Ants can invade various places in your home, but the bathroom often becomes a hotspot for them. Your bathroom is an ideal place for different types of ants. Once they make themselves at home, getting rid of them can be a big task.
If you discover tiny ants in your bathroom, act quickly to restore its cleanliness. Here’s a guide to eliminating tiny ants from your South Florida bathroom so they no longer disrupt your daily routine.
Methods to Eliminate Ants
To eliminate ants from showers, bathtubs, sinks, and other bathroom areas, follow these practical tips:
- Store Toiletries Properly: Prevent ants from accessing food by securely storing toiletries. Always replace caps and ensure you tightly fasten lids. Consider using an enclosed holder for bar soap, and keep pump bottles clean after use.
- Clean Regularly: Maintain daily cleaning habits, focusing on the vanity, shower, and bathtub. A monthly deep cleaning targeting specific problem areas, such as shower floors and behind the toilet, will also prove beneficial. Sweep or vacuum daily if ants are present, and mop the floor weekly.
- Secure the Trash: Cover your bathroom wastebasket and remove trash daily during an infestation. Ensure bags are tightly sealed and clean the inside of the bin weekly.
- Deal with Leaks Promptly: Address any dripping faucets or showerheads immediately.
- Keep Things Dry: After using water facilities, dry surfaces with a towel. Utilize washable bath mats and launder them regularly.
- Practice Drain Care: Regularly clean sink, tub, and shower drains. If draining is slow, consider engaging a plumber.
- Fix Seals and Cracks: Attend to gaps and cracks promptly with fresh caulk or sealant, replacing broken tiles when necessary.
DIY Remedies for Tiny Ants in the Bathroom
- Vinegar: Utilizing white vinegar can be an effective way to rid your restroom of ants. It disrupts their scent trails, making navigation difficult for them. By cleaning areas like sinks, walls, and mirrors with a mixture of vinegar, you can deter ants from entering. Keep in mind that you should not treat natural stone materials such as marble and granite with vinegar.
- Boric Acid: This natural substance is known for exterminating ants, but you must use it with caution around children and pets. Apply it carefully to the surfaces and corners of bathroom tiles.
- Borax: Commonly found in items like toothpaste and lotions, borax is harmful to ants as it affects their exoskeletons and digestive process. Blend it with sweet substances like honey or jelly and place it near ant paths.
- Citrus Fruit Peels: Ants are averse to acidic oils like d-limonene found in peels of lemons, oranges, or grapefruits. You can employ actual peels or citrus-based cleaners to eliminate them.
- Spices and Herbs: Cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cloves of garlic are unpleasant to ants, disrupting their ability to follow trails. Using these can be an effective deterrent.
- Used Coffee Grounds: Sprinkling leftover coffee grounds on the paths followed by ants can create a natural barrier that repels them.
- Aromatic Essential Oils: The strong scents of oils such as eucalyptus, citrus, and cinnamon not only enhance the fragrance of your bathroom but also ward off ants. Make a repellent by soaking cotton balls in a mixture of tea tree oil, peppermint oil, water, and pepper. Place it near the ant pathways.
What Attracts Ants to Homes and Bathrooms?
Three things primarily draw ants: shelter, food, and water. Bathrooms in both apartments and houses can fulfill all three requirements. For instance, water might leak from faucets, pool on shower floors, and accumulate around sinks. As explained earlier, bathrooms provide numerous sources of nourishment for ants.
Ants are attracted to dark and warm places, which your bathroom has plenty of. Bathrooms tend to be warmer and damper than other areas of the home due to showering and bathing.
Why Do You Have Ants in Your Bathroom?
The presence of ants in your bathroom indicates that these pests have found something they need within it. The sink, tub, or shower can provide a water source for them. Ants find food sources in toothpaste residue, toiletry drips, shower mildew, and even dead skin cells or shed hairs.
Ant infestations in bathrooms usually start with just a few scout ants gaining entry through small gaps and cracks in your home’s structure, around windows, and near plumbing and electrical fixtures. Once they discover food and water, they emit pheromones to attract more workers from their colony, leading to a full-blown infestation.
Why Are Ants Coming Out of Your Bathroom Sink?
Ants typically do not travel through plumbing, but it’s not uncommon to find them in drains. If ants are emerging from your sink’s drain, they are likely feeding on debris trapped in the plumbing. Even if the water appears to be draining properly, there might be hair, toothpaste, and other waste hidden in the drain stem. A leaky faucet can also attract ants because it provides a steady water source.
How to Permanently Get Rid of Ants in Your Bathroom
Achieving permanent eradication of ants in your bathroom might be challenging, but following the steps above can significantly reduce their presence. Nonetheless, it’s important to acknowledge that ants can become an ongoing problem.
If you find yourself struggling with persistent ant issues, seeking assistance from a professional pest control company can be beneficial. They can devise a preventative maintenance plan to effectively combat ants in your shower, sink, or tub.
Eliminate Tiny Ants with Professional Help from On Demand Pest Control
At On Demand Pest Control, we can help you deal with ant infestations in your bathroom, no matter where they hide. Our team of licensed pest control technicians will thoroughly inspect the area for signs of infestations and employ tools and products to treat them.
Furthermore, our technicians can offer personalized ant prevention tips and recommend a maintenance schedule to proactively keep ants out in the future.
