Are you finding ants crawling in your bathroom? What are these annoying pests doing there? Well, there must be a reason behind finding them in the bathroom. On this page we let you know: Why do you have ants in your bathroom, in the first place? What are the species of ants you generally find in the bathrooms? What are the best procedures to get rid of the ants from the bathroom?
Ants generally enter your house in search of food, water, and shelter (to build colonies for reproduction) and the usual places for their infiltration is either your kitchen or dining areas (which could be dining tables or couches). But it is quite common to see ants in the bathroom too.
The major reason behind that could be a particular food they derive from the bathroom and they like to hang around near to their nests. Ants prefer moist areas to build their nests and in that case, your bathroom may be ideal. Certain species of ants build their nests in the damp wooden panes of your bathroom windows.
Stagnant water (caused by leakage in plumbing) and fermented human hair deposited in drains also attract ants. Most of the ants found in bathrooms look for warmer places to build their colonies. Ants like, little black ants, odorous ants, Argentine ants also flock in your bathroom, of which the odorous ants are dangerous as they carry a lot of bacteria while they make colonies indoor.
See this video to learn more about why ants come to your bathrooms at all:
As mentioned earlier, ants infest your house for food, water, and shelter. Your bathroom is not definitely their first choice to infiltrate. There must be reasons behind that and the reason molds with the characteristics of the ant’s behavior and habitat.
Following are the types of ants you get to see in your bathrooms:
Carpenter ants look for moist wooden structures to build their nests and the damp wooden panels of the windows of your bathroom are the perfect places for their nests along with the tiles and inner walls.
Quick access to the kitchen or dining area is an added advantage. If carpenter ants are infesting your bathrooms, you can go through our carpenter ant killing guides. But keep in mind that these are stubborn ants and they require powerful removal pesticides.
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They are quite similar to carpenter ants in their living habitat. They too enter your bathroom to build colonies. But they have a foul smell when crushed and often carry dreadful viruses with them.
Argentine ants are larger in size and they prefer sugar-based diets. Like most of the ant species, they also like to build nests in moist and damp places. You may find a total colony of Argentine ants below your toilet bowl.
Pharao ants are smaller in size, light yellow or red in color. They too enter your house for food, water, and shelter and they prefer to nest in moist areas or near water sources like toilets, drains, and sinks. The ants trail along with plumbing and electrical wires and hence mostly found in bathrooms.
These eusocial insects annoy you maximum due to their perfect social organizational abilities, division of labor and vast reproductive capabilities. No matter how small they are in size but their huge population is also a threat to you. The different kinds of species (nearly 22,000) have different behaviors and habitats.
8 of which actually invade your house and the easiest way to get rid of them is to apply toxic chemical insecticides. But you should keep in mind that only applying baits, sprays and other removal tools may not be enough. You may have to take precautionary measures too, particularly if you are dealing with certain specific species of ants.
Click here to know about: How to get rid of ants from your car?
Investigate to know why ants are gathering in your bathroom. The probable answer would be a constant warm and moist atmosphere, a steady supply of food nearby and a near stagnant water body. Dry-clean the walls and corners of your bathrooms.
Get rid of the fallen hair near the drain and stagnant water in the buckets (though water-filled containers are easy traps for some species of ants too). Use mops and sponge to clear hidden water underneath the toilet bowls, washbowls and trash cans. Unused toilet bowls are also easy places to build nests.
How to find the entry points of these insects? If you disturb them they will scatter away to different directions, making you more confused. Instead, be steady and watch them carefully. The ants either have their colonies near to your bathroom (gardens, patios) or they have been brave enough to build their nests inside your home, probably inside the restroom too.
They are tiny insects and they can crawl through minimal cracks or crevices. Identify those holes of entrances and block them using caulk and other waterproof seals. If you can’t find the actual sources of an entrance, use a trick (placing a sugary food where you find ants segregating often) and follow the trail. Once you identify the colony, use baits and other ant removal tools.
Now you see the nests in front of your eyes, once you have followed the trails. Use non-toxic chemical pesticides in the colony. These pesticides kill on contact and within a few minutes, you will see a heap of dead ants. Get rid of them using a broom and dustpan. You can also use essential oils if you don’t prefer using harsh chemicals (which can make stains in the walls of the bathroom too).
Essential oils are natural ant-repellents and are harmless products. A mix of peppermint oil and tea tree oil is a perfect example of natural insecticide. Certain species of ats prefer building colonies below the floor or the tiles of your bathroom. For those that perfect products are ant-baits or ant-traps.
Being scavengers, ants bring back anything and everything back to their nests to feed the worker ants and the queen ant. Slow-poisoning baits work perfectly for this behavior of ants. Ants come in various species and their nourishment and preferability to food also diverge accordingly.
Using borax as the main ingredient helps you to make at least 3 types of baits that can attract ants and kill them. Homemade DIY baits may work or may not work also. That is why we recommend commercial and professional products available in the market which can resolve your ant problems.
If you judge ants with other harmful insects in and around you, ants are less injurious. But their eusocial physiognomies cause them to interrupt our day to day life. Certain species of ants are a threat to our health and the foundations of our household.
Although being tiny in sizes they can trigger great harm to humans. A single ant colony can comprise 10,000 ants. Ants are pests and they harm you. Insects that harm you are perilous to you and at any cost you must get rid of them!
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