3 myths about keeping ants out of your house

It's almost ant season. Denisa & Jason Moorehouse Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It’s that time again: soon our gardens will be full of flowers and our kitchens full of ants . Only one of these developments is welcome. Ants are, in some ways, the dominant creatures on the planet. There are, by one estimate , 20 quadrillion ants on planet earth. That’s 12 megatons of biomass, weighing more than every wild bird and mammal combined. So it probably shouldn’t be surprising when ants show up in our homes—but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. And we have all kinds of weird ideas about ants in our home. Some people think an ant showing up means your house is dirty (not necessarily), while others think it’s a good idea to break out the bug spray (it’s not). Let’s explore a few common ant myths, and see what research has to say about them. Ants don’t (necessarily) mean your house is dirty. The most common advice, when it comes to ants, is keeping things clean. And it’s true that leaving food out will attract ants, but even the cleanest houses get ants sometimes. “Finding a few ants in your home doesn’t mean your house is dirty.” Tanya Latty, a professor at the University of Sydney, wrote in an article for The Conversation . “We simply live on a planet that is absolutely teeming with ants.” This isn’t to say that cleanliness isn’t useful when it comes to fighting infestations—,just that it’s not a guarantee. So yes, it’s a good idea to store food in airtight containers, regularly clean in hard-to-reach places like under the fridge and stove, and generally do everything you can to make sure there’s not a lot of ant food available in your house, according to Latty. But even the slightest amount of food is going to attract ants: “Ants have tiny stomachs, so even small crumbs or the residue from spilled sugary drinks can be enough to entice them back,” Latty wrote. And food isn’t the only reason ants might find their way into your house. They may be looking for water, especially in the summer, meaning even the smallest plumbing leaks could attract them. Or, if it’s been raining a lot outside, they may come into your house in search of somewhere dry to live. Basically, cleanliness is only one factor when it comes to ants (if an important one). Another thing you can do to decrease the likelihood of seeing an ant, according to Latty, is sealing any small cracks or other potential entrances used by ants. Bug spray isn’t the best idea You might, after seeing a line of ants in your house, reach for a can of bug spray. And it will kill the ants you can see, granted, but the ants you can see aren’t the problem. “Ant poison may make you feel like you’re accomplishing something, but you’re not,” Michael Hansen, PhD, a biologist and ecologist, wrote in an article published by Consumer Reports . “Unless you solve the problem of what’s attracting them to your