Ant traps, depending on the design and principle of operation, can be both quite effective and completely useless means. At the same time, almost nothing depends on their price and modern design - their effectiveness is determined primarily by the principle of operation.
And in this regard, a home-made trap made of a plastic cover can be more effective than an imported one for several hundred rubles.
The principle of operation of traps
All ant traps in the apartment are aimed at destroying insects penetrating them. All these tools can be divided into several types:
- traps in which the insect is attracted by the smell and, having reached the bait, is smeared in a poisoned powder or liquid. In the future, the ant returns to the nest, where it scatters poison or poisons itself, trying to cleanse itself. As a result, he does not die immediately, but after some time, ideally after entering the nest. There, the poison will destroy other individuals, including the uterus. These house ant traps are the most effective, and you can make your own.
- Poison baits, called traps only because they are in special plastic packaging to protect pets. Ants willingly carry the bait to the colony in order to feed the queen with it. These devices are also very effective.
- Traps in which insects die - with Velcro, with an electric discharge or too strong poisons. Despite the obvious effect, such traps are the least effective against ants, since the destruction of foraging workers will have practically no effect on the life of the colony.
The goal of ant control is to destroy the queen(s) in the colony. Without it, worker ants will die out very quickly. If the uterus remains alive, foragers will constantly be selected from the anthill to search for food.
Accordingly, the goal of any effective trap is to get the worker ant to carry poison to the nest.
On a note
The main beauty of the action of such delayed action traps is that in order to destroy an anthill with them, you do not need to know where it is at all. The worker ants know this very well, and the task is to attract them into the trap.
Therefore, before you buy ant traps, you need to understand well how the purchased product works. If it's just a sticky tape in a package or a house with an insecticide that will kill the insect on the spot, it is better to refrain from buying.
On a note
All insecticides used in modern traps are of little danger to humans and domestic animals. Only when eating large quantities of them - more than a teaspoon at a time - allergic reactions and vomiting are possible. But in traps, usually even the entire package does not contain such an amount of poison.
In any case, traps do not have an immediate effect., and even with the most correct use of them, the ants will disappear from the apartment at best in a few weeks.
In order to get results from traps, you need to be able to use them correctly.
Rules for using traps
An ant trap is somewhat similar to an expensive restaurant in Moscow: the main three rules for its effectiveness are place, place and once again the place of its location.
Indeed, a trap located where the ants run most often alone can help to destroy all the ants in the room. But even a few dozen funds placed at random, but just not getting in the way, will be a waste of money.
The best places to install traps in an apartment are as follows:
- ant trails - they are clearly visible with an abundance of insects in the room. Ants usually move along scent-marked routes, and line up on the trails in whole ranks. The trap must be placed either directly on the path, or as close to it as possible so that the insects smell the bait.
- The joints of the floor and walls, the baseboard and the edge of the linoleum - usually it is here that microscopic holes are located, which are the gateway to the walled world of pests.
- Spaces behind kitchen furniture, rarely cleaned and easily dusty.
- Floors in pantries and insulated loggias.
- Walls bordering the front door or garbage chute.
- Ventilation shafts.
Of course, each dwelling is unique, and where ants move, as well as where their nests are located, can be completely unpredictable. There are known cases of insect settlements in computer system units and jacket pockets in closets.
Here, the better the hostess knows her apartment and the more observant she is, the more opportunities she has to correctly place the means of exterminating insects.
Important!
Ant traps are practically useless for use in the garden. Even if you manage to destroy one anthill with their help, the total extermination of a large number of them (taking into account the fact that ants live in the open ground that never come to the surface) is impossible.
All traps need to be checked with a certain regularity. Preferably at least once every two weeks. Of some, insects can completely endure all the poison, in others the active substance dries up, in others, the number of dead ants becomes so large that they cover the insecticide itself.
If, upon inspection, it becomes apparent that the trap is no longer working, it should be replaced.
Ant traps can be bought, or you can make your own. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, and both will be effective if used correctly. Today there is a whole list of the most popular traps designed specifically for fighting ants, affordable and reliable.
Combat Superattack traps
The Kombat trap from ants is a Korean-made tool, according to the manufacturer, it will help clear the house of ants in three months. When tested in real conditions, ants disappear within 4-5 weeks.
An important advantage of the Combat Superattack ant trap is safety for animals and children: Hydromethylnon as an active ingredient is inaccessible to fingers or tongue.
You can buy Kombat ant traps one by one or in bulk from 4 pieces per pack.In the first case, the price will be about 150 rubles for one piece, in the second case - about 450 rubles for four traps.
Review
“I poisoned ants in the house for about three months. All sorts of pencils, boric acid. Really less of them became only after the purchase of ant traps Kombat. A week later, they began to catch the eye much less often, and a month later I met only one in the bathroom. It turned out even faster than the manufacturer promised.
Tatiana, Ryazan
Traps Raptor
Raptor cockroach traps are quite effective against ants, they are often sold in kits with aerosol insecticides and gels from the same manufacturer. They are very effective, because in the best traditions of traps they are focused on spreading poison by the ants themselves into the anthill.
Review
“I bought a Raptor kit once. It contained two traps and a spray can. The spray didn’t even come in handy: I set traps near the cracks in the dressing room, from which the ants climbed, and after a week they disappeared.
Oksana, Lviv
Raid traps
Raid - the most ineffective ant traps, although they are the easiest to buy. They are designed to fight cockroaches and are focused on the destruction of an insect that has eaten the bait.
It is very difficult for ants to carry pieces of such bait into the anthill, and Raid traps practically do not affect the life of the nest. Of other domestic insects, such traps are effective only against cockroaches.
DIY traps: what and how they are made
A very effective analogue of imported traps can be made with your own hands from available funds. The basis in them is borax or boric acid.
- Boric acid is mixed with other ingredients to make bait. In a separate article on our website are recipes for such mixtures (see.section "Ants in the apartment"). Ready-made baits are packed in matchbox lids and laid out at the meeting points with ants.
- Pure boric acid or borax is poured onto a special saucer or into a simple plastic lid so as to completely cover the bottom, and honey or jam is dripped in the middle. Ants that get to the sweetness will smear themselves in poison and take it to the anthill.
When making baits, it is important to properly maintain the amount of poison in the recipe. At the same time, a do-it-yourself ant trap will always be cheaper than one bought on the market.
And you should always remember that ant traps, even the most effective ones, do not give a quick result. If pests need to be removed here and now and the location of the anthill is known, it is more rational to use insecticides in the form of aerosols.
Preparing poisoned ant bait based on boric acid
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I don’t know how with the ants, but the Kombat destroyed the cockroaches perfectly.A couple of weeks and not a single creature was left.
Thanks for the great and insightful explanation. We live in a private house, ants appeared. They tried to remove them with the “Great Warrior” gel - after about a week they were almost invisible, but then they appeared in huge numbers, penetrating into plastic bags with food. When they lived in the Arctic in Vorkuta in a city apartment, cockroaches were the same disaster. No "Masha" and powders did not help. But the Combat traps VERY QUICKLY saved us from these creatures. We fastened them (there was a special Velcro for fastening on the body of the trap) under the bathroom near the baseboard, under the washbasin and behind the electric stove. Literally after 2-3 days they almost disappeared, and a week later they were gone altogether! And suddenly, thanks to your article, we learn that there are the same Combat traps from ants. Will seek! Thanks a lot for such great information!