Tiny Ants in the Bathroom? The EASY Way to Get Rid of Them

These small parasites are stubborn and fertile. The easiest and most effective way to eliminate all ants is by killing their queen. Every day, she lays eggs, so the struggle with ants running around the rooms can be useless. Let us figure out how to get rid of tiny ants in the bathroom.

Presence of Tiny ants in the bathroom

The bathroom is the cleanest and most hygienic place in the apartment. And it is not that place where we would like to meet these bugs.

We take a shower or bath there, brush our teeth, and do other hygiene procedures. Most of us clean this room more often than any other.

However, insufficient ventilation and high humidity lead to the appearance of different insects. And the most common problem is tiny ants. The problem is relevant not only for residents of the south but even in northern regions.

If you enjoy reading this article, why not check out our articles on Are Ant Farms a Bad Idea? Let’s Discuss and What Can Ants Damage? What You Didn’t Know

 How to determine the presence of ants in the apartment?

• The first signs of the presence of ants are:
• Thin white threads remain on the products;
• From time to time you see ants on the floor or walls;
• You find insects in the lockers.

When the colony grows, their paths appear in all corners of the apartment or house. You will find them under the sink or bathtub or in the cracks between the tiles. They can also be behind the baseboard, on the back of the furniture, etc. For more tips on discovering where ants might be hiding in your house, read Where do ants hide? Let’s find out.

Which types of ants are likely to be in your bathroom?

Most likely, the harmful residents of your bath belong to one of the three most common types.

1) Pavement Ant (or Sugar Ant)

The body of these pests is black or dark red. They get inside the apartment through cracks in the walls or floor. These bugs got their name because they usually build their nests between the pavement tiles under the turf. They also make dens in the cracks of panel-type houses. Therefore, they can enter the room searching for food without any difficulties. Sugar ant is the most harmless type, as you will rarely see them in your apartment.

2) Solenopsis Molesta (or Solenopsis thief ants)

The pests of this type build their anthill close to the nests of bigger ants. They got their name because of their lifestyle. Sometimes they raid neighboring nests to steal food and larvae. Small insects have a brown, red, or light yellow shell. At home, ants settle in the holes in lockers and walls; they prefer rotting wood.

3) Pharaoh ants

This type of ants is the most common enemy of a human. They build their shelters in warm and heated homes. Pharaon ants can occupy not only apartments but also schools, clinics, kindergartens. Representatives of this species are of tropical origin, so they cannot live on the street. The insects are looking for wet and insulated places near the source of food. And your bathroom can be an excellent choice for them. Pharaoh ants are very interesting creatures! You can read more about them in a few of our articles, including this one: Are Ants Active at Night?

How do ants get into the bathroom, and how to find their nest?

Ants are very cunning insects, so before moving the entire colony, they send several scouts who can check the situation. Most often, ants move in the following ways:

• through the basement;
• through pipes;
• through ventilation;
• through cracks and holes in the wall and windows.

The ants’ route is most often the same – it leads to the queen. The path is usually located somewhere at the baseboard level. If we talk about a wooden house, then insects can move along cracks in the logs – it is difficult to remove such pests. It is worth checking the foundation of the house for cracks in which ants love to settle.

The queen herself can be somewhere in the garden, and only the workers who feed her enter the home. Moreover, this applies to all types of houses – barn and cabin, and others. Ants require heat and moisture, so they usually choose the corners of the bathroom. It is often wet there. They can also hide behind the lockers where you keep cleaning products.

Why do ants appear in the bathroom

Let’s look at the reasons for their appearance in the bath. Most often you can meet small red pharaoh ants. They live inside buildings and die at low temperatures. Black ants in apartment buildings are a rarity. More often, they live in gardens or backyards. You can bring these insects to the house with the fruits or plants.

But do not be afraid that they will occupy your home. Black ants live only on the street; they build their anthills there, and cannot breed without a queen. If you notice them in the bathroom, getting rid of them will not be difficult.

• You live near their nest. Red ants breed rapidly. New colonies are looking for a home, and they liked your apartment. Why in the bathroom? Ants settle where there is a lot of food. Therefore, you can see them in the kitchen. But they also need water, without which they will not last long. The source of water is the bathroom.
• Neighbors called pest control. Maybe you and your neighbors suffer from ants. If they call special services, they will kill part of the insects. And the rest will run away and move to where it is comfortable.

• Maybe you had a romantic dinner there and left crumbs and bits of food. Or you washed mushrooms, berries, or left pieces of fruit under the bathtub.
• Often the smell of perfumes, washing powders, and other products can attract the bugs.
• Maybe ants lived in the kitchen, but there were so many of them that they moved to the bathroom.
• You could bring insects with shoes, clothes, or groceries.
• Microclimate. A bathroom is an ideal place for insects. There is high humidity, warm air, the room is not aired.
• They can enter your home through the ventilation. First, the ants occupy the bathroom and then spread throughout the apartment.

These are the main reasons for the appearance of ants in the bathroom. This room attracts them because there is water, without which they will not survive. If there are a lot of ants, and you see them quite often, then the fight will be hard and lengthy.

How to get rid of the ants that are in your bathroom

What to do if ants appeared in the bathroom, how to fight them? You should do this in the same way as with ants in any other part of the house.

Your purpose should be the elimination of their queen. You will kill several insects, and the ant mother will give birth to new ones.

Therefore, it is so necessary to deal with them throughout the house, and not in the bathroom. You need to find their nests and destroy them, which is hard to do. But if you leave the poisoned bait, the workers will carry it to the nest. They will feed it to its residents, including the queen. After that, all insects are going to die. We will tell you more about the methods of the fight.

Exterminator

If we have a toothache, we go to the dentist and do not do the surgery ourselves. If ants appeared in the house, you need the help of pest control. A professional knows what to do in this situation. He has specialized equipment and strong chemicals that will destroy insects. Pest control will help get rid of ants quickly.

If the company is good, it will provide guarantees, discuss the period during which the ants will not appear. This method has one drawback. You have to pay a lot. Besides, if you processed only your apartment, the insects will return. It is best to ask the neighbors for help and fight the ants together.

Aerosol pest control products

If you find a nest of ants, you can get rid of them using specific aerosols. You can buy it in any supermarket. Toxic substances are dangerous to insects and relatively harmless to humans. But if you do not follow instructions, it can cause mild poisoning. If you use them in a bathroom, do not let children or pets in it.

BE CAREFULL: Wear gloves and a mask to avoid breathing in dangerous substances. Spray the pesticide on the insects and wait for them to die. Or apply to the surface where the ants run. Throw away the dead ants. These products help to kill the ants that run in the bathroom. But aerosols will not solve the problem. If the nest remains, the ants will restore their colony.

Gels

They also contain toxic substances. Gels do not act immediately but after some time. Apply the product to the place where you have seen these insects last time. It is a sweet bait that contains an insecticide. You should put several drops around the bathroom.

 The gel will cope with ants in a few days. It has a unique substance, Bitrex, due to which the gel becomes bitter. If a child or a pet accidentally takes it into the mouth, he will spit it out and will not get poisoned.

Workers will take poison into the nest and feed their queen. The whole colony will die within a few days. It is an exceptional choice if you want to get rid of tiny ants in the bathroom quickly and easily. Choose the gel that you like.

Natural remedies

If you do now want to use toxic substances, you can use natural remedies. We divide them into two categories which are mentioned below:

• The first method is keeping the ants away instead of killing them. They do not like pungent smells and leave the apartment.
  • if you lube their paths with garlic, parsley leaves, lemon, or cloves.
  • You can pour spices (peppers, cinnamon, turmeric) around the bathroom, and the ants will avoid it.
• The second category is a poisonous solution with boric acid. Many recipes explain how to make a mixture with this acid. We will tell you a couple of common ones.
  • Take minced meat or raw meat; mix it with boric acid. Roll up tiny balls and place where the ants run. Cut off access to water. After ten days, make the bait again.
  • You can also stir boric acid in potato mash with a boiled egg. Add a spoon of sugar to it, make the balls, and put them in the bathroom.

We have more information on natural remedies to get rid of ants in the article What Can Ants Bite and Chew Through?

How to prevent ants coming back

It is necessary to clean the bathroom.

Deep cleaning

You need to check everything in the bathroom, throw out all the unnecessary items. Clean under the bathtub and in all corners. Pull out the trash and wipe off the dirt. Wash surfaces and walls with disinfectants. You should clean the joints and cracks.

Microclimate

Change the microclimate in the bathroom. Remove all water, and wipe the bath and sink. Ventilate the room as often as possible so that there is no damp. Buy and install a fan heater and air dryer in the house. Do not forget about the towel radiator. Make sure there are no leaks.

Protection

In an apartment building, insects move from one flat to another through holes or ventilation. Protect your bathroom from insects by filling all the cracks and installing the air vent grid. Use anti-ant means to kill them or keep them away from the apartment.

Leaving traps to attract the tiny ants

As we have said above, you can make home-made traps to cope with these annoying bugs. Or you can buy it in a specific store. Determine the most popular paths of the ants and leave the traps there. But the best thing you can do is getting a lot of them and put them everywhere. Just remember to change them regularly.

Final Findings

As you can see, getting rid of tiny ants in the bathroom can be a difficult task. But nothing is impossible. Just clean the bath more often and do not leave any food there. Use aerosols or gels to cope with these insects. And if you see that you cannot solve the problem alone and the ants are everywhere, call pest control. They are professionals, and they will make sure that the bugs will not disturb you anymore.

If you enjoyed reading this article, why not check out our articles on Where Do Ants Hide? Let’s Find Out and Why Do Dead Ants Attract More Ants? Everything you need to Know