How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants: Natural Ant Killer for Home (Pet Friendly)

Image Credit: Alex Wild¹⁶

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants (Some Basic Facts About Ants)

The ant is an ancient insect that has probably existed for well over 145 million years.³ Scientists believe that the ant probably evolved from another insect called the vespoid wasp.⁴

You might ask, how many ants are in the world?

There are probably well over 22,000 distinct species of ant existing on the planet.³ Like bees, ants are considered eusocial insects, meaning that they live highly cooperative, disciplined, caste-system lifestyles where every action is designed for the well-being of the collective, not for individual ants.⁵

There are several ant species that are solitary and reject hive-like lifestyles, but most species are eusocial. Ants work, live together, communicate, search for and collect food, and solve problems in highly intelligent and mutualistically beneficial ways and almost human-like manners.

Ants, like bee swarms, fish schools, or flocks of birds in the sky, are sometimes called superorganisms, or a mass of individual organisms that operate with a hive-mind ability to protect themselves as if they were one distinct organism.

Ants communicate with each other via touch and noise generation, but mainly through the secretions of pheromones.

Have you ever seen a busy ant trail, squashed an ant, and noticed how all the other ants will avoid the area near the squashed ant, even if you removed it? The other ants are reacting to the trauma pheromone messages of the deceased ant.

Ants exist on every landmass except Antarctica and a few other places. The Queen in an ant colony can live for 30 years while worker and drone ants can live for a few months and up to three years.³

One ant colony can have anywhere between a few dozen, hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of ants living in it.³

Scientists estimate there are probably over 20 quadrillion ants currently existing on the planet.⁶ A quadrillion is a number with 15 zeros after it.

To put that number in another context, that estimate suggests that there are over 2.5 million ants for every single human being on Earth.

Still, that might be a very conservative estimate relative to the global ant population. There might be a lot more ants on this planet than even just 20 quadrillion.

Sugar Ants

Additionally, a “sugar ant” is a generic name that describes numerous ant species that eat sweet things. Ants are opportunistic omnivore insects and eat a lot of things.

The term “sugar” is an umbrella term that describes numerous ant species in North America and should not be confused with the banded sugar ant which is native to Australia.⁷

(Image: Harry Rose¹¹)

Sugar ants are not a danger to humans, but are really disciplined and stubborn food foraging pests.

Why do you need to know all of this data? Ant colonies have existed for over 145 million years and are genetically designed to act as a superorganism that strives to only protect the integrity of the colony.

If you have a sugar ant infestation problem, you must accept that the problem won’t be solved overnight. If you’re looking for more specifics, you might explore tiny house bugs pictures and names.

Additionally, if you need to know how to get rid of sugar ants in a hurry, then the problem may have started by you not cleaning effectively or inspecting your home for ant entrance points.

Now, here is what you must know to learn how to get rid of sugar ants in a pet-friendly manner.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants Naturally

The main pet-friendly methods to learn how to get rid of sugar ants naturally are to effectively seal them out, keep a cleaner home, and always put away food in their proper containers or storage areas.

That won’t always work, but there are some additional steps you can take.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants in House

Firstly, you should pay close attention to the activities of the sugar ants in your home and follow their trails.

The sugar ants may have a colony within your home or they may be entering your home from holes or tiny cracks and crevices that allow them entry from the outside.

(Image: Sarah G¹³)

So, your best option may be to perform a top-to-bottom inspection of your home, identify sugar ant trailing sites and potential entrances, and then seal them up.

If you need to actively learn how to get rid of sugar ants then they are probably not shy and you should see them traversing active trails around your home. While you may not be able to locate an ant nest or colony in your home, you should be able to see their active trailing routes.

You may find trailing entrances for sugar ants around plumbing pipes, cracks in walls and flooring, water heaters, windows, baseboards, walkways, and so on. Apply sealant wherever applicable to cracks, crevices, and holes where you notice sugar ant trailing.

You may also want to invest in weather-stripping to block the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants in Kitchen

As previously mentioned, ants have spent over 145 million years evolving into eusocial superorganisms that work together to solve problems, find food, and survive for the sake of the whole.

Ants can be found on almost all land masses, so they probably won’t have too many problems finding ways to get into your house and gain access to the food you have left lying around.

Ants are omnivores, meaning they eat plants and meat but many species also prefer eating sugar, sugary drinks, and sweet foods.

(Image: Kundan Kumar¹²)

The best way to learn how to get rid of sugar ants in the kitchen is to always properly secure and store food, especially any sweet foods or food ingredients.

Make sure that any food that is in its own packaging is securely closed with no unseen opening in it. Once you screw and unscrew any container or jar containing jams, jellies, syrup, honey, cookies, or any other sweet food that has been used a few times, the surfaces and lid of the container can become sticky with sugary residue or crumbs.

You may have to place such containers in the fridge or another larger airtight container with lids.

Always wash and dry your dishes instead of letting food residue-stained dishes sink in the sink for hours or days. And always clean tables, desks, furniture, and any surface on which you eat food.

Be more conscious of the messes you make while eating food and religiously clean up after yourself after each meal. Eating toast or other crumbly foods will result in minuscule and nearly invisible crumbs falling on your clothes, table, and floor.

Inspect your eating areas, clean up with cleaning cloths and soap, and water. Sweep or vacuum after you finish eating as necessary

Always remove your trash from your home before you go to bed. Leaving your trash in the home overnight or for multiple days is an invitation for ants and other pests to come in and have a snack.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants in Car

Do you need to learn how to get rid of sugar ants in car settings? Then you probably need to stop eating in your vehicle now.

Sugar ants are attracted to food and are hive-mind creatures that work together to find food. Sugar ants may recognize your vehicle and home as optimum sources of easy-to-access food.

Schedule a time to spend a day completely cleaning out and vacuuming your car from top-to-bottom. If you can’t refrain from eating in your then at least invest in a mini-vacuum and cleaning kit and keep it in the truck.

Mind your clothing, bags, and items that you ferry from your home and into your vehicle too. Sugar ants may be hitching a ride on clothing or items that are stained with sugary food residue and gaining access to your vehicle.

How To Get Rid of Ants In General

As previously mentioned, you should adopt a regular cleaning routine for the entire home to help efficiently get rid of a sugar ant invasion. If you are willing to pay an exterminator hundreds of dollars to solve the problem, then it should not be an issue to develop a regular cleaning schedule for your entire home.

You could hire a cleaning service to come in on a prearranged schedule or do the cleaning yourself.

If you want to know what is the fastest way to get rid of sugar ants, then keeping your place as clean as possible is your best preventative measure.

Adopting these preventative measures is pet-friendly and won’t cost you as much money as hiring a professional exterminator service.

What Kills Ants Naturally? Can You Use Peppermint Oil on Ants?

There are several natural methods and products that you can use as natural pest control for sugar ants.

Peppermint or cinnamon essential oils can be a great way to deter ants from entering cracks and other areas of your home.

However, using certain substances for sugar ant exterminator methods are not always very pet-friendly. So, you will need to isolate your pet from any areas where you apply these sugar ant extermination methods.

Natural Ant Killer Techniques

You can try mixing equal amounts of boric acid or borax with sweet substances like honey, sugar, or syrup and leaving trace amounts of the mixture anywhere you see sugar ant trailing routes.

Boric acid and borax are toxic substances that are used for cleaning applications and in industrial pesticides.

(Image: Forest Starr and Kim Starr¹⁵)

After ingesting the bait food, and bringing it back to the colony to share, the boric acid or Borax sugar mixture will slowly destroy the ant’s digestive system.

It may take several applications, watching for results, and days or weeks of patience before you see any reliable results. And always remember to keep pets and children away from any areas where you apply the sweet poison.

Homemade Ant Killer

You can also mix equal parts of vinegar and water and spray onto the trailing routes of the sugar ants you see.

Does vinegar kill sugar ants? It can, but you may need to use a lot of it.

You might need to use enough vinegar to drown them, even though you can get the same result via water. It may not kill them, but it may annoy the sugar ants’ pheromone senses enough to incentivize them to go elsewhere.

How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants: Natural Ant Repellent and Sugar Ant Killer Tactics

There are several natural ant repellent tactics that you can use to try to get rid of sugar ant infestations, but results may vary. Ants are smart creatures, so you need to study their movements in your home to apply such natural repellents accordingly.

Bay leaves, also known as laurel leaves, have a naturally pungent smell that may annoy and disrupt the innate pheromone senses of sugar ants. You will need to crumble the bay leaves and spread them wherever you suspect sugar ant infestations are thriving.

Bay leaves lose their potency and smell quickly, so you will have to refresh applications every few days.

Peppermint oil is known to repel ants. So, you can mix a small amount of peppermint oil with a cup of water and spray known sugar trailing routes and access points.

Diatomaceous earth is a natural silica mineral that is made from the fossils of ancient plankton.⁸ Diatomaceous earth is used as an ingredient in many industrial-scale pesticides. It is also used as an anti-caking ingredient in grain storage and animal feed.

Sprinkling diatomaceous earth particles on sugar ant trailing routes and entrances in your home should cause the ants to dry up since they act as extreme desiccants on pests after exposure. Take care not to inhale diatomaceous earth, since non-food grade diatomaceous earth is toxic and harmful to humans or get any of it on your skin.

When To Call an Exterminator for Ants

If you start to clean regularly, store food, clean your dishes, seal up all potential entrances to your home, and notice that the sugar ant infestation is worsening, then you may need to call in a professional exterminator.

The cost of a new home can range anywhere between $430,000 to $514,000 in 2023.¹ And the typical homeowner could pay anywhere between $80 and as much as $8,000 to commission the services of a professional exterminator.²

While the typical exterminator fee to remove ants is about $150, it could take several treatments and repeat exterminator visits before such treatments are ultimately successful, which is why prevention techniques are so crucial.

(Image: Wonderlane¹⁴)

You have a severe sugar ant colony infestation in your home that is unaffected by your novice extermination methods and needs the professional attention of an exterminator.

As previously mentioned, the typical exterminator prices for removing sugars may start at $150. Remember that your problem may require repeat treatments, several exterminator visits, and progressively more money to solve the problem.

Ants have been around for over 145 million years, inhabit every major land mass on Earth, and each colony acts as a superorganism that works in service for the collective. Ants are genetically evolved to be hyper-cooperative and eusocial to collectively survive at any cost.

If one wonders how many ants are in the world, these factors play a significant role in their vast numbers.

In other words, if you notice an ant infestation in your home, then it may be worse than it seems and may have been developing for some time before you first noticed it.

Sealing cracks and crevices in your home, cleaning up after yourself, and securing away food may be the best proactive methods for learning how to get rid of sugar ants.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Get Rid of Sugar Ants