How to Get Rid Of Sugar Ants In Car
Sugar ants are one of the most common household ants you can find. The name says why they are there, because of sweet foods. Getting rid go sugar ants in your car can be a challenge if you do not know what you are doing because you might use an insecticide in your car which is bad.
The good thing is that the sting of sugar ants isn’t that hot and you have to really provoke them for them to get aggressive. These are the same ants you see in your kitchen cabinets around the cookie jar and sugar jar.Â
Why Are Sugar Ants In My Car?
The main reason you have ants in your car is because they have a food source there. Many of us eat in our car without vacuuming it right after so food will be in places that you cannot even see it. But you might be wondering how they got into the car in the first place if the windows and doors are closed. Read below for more.
How Do Sugar Ants Get In My Car?
Sugar and are some of the tiniest ants of their species and that’s on purpose since they like to eat sweet food. Because of that, they need to access it anywhere they go. Every wonder how they still get in your sugar jar even when it is close.Â
They can fit in the smallest micro-holes that sometimes you can’t even see so the weather seals, A/C vents, and underneath the car are places they can come in from.
How to Get Sugar Ants Out Of Your Car In The Best Way PossibleÂ
Ways to get sugar ants out of your car and how to prevent it as well.
1. Clean Car Seat
If you have kids you will have car seats and we know how messy car seats can get. Car seats are very hard to clean because they have a lot of creases so food can get into those creases easily. The trick with cleaning car seats is that you have to take them out and turn them upside down and shake out all the food.
This is the most effective way to remove food from a car seat and get rid of ants in your car. You can also wipe the car seat down with disinfectant to get some of that sweet aroma out of the car as well.
Also Read: How to clean car seat straps
2. Vacuum Car CarpetÂ
Another area of interest for sugar ants is your car carpet. Small particles of food can be on the carpet without you seeing it and will attract sugar ants over time. If you eat in your car but it still looks clean, vacuum the carpet either way because the food will be in it.
I will also recommend having a small portable vacuum in your car so you can clean up a mess as soon as it happens so that you do not forget about it for days and overnight you wake up to a car full of sugar ants.
Also Read: How to clean car carpet
3. Remove Food From Car / Coffee
This had happened to me a few times before but leaving food in your car is one of the main reasons ants will get into your car. Sugar ants will feed on anything that has sugar on it including coffee that is left in the cupholder.
In my car, a small latte can fit in the cup holder while the cup holder cover is closed. This made me leave a latte in the car for days until the milk in it even spoiled and started to clog. The good thing is that it was too cold outside so sugar ants didn’t get the chance to go to my car.
Leaving empty coffee cups and other food items in your car will attract sugar ants so take them out each night or evening you get home especially if you live in an area where the temperature is always hot.
4. Turn On A/C To Max
This method is a way to get ants out of your car really quickly without doing too much work. All you need to do is turn on the car A/C to the coldest setting and pull up the windows and leave the car running for 2 hours.
The ants will feel the sudden drop in temperature and leave immediately. When the ants are gone, you can find what they were feeding on and get rid of it.
5. Use Natural Ant RepellentÂ
For ants, spiders, and flies there is a scent that they cannot tolerate at all. Even sometimes I cannot tolerate how strong these scents can get if I use too much. This scent is lavender, peppermint, and cinnamon essential oil.
These aromas repel ants and will prevent them from coming into your car and even get them out if you spray it on them. All you need to do is make an air freshener with 10 drops of essential oil into a spray bottle with warm water.Â
The warm water helps to defuse the essential oil even more in the car plus it makes your car smell better as well.