Ants in the Kitchen: 7 Ways to Keep Them Out This Summer

Why ants love your kitchen

Your kitchen is an ant's dream: sugar, water, warmth, and dozens of tiny gaps to get in. In a New Zealand summer a single scout can have a trail running across the bench within the hour. The usual culprits are Argentine ants, white-footed house ants and Darwin's ants — all small, all sweet-toothed, and all brilliantly organised.

1. Find the trail

Before you do anything, follow the ants. Their trail is a scent motorway between the nest and whatever they're after — a spill, a sugar bowl, a dripping tap, a pet bowl. Find the source and the entry point and you've half-won the battle.

2. Remove the food and water

• Wipe up spills, crumbs and sticky residues straight away — ants follow scent trails to food.
• Store all pantry food in sealed containers, not open packets.
• Don't leave pet food out all day.
• Fix dripping taps and wipe sinks dry; ants come in for water too.
• Rinse sugary residue off recycling before it goes in the crate.

3. Seal the ways in

Once the attraction's gone, block the highway. Seal gaps around windows, doors, skirting boards and pipes with silicone. Trim plants and branches back so they don't form bridges to the house.

4. Bait the colony

Removing food stops new trails, but it doesn't finish the colony. Place a GotchaPest Reusable Ant Bait Station across the trail with a pea-sized amount of sweet ant bait in the dish. The workers feed, carry it home, and over 1–2 weeks the colony — queen and all — collapses. No spraying, no chemicals in the air.

5. Check your houseplants

White-footed house ants and Darwin's ants often nest in potting mix, and some species "farm" mealybugs and scale insects on indoor plants for honeydew. If ants keep returning to a particular plant, check the stems and leaf joints for sap-sucking insects, let the soil surface dry between waterings, and repot heavily infested plants in fresh mix.

6. Keep a station on standby

Because the GotchaPest station is reusable, keep it on hand for the next invasion. If a new trail appears months later, it's a new colony moving in — simply refill with fresh bait and let it work again.

7. Cover more than one front

Ants don't only come through the kitchen. For a property with several entry points, the 3-pack lets you cover the kitchen, the patio and the shed at once — and saves 10%.