Best use of ant baits and ant traps in homes.
As warm weather arrives in the spring higher temperatures may activate ant nests both inside and outside your home. You will see increased ant activity as nests resume nest-building and the production of young worker ants. All this activity requires food so ants will be out foraging for new food sources. Control of the common household nuisance ants (not carpenter ants) is best done with baits (sometimes called "ant traps"), rather than insecticide sprays. Sprays only kill the ants that the spray contacts, not the nest. Baits will destroy the whole nest. And the simplest and least expensive is a drop of sugary liquid food that has been combined with boric acid (sometimes called borate). During spring ants are most attracted to sugary foods (carbohydrate) because of the high energy demand of nest building. If a scout worker finds a bit of sugary food she (all worker ants are female) will recruit her nestmates to the food source (see photo). Borate, a salt of boric acid, ...