Advice
Ants in the Kitchen: Causes and What Helps
Ants in the kitchen are usually following food and warmth, and a few careful habits can reduce them, though a persistent trail often needs professional treatment.
Read the guide →We look after households and small rural businesses in Longcombe and across the TQ9 area. The aim is simple: find where the colony is, treat it properly, and then make it harder for ants to get back inside the building.
Countryside homes and where ants nest
Properties around Longcombe tend to mix houses with sheds, barns, garages and other outbuildings. Ants do not mind which. Black garden ants often nest under paving slabs, at the foot of a wall or in dry soil beside a path, and a mild spell brings them out in numbers looking for sweet food, grease and anything left open in the kitchen or the pet food bowl.
Farm buildings and workshops can have their own pull, such as animal feed, stored sugar or a staff kettle area. We look at the whole picture, house and outbuildings together, because treating just the kitchen while a nest thrives by the back step only gives you a short break before the trails return and the same frustration starts all over again for you and your family.
How we deal with a nest
We start by tracing the trail. Ants follow the same route again and again, so watching where they go, and where they vanish, usually points us to the nest. We then apply a targeted treatment at that spot or along the route so the workers take it back to the colony, rather than spraying around the room and simply hoping that it will be enough in the end.
Afterwards we go over what let them in. That might be a gap under a door, a crack in a threshold or a pet bowl left on the floor overnight. Some nests are deep or large, and in Longcombe we will tell you plainly if a follow-up visit makes sense rather than promise more than we can honestly deliver to you or to anyone else locally.
Simple steps for a quieter summer in Longcombe
Keep food in sealed containers, rinse jam jars and drink bottles before they go into recycling, and wipe up sweet spills straight away. Cut back plants that touch the walls so ants cannot use them as a bridge into the house. If you are further along the valley, we also cover Totnes and Dartmouth, so just let us know where you are and what you have noticed.
Frequently asked questions
Can you treat an ant nest in a lawn near my house?
Yes. Nests in lawns and borders are common in rural spots like Longcombe. We locate the colony and use a targeted treatment, keeping pets and children in mind and telling you how long to keep clear of the area afterwards.
Do ants in a barn or shed need treating?
If they are only passing through, perhaps not. If they are nesting in the structure or heading towards the house, treating them early stops the problem spreading. We can advise once we have seen where they are, what they are after and how many there are.
Why do ants keep coming back after I sprayed the kitchen?
Surface sprays kill the few you can see but leave the colony untouched, so new workers simply follow the scent trail again. Finding and treating the nest is what actually reduces the numbers over the following days, along with removing whatever food is attracting them.