Laying on the couch after a long day is a feeling most live for, but ants can ruin your relaxing moments by infesting your couch. Battling ant infestations is not an easy task but it’s certainly possible to eliminate all these pesky insects.
So, how to get rid of ants in your couch? You can do so by vacuuming your couch, removing excess moisture, using ant baits, spraying using pesticides, and applying borax or peppermint essential oil.
These methods can help you to eradicate ants fast and also permanently. In the following sections, we will discuss more deeply about getting rid of ants and preventing future invasions. Read further for more!
Ways to Get Rid of Ants in Your Couch
1. Vacuum Clean Your Couch
Vacuuming your couches regularly is a sure way to eradicate ants. Start by removing all the cushions on your couches and vacuum them thoroughly. Ensure to clean all areas of your couches, including the edges. As you do this, remember to clean under every couch.
Vacuum cleaning helps eliminate food substances or any paper wrap under the couch that might attract the ants. Since ants like sugary stuff, you should clean your house thoroughly with soapy water. Let the cushions air outside for some time, and leave your living room windows open to air out the house.
2. Get Rid of the Moisture
Ants not only search for food but also travel in masses in search of water. If your living room is wet, finding ants on your couch shouldn’t surprise you because they like wet places. You are even likely to find them in your bathroom. Prevent this by drying out the moist places.
While different types of ants behave differently, carpenter ants are particularly known to look for wet places to make their colonies. When it’s dry outside, they find their way into houses, searching for moisture and water.
So, eliminate any pools or spots that are wet. As for your bathroom, you can use a dehumidifier. If your house remains clean and dry, you will naturally prevent ants from infesting your couches and your house.
3. Use Ant Baits
If you spot one ant on your couch, there is a high likelihood of many others around. This can be risky, especially if you have kids around. Setting a bait for them is an effective way to eliminate them. These baits work well in trapping all types of ants:
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Finding their hiding place is vital if you want to succeed in removing them completely. For every couch, you should set bait in the areas around it. You can also try to trace their pathways in order to place your baits tactically.
4. Spraying
Protect yourself first with a latex glove before applying your preferred pesticide. A mix of water and vinegar effectively deter all types of ants if you are looking for a natural solution. If not, you can use these ant-killer sprays:
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Always spray all the areas where ants have been found, including possible hideouts. The pheromone trails left by these insects can be used to track other nearby ants easily.
Spraying disrupts the trails making it difficult for other ants to use the same route. Equally, the area around the couch should be sprayed. All surfaces and floors should be free from food to avoid any contamination. Afterward, clean the house thoroughly for efficient results.
5. Use of Borax
Borax is another way to eliminate ants from your couches. The borax powder can be found at most local stores and works well with a sugar solution. The sugar in the solution attracts the ants, while the borax kills them.
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As they return to their shelters, they spread it to other ants. After a while, you will clear out the whole colony of ants, including the ants’ queen. The borax solution disrupts the ants’ digestive system, killing them as a result.
6. Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint essential oil is known to deter ants. Add about five drops of the oil to a ball of cotton wool and wipe it around the insides of the couch pillows. Make sure you clean all the woody edges of the couch and below the cushions.
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Under the couch could also be an ants’ harboring place because it is warm. So use enough oil in such places to get rid of every ant. The peppermint oil smell irritates the ants, keeping them away for a few days.
How to Prevent Ants From Infesting Your Couch
Seal Gaps and Cracks
Move around all the couches in the room to see if there are any cracks and crevices present. The areas around the couches are likely to be their entrances. All identified gaps should be closed to prevent further trails. Caulk is very useful when you want to seal all the ants’ holes.
Keep Your Environment Clean
Ants need a safe place to go and return with food. So find anything that provides them with shelter or food and remove it. The fallen tree logs around the compound, the tree limbs lying around, and the mulch that has overstayed around should be moved.
This is because ants like dark and moist places. Trim the extra branches touching your roof because that could be their passage to the living room. Firewood should not be stored inside the house unless it has been checked for ants. Keep your surroundings clean, and you will prevent any ants’ infestations.
Clear the Garbage
Once you leave garbage inside the house, ants infest it in large colonies to find food. They will find any available cracks or crevices to enter the house, and some will end up in your couch.
As you clean up, ensure there’s no garbage around the sitting area. Ant invasion can be prevented by discarding your garbage far from your house. Also, change the garbage bags often and always carry them fully closed.
Coffee
Coffee grounds are an excellent remedy for ant infestation due to its smell, which ants find too strong. Dry out the coffee grounds and place them strategically in your home, especially in the sitting room.
Spread them around the compound, the garden, and the yard to keep them away for good. Be careful when using this remedy if you have pets because caffeine is a known poison to pets. Reapply the coffee grounds after it rains for effective results.
Eating Areas
Since ants constantly move in search of food and water, they will creep anywhere to search for what they want. People often snack while watching TV on the couch.
As much as possible, break this habit as food usually remains stuck between cushions and couch pillows. If you can’t keep yourself from eating, you should properly dispose of any food remains on the couch at the very least.
Related: How to Get Rid of Ants | Safe and Effective Methods
List of Sources
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Do’s and Don’ts of Pest Control.
Cranshaw, W. S. (2017). Ants in the Home.
Ogg, B. (n.d.). Ant Baits: A Least-Toxic Control.
Vail K., & Barnwell P. (2014). Managing Structure-Invading Ants.
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