the product with other members. Before the nest realizes what happened, there will be Phantom everywhere causing all the members to die.

To get this kind of result, you’ll need to treat any room where you see ant activity. Be sure to get cracks, crevices and any place you see their trails. Ideally you should not treat when a lot of ants are active but rather at a time when they’re more quiet. This way you don’t spook them or cause trails to appear in untreated areas because you’ve forced them to relocate. If you do the job right with Phantom, the nest should be shut down within a week.

After that all you’ll need to do is start treating around the outside of the home as explained in our ant article. Follow this maintenance program and you’ll find very few of any insect getting into your living areas.