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Ant control
What To Do, and Not Do, Before We Arrive
Most of it is about leaving things alone, which is not what anyone’s instincts say.
Leave a trail running
This is the one people find hardest and it is the most valuable.
An active trail is a line pointing at the nest. Following it out of the building is how the colony gets found, and a trail that has been scrubbed away an hour before we arrive has to be waited for again.
So: clean the food preparation surfaces by all means, and leave one run intact somewhere it does not matter: along a skirting, behind a unit, across a threshold. If you have to clear it, photograph the route first, including where it goes through the wall.
Photographs on this page are for illustration purposes only.
Four things worth finding out
- Where it comes in. Under a door, at a threshold, from behind a unit, round a pipe. Follow the line backwards, away from the food.
- Where it goes outside. Pick it up on the far side of that wall on a warm, dry afternoon and keep following.
- Whether soil is coming up anywhere. Between paving slabs, along a drive edge, at a wall base, in the lawn. Count how many separate places.
- What they look like. Black and a few millimetres, or very small and pale? Seasonal, or present in winter too? That decides whether this is a garden ant job or a pharaoh ant one, and they are not the same job at all.
Photographs of any of it are worth more than a description.
Three things not to do
- Do not spray insecticide. It kills disposable workers, it may repel and move the trail somewhere you cannot see, and if it is anywhere near where bait will go it will stop the treatment working. If you already have, tell us what and where.
- Do not seal the entry point. Not yet. It is information, and the colony will simply find another way in. Note it and leave it.
- Do not put down shop-bought bait right before the visit. A half-taken bait can put ants off feeding for a while, which slows the proper treatment down. Again, say if you have.
On the day, and after
Clear access to the run of units or skirting where the trail is, and to whatever outside area the trail leads to. Move the pots off the patio, open the side gate. Say where pets will be.
Afterwards, leave the bait and its trail completely alone, keep sugar and spills away from other routes, and expect a few days of activity with ants feeding at the bait. That is the treatment being carried home.
Then check the paving joints a fortnight later. Clean, dry and staying clean is what finished looks like.
Before you book
Ant Questions, Briefly
Should I clean the kitchen before you come?
Clean the food preparation surfaces, and leave one trail intact somewhere it does not matter. The trail is how the nest gets found, and a kitchen scrubbed an hour beforehand means waiting for the line to re-form.
How long does a visit take?
Longer than people expect, because most of it is the survey and a good deal of that happens outside following the trail and looking at the paving. The treatment itself is quick.
Tell Us Where the Trail Goes
Which room the trail is in, where it goes when it leaves the building, and whether soil is coming up between paving outside.
Get in touch
Book an Ant Treatment
Tell us which room the trail is in, where it goes when it leaves the building, and whether you have found excavated soil outside. A photograph of the trail is worth more than any description.
- Phone
- 01908 465226
- Message us on WhatsApp
- sales@miltonkeynespestcontroller.co.uk
- Milton Keynes Pest Controller Service
- Address
- South Row
Milton Keynes
MK9 3DQ - Covering
- Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire