How To Get Rid of Ants

Get Rid of Ants Professionally

Rentokil’s team of experts are experienced and skilled in getting rid of ants. Using effective insecticides our service technicians will quickly get rid of ant problems in your home.

Our pest control service offers you:

• Full range of products and solutions, such as insect proofing.
• Home call-out service to remove ants and other pest problems.
• Fast & effective service offering the highest level of safety for your family and pets.

Call Rentokil Pest Control Ireland 1890 666 444 for further advice on how to get rid of ants or to arrange a visit by a Rentokil technician.

Ants In Your Home & Garden

Ant nests can be found in a number of locations in and around the home such as in cavity walls, old tree stumps, under flag stones and patios.

Ants in the garden can be beneficial to the soil as they aerate the soil through their natural tunneling movements. However, they can damage plants if an ant nest is located directly next to the root system. 

Although ants are an irritant when they 

come in to the home the most common species, the Black Garden Ant, is not thought to carry disease. 

As it is impossible to know where the ants were last foraging for food, it is sensible to know how to get rid of ants and to take steps to prevent them entering your home and food cupboards. 

How to Get Rid of Ants in Your Home

Worried about ants in the kitchen? The majority of Black Garden Ants will only come in to your home to forage for food and are attracted by sweet and sticky substances.

Tips for getting rid of ants:

• Ensure that there is no readily available food
• Always cover food – we do not know where the ant has been before it crawls across your food!
• Clear away food and liquid spillages immediately
• Clean food debris from under kitchen appliances
• Make sure all rubbish bins have tightly sealed lids 
• Keep compost enclosed and covered
• Clear away your pet’s food after eating
• Seal access points such as cracks and crevices in door and window frames

A common myth about how to get rid of ants involves the method of pouring boiling water on to ants or an ant nest. This only provides a temporary solution as the main nest is usually too deep for such a remedy to work effectively.

Whilst amateur DIY pest control products, such as ant sprays, can be a cost effective way to kill ants, they are not recommended for a large infestation.

Flying Ants

The ‘flying ants’ we commonly see between July and August are, in fact, sexually active males and females of the Black garden ant who have been waiting all summer for the perfect conditions to perform their nuptial flight. 

Once some ants begin to fly, other ants detect their chemical smell and join them. The swarms last all day. 

Black garden ants can bite if you come into contact with them. This can sometimes cause allergic reactions in some people.

Ants in Ireland

Garden Ants / Black Ants (Lasius niger) – Worker ants are 4-5mm in length but the queen can be as big as 15mm. Garden Ant queens lay their eggs in the spring in nests that are typically in soil but can be in brickwork or under bark. Garden Ants are attracted to sweet foods and leave a pheromone trail back to their nests for other ants to follow to the food source.

Pharaoh’s Ants (Monomorium pharaonis) – Worker Pharaoh ants are 1.5 -2mm long and the queen is between 4-6mm long. Both workers and the queen are a yellow-brown colour. 

Pharaoh’s Ants originate from the tropics and require artificial heat in order to survive and reproduce and tend to live in large heated buildings such as hospitals, hotels and blocks of flats. This ant’s diet is largely of decomposing foodstuffs and it carries harmful germs picked up from when it has been feeding.

Common Red Ant / European Fire Ant (Myrmica rubra) - Workers are 4-5 mm, their "waist" has two segments. Nuptial flights occur from August - September. 

Queens overwinter before laying eggs for the first time. Some queens overwinter alone, others as groups of newly mated queens, and some join an existing colony. In the following spring, queens search for food to begin reproduction.