The Challenge
A family with a newborn found ant trails across the kitchen counter, the pantry, and — worst of all — the nursery windowsill. Two rounds of store spray had only moved the trails. With a baby crawling, the parents ruled out any indoor spraying and needed the colony gone, not relocated.
Follow the Trail Home
Instead of spraying, we watched. Foragers were followed from the nursery window down through a weep hole to a nest in the exterior wall void. Dual-mix baits — sugar plus protein — were placed on the active trails, and a foundation barrier stopped scouts from re-entering while the bait rode home to the queen. Trail activity peaked at day three, then fell off a cliff.
- Species confirmed as odorous house ants — bait-shy of sprays, hungry for sweets.
- Weep-hole nest treated directly with void dust after bait knockdown.
- Pantry goods sealed in a 10-minute reset the family still uses today.
Silent Kitchen in Nine Days
By day nine, monitors showed zero foragers. A two-week recheck confirmed the nest had collapsed, and the family joined our quarterly shield plan so the next colony never gets past the foundation.