How To Get Rid Of Ants In Car? A Guide To Preventing Ants From Entering Your Car
Why ants come in car?
There are so many different reasons as to why ants might be in your car, things you may have left out the night before, food crumbs from a morning snack, etc. The one thing many people do not realize about ants though is that their whole lives are basically an internal struggle to find food and water, therefore there is no real reason why you should not expect the ants in your car.
- If there was a sandwich or a piece of fruit still wrapped up and left out in the open of your car overnight it is very possible that ants may have had plenty to eat of whatever it is you did not finish.
- Another reason that ants could find their way into your car could be because they are looking for water.
- The last possible reason as to why ants may have decided to infiltrate your car could be because it is summertime and the ants are looking for any source of heat to keep them warm during these harsh winter months so once an ant finds its way into your car he/she will likely stay until spring comes.
Clean all the food source
The most effective way to repel ants from your car is to clean it of all food sources and kill the ants that you see with an ant trap such as Terro Outdoor Liquid Ant Baits. Once these steps are done, the chances of getting rid of ants in your car will increase significantly.
Another way of stopping them from coming into your car is by simply NOT leaving anything edible inside. This means:
- No trash and no food (take out and dispose of garbage on a daily basis and keep all foods sealed); this may be difficult but necessary.
- Clean up crumbs/remnants immediately, easy to do with any sweet or oily food.
- Vacuum thoroughly especially in between cracks and along door/dash seams; this will suck up any ants that are on the way to your food or some other source of moisture, but it also helps to remove some ant pheromones which may attract more ants into your car.
- Clean tires and wheel wells with a commercial cleaner (nothing citrusy), you can find some good cleaners at your local hardware store.
- Use Terro Outdoor Liquid Ant Baits; place them where you have seen trails. For more control over where they are placed, use our Indoor Liquid Ant Baits, which come with their own stations. Since these are indoors, the ants cannot travel along your car seams to get into these stations.
Make a trap
You can also try making your own ant traps out of ingredients you may already have in your kitchen. By mixing together borax and honey (3 parts borax to 1 part honey), you can make an efficient outdoor trap for ants. You can place this mixture where you’ve seen trails or any place they are likely to cross. This trap will work quickly but it is not recommended for areas where children or pets come in contact since it is toxic if swallowed so please use with caution.
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How long does it take to get rid of them?
The more thorough you are with cleaning up all food sources, the quicker they will be gone. It won’t happen overnight, but after a week or so you should start to notice a decrease of ants in your car. If not, keep up with the treatment and eventually they will leave. You can also try our Indoor Liquid Ant Baits, which are placed indoors where they cannot travel to get into them (since ants can’t swim).
Alternatives
In most cases, a person can take care of ants, but it is rare to have an entire vehicle covered with them. It is best to hire a professional for pest control when it comes to your car. A pest control professional will be happy to help you with your problem even if there are a few ants and you want to avoid dealing with the process of removing ants.
All car owners should either avoid eating in their cars or clean up after themselves after eating in them. Did you drop a sour patch by accident while snacking on it? If you want to prevent a tedious process of getting rid of ants, pick it up and vacuum the area.
What kind of damage can they do?
When ants start nesting inside the vehicle, aside from the fact that it is really annoying to deal with, they can also cause damage. They will use their jaws to break up wiring insulation and insulation foam. This will leave behind an opening for water to come in. The aforementioned activities could drain battery power. If you find huge ant nests under your hood or under the car, these insects may be digging into your car’s electrical system as well which means that they are laying eggs there too.
Ants can also mess up your ride by making holes near fluid lines; this will make them leak out over time. Not only do you have to deal with fluid leaks but if this goes undetected, air pockets might develop causing trouble when filling up gas at a gas station.
If you have an automatic car, or if your choke stick is hiding under or near your dashboard, the ants might take advantage of this and go inside it during their foraging trips. Since ants can carry extra load, they might take some items to their nest such as the key stuck in the ignition switch. If you are to start your car later on, then expect that these insects will be all over it.
Damaging electric wires
In addition to damaging electrical wiring insulation and other parts of the vehicle’s interior, ants also leave behind a bad smell from their droppings and from their nests which you will find around where they enter your car. So even if you don’t see them; expect that they are already there with no sign of them leaving.
As if that is not bad enough, you will also have to deal with the fact that destroying an ant’s nest will bring its family members to defend it. This means that your car windows could end up getting smashed too! If ants are already nesting under your hood, imagine the number of nests they have made inside the engine itself.
Conclusion
With all these things in mind, there are numerous reasons why it would be best to call professionals to help you solve the problem before this gets out of hand. You can also sign up at home detailing for more information on how they can help you maintain and clean your car regularly so problems like these don’t arise in the first place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, by follow the precautions you can save your car from ants. Firstly you just need to avoid eating in car.
Yes, you can spray but it is not a good idea. It is better that you follow some precautions than to spray.
Apart from this if you are interested to know more about 5 Ways to Prevent Insects From Entering Your Home then visit our daily bites category.
