Ant gel baits can take care of many ant infestations, often eradicated entire ant colonies, but, to do so, you need to place ant gel in places that’ll maximize the chances of enough ants finding the gel, consuming it, and unwittingly bringing some back to their colony.
Luckily, ant gels mostly all work the same way by:
- attracting ants to the gel (often via pheromones)
- ants consume the poisonous gel, bringing some of it back to share with the entire colony
- the gel gets passed around and, eventually, exterminates the entire colony
Here’s the best way to apply ant gel baits to make the above happen.
Glove Up and Don’t Get it on Your Skin
Every ant gel will have it’s own warning and safety information on the package. Read and follow that. But, generally, you’ll want to wear gloves, and avoid getting any gel on any exposed skin.
Don’t Apply Ant Gel to These Places
- Surfaces that you place food on (e.g. kitchen counter)
- Places pets or young children might encounter the ant gel
Find Ant Trails and Entry Points
Next, find all the ant trails (lines of ants) in your home or business. Get an idea of where ants entering your structure and the areas they are frequenting.
Ants often enter and move along:
- cracks
- unsealed doors
- unsealed windows
- unsealed conduit or pipe wall penetrations
- power outlets
- along baseboards
- under sinks, toilets, around bathrooms (they need water)
- near trash cans
- food pantries
- under fridge
- kitchen
Dots or Lines of Gel?
For most areas where you see the lines of ants, apply small dots or dabs of the ant gel a few inches apart from each other. Doing this allows many ants to feed on one dot at a time. I
f you a lot of ants foraging in a specific area, you can make a line of the gel up to around three inches long in that area.
What if Ant Gel ain’t Stopping the Ant Invasion?
That’s about it. Place the gel in the right areas and wait. It can take several days for you to notice a dent in the ant population in your home. Possibly longer if you’re dealing with a serious ant infestation.
Ant gel baits are often designed for specific ant species. If you don’t see any progress, it’s possible that the ants you’re dealing with are an ant species that the ant gel wasn’t designed for. Here’s a comparison of two types of ant gels to give you an idea of some pros and cons of different ant gel baits:
Another potential reason for lackluster ant gel results is that it takes some time for the poison to make its way back to the queen ant. The colony might send out several foraging groups who get wiped out by your ant gel before one group finally bring the gel back to the queen.
Also, old bait isn’t as effective. “Pest Geek” podcast (in the above video) recommends avoiding baits manufactured more than a year ago (because they lose effectiveness).
