Ant Control in Lemon Grove, CA

How to get rid of ants

The Argentine ant is the most common ant in and around California homes. What makes it different from the ant most people picture: the colony is not one nest under one paving slab. It is a network with many queens, and it can run the length of a street.

That is why spraying the trail backfires. A repellent spray does not reach the nest. It splits the colony. Where there was one trail there are now three, and the queens are untouched.

What works is bait the ants carry home themselves. Which bait depends on the time of year: protein baits attract Argentine ants in spring, when colonies are producing young, and sweet liquid baits attract them year round.

Getting the bait, the placement and the season right is what decides whether they are gone in a week or back in a month.

What the visit involves

A technician follows the trail to the point where it enters the building, then works outward. The nest is almost always outside — under a slab, in a planter, behind irrigation.

The outside walk looks for what is feeding them as much as for the nest itself: a dripping hose bib, irrigation running against the foundation, aphids on plants touching the wall. Ants indoors in numbers usually means water or sugar outdoors.

Bait goes where the ants actually travel, not where it is convenient to put it. Then a return visit, because bait works over days rather than minutes.

Common questions

Why did spraying make it worse? A repellent product splits an Argentine ant colony instead of killing it. That is a known response, and it is why trails multiply after a home treatment.

How long until they are gone? Bait has to be carried back to the queens, so it works over days. A trail that disappears within an hour has usually just moved.

Will they come back? They will if what drew them is still there. That is why the outside of the house matters more than the kitchen counter.

Who to call

Call and say where the trail runs, what it leads to, and whether anything has already been sprayed. That last one changes the approach, so it is worth mentioning up front.