Ants in the apartment - how to get rid of the insects

Ants in the apartment - rights and obligations

the essentials in brief

If there are ants in the apartment, act quickly
Feeding traps kill ants reliably, and those who prefer it ecologically can use scent barriers or powder barriers to prevent them from entering
Baking soda must be sprinkled directly on the ants to kill them

Obligations: act instead of waiting

If you spot ants in your home, they may be stray insects or those that are specifically looking for new sources of food and nesting opportunities. In any case, you should catch the ants with a glass and see what species it is. Take precautionary measures so that the people do not follow suit.

Trick scout ants

Individual ants or ants in small groups that roam the kitchen can be used as so-called scouts. They are looking for food and nesting places. Once the insects have found scraps of food and crumbs, they will eat it and start on their way back. This is marked by the release of pheromones so that you can find the place again. Once in the colony, the ants choke out part of the food in order to stimulate the other insects. You go on a journey and follow the scent trail.

First preventive measures:

Collect ants so that they cannot leave a scent trail
Clean the kitchen, seal the food airtight and clean the bowls
Fill open food into sealable containers with rubber seals in the refrigerator
Seal joints and gaps on the facade with silicone
Attach adhesive tape in front of possible entry gates on windows and doors

What helps against ants in the apartment?

If an ant trail has already formed, activities can be disrupted by fragrant, oily or dusty substances. Natural home remedies are gentle and have a comparatively short effect. Therefore, they need to be renewed regularly. Since not all ant species can be deterred equally by such agents, you should combine several methods if necessary. Once you have discovered a nest in the apartment, an effective means of killing the queen and brood is recommended.

Scent barriers

Strongly scented herbs, oils and liquids confuse the ants, so that they look for other ways. These methods can be helpful if an ant trail has formed from the outer nest to your home; you cannot get rid of entire colonies that live in nests in the partition walls this way.

Help against ant trails:

Lay out fresh leaves and stems of lavender, juniper and tansy
Place lemon peel and cloves in front of the entrances
Dust the paths with a thick layer of cinnamon powder
Fill bowls with vinegar and distribute them on the streets

Digression

Not all ant oil is created equal

Jasna Klacar writes in her thesis “Ants as Medicines” about an Arab doctor who recommended ant eggs to combat hair growth centuries ago. Meanwhile, this method is experiencing a new upswing. In the trade, numerous products are touted as ant oil, the effectiveness and production of which raise questions. This product should not be confused with the ant oil, which is used to deter insects. Such remedies do not consist of ant eggs but of various essential oils such as lavandin and neem.

Barriers

Ants avoid dusty surfaces. On the one hand, the smallest particles can get into the trachea and block them. On the other hand, dust particles polluted the feelers with which the insects smell, hear and communicate. These functions can no longer be guaranteed if the sensors are covered with dust. Ants therefore clean themselves regularly, which you can use to combat them.

baking powder

The raising agent has certain properties that can lead to the death of the ants. However, the insects do not burst after eating the dusty particles. Soda is very basic and ensures that the pH value in the organism changes. Certain enzymes can no longer survive and the ant dies. In order for the baking powder to develop this effect, precise application is necessary:

Sprinkle baking soda directly on the ants
Dust as thickly as possible
Repeat daily and treat newly emerging ants

The insects clean themselves to remove the dust from their antennae. In doing so, they pick up the particles. Your breathing can be severely affected and you will die after a short time.

Diatomaceous earth or kieselguhr

The powdery substance is obtained from the shells of fossil diatoms, the so-called diatoms. The powder has little disgusting effect on ants. They avoid crawling over a barrier made of kieselguhr powder. If the insects are dusted directly with the agent, mechanical abrasion will destroy the outer wax layer. Diatomaceous earth has a high absorbency and removes additional liquid from the insect body, causing it to dry out.

Use kieselguhr:

Sprinkle powder in all entry gates, cracks and crevices
apply with a brush into inaccessible cracks
Sprinkle behind footers and kitchen ledges

If you mop the floor and clean niches with a damp cloth, the powder soaks up with water. As soon as it dries, it forms a firm crust and thus seals the crevices permanently. The actual effect is then lost, but ants can then no longer gain access to the apartment.

Means of destruction

Once it has been ensured that there is an ant nest in your apartment, it should be removed as soon as possible. It doesn't help to just fight the visible workers. The queens live on and can sustain the colony. It is therefore important that you use poisons that have a toxic effect. These are taken in by the foraging ants and fed to the queen and brood in the nest.

Tips for fighting:

Attract workers with a sugary bait
Mix bait with food poison
Use food poison with a long latency period such as Fipronil

Where do ants come from in the apartment?

If you suddenly have ants in the apartment, you should investigate the area more closely. When ants are driven out of their nest, they look for an alternative nesting option. Methods to scare off neighbors, felled trees or demolished barns can be reasons why ants get lost in your home.

The problem of building materials

If you get a visit from an entire colony, previous damage to the roof beams, partition walls and facade insulation is likely. The ants colonize structures that offer them optimal living conditions. This can be pitted wooden beams, damp insulation material or partition walls near a source of moisture. The building material often resembles natural nesting sites. Aromas from different foods make the environment even more attractive.

Dense vegetation or near forest

There are ants everywhere. They not only colonize forests but also open landscapes. Favorable connections between the home and the vegetation in gardens and beds increase the risk of ants getting lost in the kitchen and bathroom. If the house is in the middle of a natural garden, isolated ants are likely in the apartment. The insects settle in different habitats above and below the earth. Ants nest under stones and pavement slabs or in densely planted beds right next to the house.

Ants live everywhere and cannot be eradicated. They are an important part of a functioning ecosystem.

Flower pot on the balcony

Earth-dwelling ants can settle in flower pots that are on the balcony and terrace. In this way, the insects get into the house unnoticed when the bucket is brought to its winter quarters in autumn. You don't have to worry about these ants settling in your home. The species need soil because they prefer to build underground nests in the substrate. You can get rid of the ants by taking a long dip in the open air or swapping the substrate.

What types of ants are there?

There are different types of ants that take a liking to the building structures in the home. While large species such as wood ants only get lost in human dwellings and do no harm, there are tiny ants with great damaging effects. Identifying these species takes some practice. Important characteristics are color and size. But the location also provides information on the respective species. Most ants are active in summer, but can appear all year round in warm temperatures in the apartment.

	scientific name	possible occurrence	populated	status
Brown garden ant	Lasius brunneus	Top floor, partition walls, half-timbering	Lumber, plasterboard and thermal insulation panels	widespread
'Kerbl-Lipped Ross Ant'	Camponotus fallax	Attic	existing wood spaces in beams or fillers	rather rare and absent-minded
Pharaoh ant	Monomorium pharaonis	heated rooms	existing cavities	imported from Asia
Black ross ant	Camponotus herculeanus	damp partition walls	Wood in direct contact with the ground	more common in mountainous areas
Glossy black wood ant	Lasius fuliginosus	Wooden beams	old timber	often in some areas
Two-tone garden ant	Lasius emarginatus	Beams, house walls, wall columns	warm cavities	often in southern Germany
Brown-black horse ant	Camponotus ligniperdus	Wooden houses, sheds	dry and warm timber	widespread

Mini ants

Very small ants with an amber yellow color indicate the pharaoh ant. While the workers are between 1.5 and 2.5 millimeters tall, the queens reach a body length of a maximum of 4.5 millimeters. These are a little darker than the workers. Only the males appear black. Noticeable are two bumps on the connecting stalk between the abdomen and chest. This introduced species cannot survive the freezing temperatures in winter, which is why it overwinters indoors.

Tips

Freshly cracked pork liver seems to be an attractive bait for pharaoh ants.

Brown and red ants

The line between red and brown colored species is often narrow. The color tones can also merge or be differently pronounced. The brown garden ant has a distinctive dual coloration. While the head and abdomen are dark brown in color, the breast with stalks stand out with reddish tones. The workers are between two and four millimeters long.

The species can easily be confused with the two-colored garden ant, because it too has a reddish breast and a dark brown body. Their workers reach sizes similar to those of the brown garden ant, but they are more slender.

Black ants

At first glance, many ants look black. But on closer inspection, fine color nuances and stitches emerge. Some species can be identified by their hairiness, while other ants are strikingly shiny. Often times, the worker sizes that can be observed most often overlap.

Typical wood-dwelling species:

Shiny black wood ant : jet black and shiny, workers 4-6 mm
Black horse ant : black with dark red legs, workers mostly 9-12 mm
'Kerblippige Ross Ant' : shiny black and slightly hairy, workers 6-8 mm
Brown-black horse ant : black-red-brown, workers 6-14 mm

Ants with wings

Flying ants are not a species of their own. In almost every species there are winged ants that have to increase their range for evolutionary reasons. Most male insects develop wings because they can reach suitable mating partners from other colonies. This avoids inbreeding. Occasionally queens also have wings so that they can establish new colonies in more distant habitats.

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Tenancy law

If you find ants living or dead in your home, in most cases there is no need to worry. In any case, the tenant must be informed immediately, regardless of whether it is a harmful or harmless species. This is the only way you can benefit from your tenant rights.

Basics

The ant species native to Germany are not dangerous, but they can be a nuisance. Since they occur in a wide variety of habitats, courts view their occurrence as normal. Occasional ants in the home are considered an inconvenience and are classified as negligible nuisance. No distinction is made between the individual species. It is therefore important to examine the individual case carefully. If it is the pharaoh ant that has been introduced, the apartment is quickly impaired.

Special case pharaoh ant:

prefer animal protein and are attracted by blood and pus
survive in rooms with 18 degrees Celsius
transmit dangerous diseases

Assumption of costs

Since it cannot normally be assumed that the tenant introduces ants, the landlord has to bear the costs for one-off control measures. It is important that you do not resort to poison yourself in the event of an acute attack, but inform the landlord. Careless actions can worsen the situation or result in a greater health hazard than the ants would expect.

If the apartment is contaminated through the private use of insecticides, the person responsible has to pay for it. If pest control measures have to be carried out at regular intervals, the landlord can pass on the costs incurred to the tenant as ancillary costs.

Rent reduction

A rent reduction can be considered if normal living is no longer possible due to the ants infestation. This is the case when there are ant nests in the apartment area and numerous ants are crawling and flying. An impairment can also be present if it is an infestation by the dangerous pharaoh ant.

Before you can request a rent reduction, the landlord must be informed. He must have the opportunity to eliminate the plague of ants. Further steps can only be taken if these measures are unsuccessful. How high the rent reduction is depends on the individual case.

Tips

If you discover an ant infestation, you should pay the rent expressly subject to a rent reduction. This enables you to later reduce the rent for the past.

frequently asked Questions

What do you do against ants in the apartment?

You need to first find out if the ants are stray or resident ants. Individual insects can be captured with a glass and released outside. If you observe an ant trail, you should close the entrances to the apartment tightly and protect them with scents. If the ants have settled in the wall or the attic, usually only food poisons help. However, it is important that you find out about the respective species beforehand. Not all are harmful and must be combated.

Why do flying ants crawl out of the walls?

Flying ants indicate a nest, which can be in cavities behind bars and in the wall. When the insects escape and fly around the apartment, they are looking for a partner. The mating does not take place in the same colony, however. Ants avoid inbreeding and go outside on a wedding flight to find partners of other colonies.

How do ants smell?

The insects perceive scents with their antennae. These have hair-like sensory organs called sensillae. They are easily permeable to fragrance molecules, so that they can penetrate to the inner olfactory sensory cells. These cells are highly specialized. Some only react to certain substances such as alarm substances. If the feelers are covered with dust, ants can no longer smell. Therefore, they clean themselves regularly and dusty substances like baking soda are absorbed this way.

Does the landlord have to pay for the ants control?

That depends on the individual case. If you find one or more stray ants in your home, no control is necessary yet. Nevertheless, you should inform your landlord about this observation in order to be able to assert possible claims later. If you have put the insects outside and the infestation becomes acute after a few days, the landlord is obliged to combat it. It may, however, be the case that the rental contract includes regular vermin treatments under the additional costs.

Which species are found in the apartment?

There are different ants that settle in houses. The pharaoh ant is an introduced species that can only survive in human dwellings. Native species that settle in wooden beams, insulation material or cavities often belong to the genus of the garden ants. Occasionally, horse ants can also be seen building their nests near humans.

Why do ants come into the apartment?

The insects are either looking for food and are attracted by sweet smells, or they peek out new nesting opportunities. If there are beds directly on the base of the house, many ants living in the ground happen to get into the living area. Entire colonies can be brought in via flower pots. However, these do not move into the apartment, as they prefer soil nests in the substrate.