Ants: what are they good for? Absolutely nothing! These pests are gross, unsightly, and annoying, especially if they’re making your home their new home. Whether it’s your fault that you’ve had an ant infestation or it’s just some bad luck, you’ll need to do something about it. Here’s what you should do if you see ants in your apartment.

Don’t Panic and Do Something About It

While some people can take out an ant problem swiftly and with no fear, many of us have a tendency to panic. While it’s normal to have a visceral reaction to seeing a bunch of ants in the safety of your home, you should try your best not to freak out. Running around and worrying about the problem is just a waste of time.

Conversely, it’s just as easy to simply pretend that the problem doesn’t exist. If you put it out of your mind, it’s almost like it never happened, right? Sadly, this doesn’t stop your ant problem and will likely lead to the infestation becoming exponentially worse. Do something about it right away!

Call Your Community Office

While seeing a single ant may not be reason to suspect an ant infestation, a group of ants can be a sign of a larger issue. The first thing you should do once you realize there’s a problem is call your community office. They’ll guide you on the best course to take and schedule a maintenance visit if they believe it’s warranted. It’s best to get in touch as soon as you can. If you try to handle the problem yourself and fail –- or worse, damage your apartment – you could find yourself having to pay for repairs.

Use Insecticide or Home Remedies

Depending on the severity of the ant problem, your community office may advise you to take your own actions before they send someone out to have a look. Your best bet would be to lay down ant traps, which you can find at almost any supermarket in your area. Home remedies, such as vinegar spray and citrus oils, may also help keep the ants away. You can find plenty of other tips online for getting rid of ants. If you’re still left with a lot of the bugs, you’ll know it’s time to call in the big guns, i.e. a pest removal service.

Clean Up Problem Areas

No matter if you’re expecting a maintenance worker to make a visit to your apartment or you’re dealing with the issue alone, you can still take some proactive steps to guard against future ant outbreaks. The main task you should focus on is cleaning your apartment and keeping good habits. So, if you tend to leave dishes for a day or two, or you don’t clean spills right away, get used to cleaning up immediately. While this may not be foolproof in repelling the ants, it’ll absolutely lessen your chances of it happening again.

Dealing with ants is an unpleasant task, but the main takeaway here should be that you can only solve it by dealing with the problem head-on. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it!