How to Get Rid of Pavement Ants (3 Simple Steps)

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You probably know that ants can be a real nuisance. They seem to appear out of nowhere and before you know it, your kitchen is crawling with them. If you’re looking for a way to get rid of pavement ants for good, then look no further.

In this article, we’ll teach you three simple steps that will get rid of these pesky critters in no time.

All you have to do is identify them, control them and prevent them from ever coming back.

How to identify pavement ants on your property

The pavement ant is one of the most common ant species encountered in urban areas. True to their name, they’re typically found around the pavement (or sidewalk). You will often find them nesting in the soil beneath or between concrete or asphalt though.

On the one hand, you could consider these little insects pretty benign as they do not pose a considerable health risk. That being said, they can contaminate food if they invade our homes. So that’s why it’s important to perform proper pavement ant control.

What do these ants actually look like?

Pavement ants are very small, typically an eighth of an inch long (3.17 mm), which makes them nearly twice as big as Pharaoh ants or fire ants.

They can range in color from dark brown to black but are usually brown with lighter legs and antennae. You can also identify them by the shape of their bodies.

These ants have two nodes on the petiole, which looks like the waist part of their bodies, the rear of the thorax. For myrmecologists, their defining trait is grooved parallel lines along the head and thorax. If you get that close to one, then are probably going to get a positive identification.

Pavement ants are found throughout the world so it shouldn’t surprise you that they can also be found throughout the United States. They are considered a major pest in different regions, such as the west coast, Midwest, and Eastern states.

For homeowners, you are going to find these critters along or in cracks and driveways, curbs, and sidewalks. if you look, you’ll also likely find them under landscaping rocks around bricks or along foundations.

When you stumble across their nests around your property it might resemble a small volcano with a dirt crater. This is actually a good indication that you are dealing with pavement ants (or another species) rather than a fire ant or carpenter ant.

The former doesn’t build a mound with a central hole, relying on side exits instead while the latter builds nests inside decaying wood.

When pavements ants make it inside your home, they can be found in wall voids and most commonly under floors or where the carpet meets baseboards.

They’re easily found trailing along sidewalks and other pavement structures. So that’s a good place to start for pavement and control to get started.

How to get rid of pavements ants

In most cases, especially when found outdoors, you will be able to clearly see a pavement ant nest. This means that you can target the nest directly with insecticide to kill the colony.

When these ants are nesting inside, it can be a little more difficult to find and eliminate them. You won’t want to take a direct approach. Rather, you want to rely on baiting the ants so that they carry the insecticide back into the colony themselves.

When you’ve found the nest, you want to use a product like Bifen IT (Amazon). This is a powerful liquid concentrate that not only is a repellent, but also offers a quick knockdown and long residual.

This means that it will penetrate the ant nest itself and kill any insect it comes into contact with.

Use this with a pump-up sprayer, (following label instructions), and spray the ant nests directly as well as any activity along sidewalks, driveways, patios, or landscape beds.

In this stage of the plan, you are just trying to kill as many ants as you can.

Next use Syngenta Ant Gel (Amazon). This is a sweet gel bait that comes in a syringe for easy application and has been tested to be one of the most effective baits available.

Now you are trying to attract and bait any foraging ants that happened to escape your initial attack on the nest.

Apply this gel bait to ant tracks and locations where ant activity is common, such as countertops near appliances, near baseboards, and entry points

Something important to remember when baiting is to remove any competing food sources. You can do this by simply storing food in airtight containers or picking up pet food.

If the ants have a choice, they are less likely to feed on your gel bait and unlikely to take it back to their reeling nests to finish off your work for you.

Finally, I’d recommend that you use a product called D-Fense (Amazon) around your home. This is waterproof insecticide dust which is really handy for getting in the spaces your gel bait won’t go.

Using a duster (Amazon), apply D-Fense dust inside any wall voids as well as under appliances, baseboards, and into points of entry like weep poles or where pipes penetrate the wall.

This is going to ensure that you get any stragglers that may have been unaffected by the first two rounds of insecticide.

How to stop pavements ants from returning

Getting rid of any species of ants is a tough job because it’s you against literally thousands of pests. So once you have managed to deal a death blow to a pavement ant colony, it is important to take the necessary steps to prevent them from returning.

One of the most important things you can do is to eliminate food sources. This means keeping countertops clean, sweeping and vacuuming frequently, and removing any water sources that might attract ants.

Sometimes this will call for a complete lifestyle change for you and your family. But by just changing a few daily habits or routines, you can significantly reduce the cost of annual pest control.

In the yard, you should also trim vegetation back from your home to make it easier to spot growing ant (and other pests) populations. You also want to reduce the chance of pests gaining access to your home. To do this you want to seal up any cracks or crevices you might find in your exterior and interior walls.

You also want to create a barrier around your home with an insecticide like Bifen IT. This will help to keep ants from ever getting inside your home in the first place.

Finally, you want to make sure that you are treating pests on a regular basis. Quarterly treatments with an insecticide like Bifen IT will help to keep any remaining populations from gaining a foothold and recolonizing your home.

Final thoughts

Pavement ants are a tough enemy. But with a little bit of knowledge and the right products, you can get rid of them for good. Just remember to take the necessary steps to prevent them from returning in the future. With a little bit of effort, you can keep your home ant-free all year long.