There are many products inside the house that are attractive to ants and make them come inside, ranging from items in the kitchen and bathroom to laundry rooms.
Are Ants Attracted to Laundry Detergent? Ants are attracted to laundry detergent due to its sweet aroma, but they do not consume or take it back to their nests because it is deadly for their survival. You can keep ants away by sealing the packs properly or putting mint leaves and cinnamon. Prepare a solution by mixing liquid detergent in water and spraying it directly over ant trails to remove them.
Ants relate pleasant smells to foods and make an effort to follow the odor trails to reach the food source, but every good fragrance does not lead them to food sources.
Skincare products and laundry detergents also have appealing odors and are attractive to insects but are not considered suitable for ants to eat.
Why are ants attracted to laundry detergent?
Many people get annoyed to see ants crawling in clean clothes that are not dirty, sweaty, or carrying no stains but still attracting these tiny creatures.
It seems like a complicated query to solve because no one expects these insects to reach the piles of clothes within a cupboard without any moisture or a food source.
They have a strong sense of smell that is even many times better than yours because they contain more olfactory receptors on their antennae.
Moreover, these receptors can help differentiate pleasant odors from unpleasant ones and detect the differences in the odor molecules.
Accordingly, they can reach clothes in the cupboard due to their pleasant odor because the scented detergents leave a sweet fragrance in the clothes.
In addition, these insects can also reach the packaging placed in storage cabinets of the laundry room by following a pleasant smell. These insects mistakenly relate odors to a food source.
Therefore, they can climb a storage cabinet and get inside it to reach the containers, but all their efforts get wasted when they find poison after reaching their destination.
So, they have to return to nests without carrying detergent granules because they can identify the nature of the granules after touching their antennae and leave the spots empty-handed.
How do you keep ants away from laundry detergent?
The manufacturers add essential oils and fragrances to the laundry detergent to make them smell better, as it leaves a good impression on users when their clothes have a pleasant aroma.
However, these fragrances can also be delightful for the tiny ants living indoors, which can try to reach the storage cabinets and cupboards after this odor.
Keeping them away from the packaging becomes essential because they can chew the plastic packaging to reach the inner material, even if they do not consume it later.
Laundry detergents are sold in different packaging, as you can find some powdery ones in plastic pouches, while the liquid ones are packed in plastic bottles and metal cans.
You need to take more care of the plastic packaging because these insects are good chewers and can make holes. However, they can enter metal cans only if there is any hole or opening.
It is essential to seal the cans properly after use, as these insects need a small opening from the lid to reach inside.
Accordingly, you can keep some repelling substance close to the clothes and within the cabinets to mask its odor.
Putting some fresh mint or bay leaves and cinnamon sticks can also protect your clothes and detergent packaging from getting holes.
Furthermore, you have to wash and dry the clothes properly because these insects can reach there if the detergent is left unwashed or moisture remains there.
Are laundry detergents poisonous for ants?
Laundry detergents are not safe for ants to eat because they can cause some severe internal problems and leads to their death.
Its poisonous nature makes it a good killing solution against these insects, as you can prepare this solution at home to get rid of a small number of insects indoors.
Sometimes, liquid soaps and cleaners with fragrant odors can also bring these insects inside the bathroom storage cabinets, where they also find a detergent and make a trail.
You can spray the trail of ants with its solution to cause drowning and make them die. It makes a foamy solution when mixed in water and affects their exoskeleton.
Moreover, this solution can block their breathing pores and causes suffocation. In addition, it is not safe for insects to consume its powder or granules.
This solution removes the waxy outer layer on their bodies by dissolving it with the solution and causing severe damage to their bodies, resulting in death.
How do you use laundry detergent to kill ants?
Laundry detergent can effectively kill ants when you use its solution to drown these insects, allowing the soapy solution to cause damage to their exoskeleton.
It leads to exposure of their muscular bodies to the outer environment and removes moisture.
Fill half of the spray bottle with water and add a liquid detergent to it. Mix them well by shaking them for a minute or two so that it gets thoroughly mixed.
After that, look for the ant trails in your house and spray the solution directly over the trails to make them drown in it completely. Leave them drowned for 3 to 5 minutes.
You can wipe out the surface with a cloth to remove the dead insects from the kitchen countertop or areas close to the sink. It can also be used to kill the colonies in mounds.
You have to pour the solution into the mound from the entry hole, which can cause the drowning of the whole colony and make them die, depending on the exposure rate.
So, it can be considered an easy-to-prepare and quick method of getting rid of ants in your home, but it can only help when there is a mild infestation.
Do ants get attracted to fabric softeners?
Fabric softeners have pleasing odors and are usually added to the washing cycle to leave a pleasant fragrance in clothes to make them smell good.
These fabric softeners can also attract ants to the clothes in the cabinets after washing. These insects can also reach fabric softener bottles if left open on the shelves.
Many people use dryer sheets as a deterrent because their strong odor can repel ants, particularly when choosing sheets with lavender odor.
These insects do not find lavender and rosemary to be pleasant odors and prefer to stay away from them. Accordingly, you can benefit from their deterring nature to keep insects away.
The fabric softeners with the fragrance of lavender and other repelling smells are not perceived to be pleasant odors to the receptors of these tiny insects and keep them at a distance.
Related Articles:
