How to Get Rid of Ants in the House and Garden: UK Guide

How to get rid of ants depends on which ant you have, so start there. Most trails in UK homes are black garden ants, which nest outside and come in for sweet food. They can be dealt with using good housekeeping and a shop-bought ant bait, and if they stay outdoors the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) says they can usually be left alone.

Pharaoh ants are the exception, and getting this wrong costs you weeks. They are much smaller, pale, live indoors in warm buildings, and react badly to the usual sprays. If your ants are tiny and yellow-brown, stop and read the pharaoh section before you treat anything.

In every other case the order is the same. Find out where they are going, take away what they came for, treat the route with bait, then close the gap once the ants have gone. The table below gives the first move for the situations we are asked about most.

The Natural History Museum counts about 60 ant species in the UK, but two matter most to a householder. Clackmannanshire Council names the black garden ant and the pharaoh's ant as the most common types it deals with. The black garden ant, Lasius niger, is the one you will most likely meet. Redbridge Council gives it as 3 to 5 mm long and dark brown or black, and the BPCA says it is really a very dark brown.

The pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis, is a small tropical species. Redbridge describes it as yellow-brown and generally under 2 mm, and says the workers often move in long chains across work surfaces, kitchen fittings and food cupboards. It usually lives in indoor colonies, in warm and damp conditions, and is only occasionally found in drains or ducts where it is warm enough to breed.

Size and colour are the quickest check. Put a ruler beside the trail and take a close photo. A dark ant around 4 mm is almost certainly not a pharaoh ant. A pale ant you can barely see might be, or it might be a ghost ant, which the BPCA describes as very small with a dark head and translucent legs and abdomen. The BPCA says to leave both of these to professionals, and to ask for help whenever you are unsure which ant you have.

Food preference gives a second clue. The BPCA says garden ants go for sweet foods, while pharaoh ants prefer protein. If the ants ignore the sugar bowl and gather on a smear of grease or a pet food bowl, take that seriously. It is a clue and not proof, so do not leave food out for days to test the idea.

A garden ant nest is one place you can often find. Pharaoh ants are built differently. The BPCA says they split their colony and spread over a large area, and that they nest in places that are hard to reach. Redbridge Council adds that a colony under threat can form new colonies, which may hold many thousands of ants. So the normal instinct, to spray what you can see, can turn one problem into several.

The BPCA's advice is direct: insecticidal sprays and dusts are generally found to be ineffective, because they make the ants scatter and the colonies split. Its pest guide says only baiting has proved successful and that residual treatments do not work. This matters even for a quick squirt of kitchen spray, so hold off until you know what you have.

They also breed quickly. Redbridge says a queen can lay up to 350 eggs a week, the eggs hatch after about a week, and adults mature within about a month. The ants are drawn to warmth, which is why the BPCA singles out large centrally heated buildings. In a London block with shared heating pipes and service risers, a trail in one flat may be part of something bigger than that flat.

Professional treatment is usually a slow bait programme. The BPCA names two types: a slow-acting poison, and a juvenile hormone that disrupts how larvae develop. Redbridge uses a hormone bait that stops the ants breeding, and says it keeps working for up to two months, with a follow-up 4 to 6 weeks after the first visit. A reduction is usually noticed within 28 days. You may see one or two larger ants during this time, which Redbridge says is a sign that worker numbers have fallen and queens are leaving the nest to forage.

The one thing you must do is leave the bait alone. Redbridge says not to clean it away until the ants have died off. Our pharaoh ant control page explains what to tell us, and you should keep food sealed and surfaces clean while you wait.

The reason this species gets so much attention is where it lives. The BPCA calls it an increasingly important pest of large heated buildings, especially hospitals and high-rise flats. Redbridge Council says that in hospitals and care homes the ants can invade surgical dressings and may spread infection between patients, and that they can carry germs onto food and preparation surfaces. A paper in the Journal of Hospital Infection looked at the species in NHS hospitals in England as long ago as 1981, so this is a long-standing issue.

If you live in a flat, tell your landlord or managing agent before anyone treats, and ask whether neighbours have seen the same ants. Colonies do not stop at a front door, so treating one flat while the next one has ants may only delay the problem. We recommend agreeing a plan for the affected part of the building first, and asking any contractor how they will decide which flats to include.

If you work in a hospital, care home or other healthcare building, do not treat them yourself. Report the sighting to the estates or facilities team the same day, and note the room and the time. The BPCA also says pharaoh ants may gnaw holes in silk, rayon and rubber, which is worth mentioning if ants are near stored equipment.

The ants on your worktop are workers, and they are not the problem you are trying to solve. The BPCA explains that foragers walk back and forth between food and the nest, carrying food back to the larvae and queen, so watching them can lead you to it. Ten quiet minutes here will save you money on products that go in the wrong place.

Start on a dry, warm day, when ants are active. Do not wipe the trail yet. Put a small dab of something sweet by the trail if it has gone quiet, then watch which way the ants walk when they leave it. Ants carrying food are heading home. Follow them along the skirting or the edge of a cupboard to the point where they vanish, and mark it with a small piece of tape.

Then go outside and find the same spot on the other side of the wall. Look for ants along the foot of the wall and between slabs. The BPCA says nest entrances show as small piles of earth pellets. Redbridge Council says black ants nest around building foundations, under paving slabs and along the edges of flower beds and lawns, and Mid and East Antrim Council says nests are often against the outside of the building.

You will not always find it. If the trail goes into a wall and never comes out, that is still useful, because you now know the route. Bait works along a route without you ever seeing the nest. If the trail is inside and pale, stop following it and do not disturb it.

This plan is for black garden ants. Take it in order, because the steps depend on each other. If you bait before removing the food, ants have no reason to take the bait. If you seal the gap first, you stop them carrying it home.

Use bait. The reason is simple arithmetic. University of California guidance says foragers are usually a small part of a colony, so killing them gives only temporary relief. The Natural History Museum says a black garden ant colony can grow to over 20,000 workers, with a queen that can live for up to 15 years in the wild. The ants on your floor are a very small share of that.

Bait works by using the ants' own habits. The BPCA says sugar-based liquid bait works because workers carry the insecticide back to the larvae and queen. It has to act slowly, because a bait that kills at once never reaches the nest. That is why the wait is normal, and it is why spraying beside bait works against you: University of California guidance says not to spray while baiting.

Not every source agrees. Clackmannanshire Council still suggests household sprays at entry points and says foragers carry insecticide back to the nest, and Mid and East Antrim Council suggests treating cracks along skirting boards to create a barrier. Redbridge Council sprays nests directly, once it knows where they are. Our view is that a spray has a place when you can reach an outdoor nest and the label allows it, or as a barrier product used as directed, but bait is the better first choice inside the home.

Whichever you buy, use a product made for ants in the UK and follow the label every time. HSE says the general public should only use products intended for them, often marked amateur or non-professional, and must never use professional-only products. It treats ant powder as a biocide. HSE also says not to buy online or from abroad until you have checked the product is legal here, and never to pour pesticide down a drain, sink or toilet.

Kitchens are where most people first notice ants, because that is where the sugar is. Redbridge Council says black ants become a nuisance when they come indoors looking for food, especially sweet food. Tonight's job is to make your kitchen less rewarding than the bait.

Ants coming out of a wall or from under a skirting board are usually travelling, not living there. Black garden ants use the gaps around pipes, the joints between floor and wall, and cracks at the foot of the building to reach food from a nest outside. Mid and East Antrim Council notes that they can use very small cracks. Follow the route outdoors first, as above.

If the ants come through a gap, bait beside it and leave the gap open until the activity ends, then seal it. Do not spray into the gap: it can push ants to a new exit, and it does nothing about the nest. Do not spray or pour liquids into plug sockets or anywhere near electrics. Keep airbricks and vents clear, because they ventilate the building and should not be blocked.

For an upstairs flat, the picture changes. Black garden ants on a high floor are less common than on the ground, and pale ants in a warm flat should make you think of pharaoh ants. Check the size and colour before going any further, and tell your landlord or managing agent. If what you are finding near the skirting is not ants at all, compare our guides to silverfish and cockroaches, as these need a different plan.

If the ants are staying outside, the best advice is usually to do nothing. The RHS says ants should generally be tolerated in gardens, that they are an important part of garden biodiversity, and that unless a nest is a real problem they are best left alone. It also warns that destroying a colony often does not help, because incoming queens may take over the territory. The BPCA agrees that black garden ants outdoors can usually be left alone.

For a lawn, the RHS suggests brushing the soil off on a dry day before you mow, so the mower does not smear it across the grass. If long-term ant activity has left the lawn lumpy, lift the turf in the raised areas, remove the excess soil and relay it. Winter is the easier time, as ants are less active then. Do not treat the whole lawn with insecticide to solve what is really a mowing problem.

Pots are the exception. The RHS says ants can disturb the roots in containers, so plants become more likely to wilt, especially when dry. Water pots well and repot them if a nest has taken over. Ants nesting in a compost bin cause no damage there, so leave them. On fruit and roses, watch for aphids. The RHS says ants can protect aphids from ladybirds to get their honeydew, so aphid numbers may rise.

For paving, the same rule applies: leave it unless ants are getting indoors or the patio is becoming a nuisance. If they are, place ant bait along the joints near the activity, and refill the joints with fresh material once the ants have gone. If you want a non-chemical route in a lawn or flower bed, the RHS lists a nematode, Steinernema feltiae, which is watered into soil where ants push it to the surface. The RHS notes it may affect non-target insects as well.

If you use any product near a pond, take extra care. Redbridge Council says its insecticides can harm fish, so keep treatments well away from water.

You do not need to get rid of flying ants, because they will leave on their own. They are the queens and males of an existing colony, out on a mating flight. The BPCA says they can be ignored if they are not causing a nuisance, and Mid and East Antrim Council says the flight lasts only a few days. Spraying a swarm uses up insecticide on ants that are about to disperse or die anyway.

If they are coming indoors, close the windows and doors for a while. Clackmannanshire Council says they can be vacuumed up, or let out through open windows once the swarm has passed. Sweep up wings from the patio afterwards. The Natural History Museum says discarded wings on pavements are a sign of recently mated queens. Males usually die within a day or two of mating.

A swarm does tell you something useful: there is a mature nest nearby. The Natural History Museum notes that soil heaps can appear above nests a few weeks before swarming. If winged ants emerge from the same crack in your patio each year, that is your nest. Leave it if it causes no trouble, and bait it if the workers are coming indoors.

If insects are streaming to and from one hole in the roofline all day, that is not a mating flight. It may be a wasp nest, which needs a different response, so read our wasp nest removal guide before going near it.

Flying ant day is not a single national day. The Natural History Museum describes a flying ant season of several weeks, with a few peaks that last only a few days each. A University of Gloucestershire-led study in Ecography analysed more than 13,000 public sightings over three years and found that flights were not clearly synchronised across the country, with local weather doing most of the work.

The study found winged ants only when the temperature was above 13°C and wind speeds were low, and it recorded sightings on every day with a mean temperature above 25°C. Nests in urban areas and near heat-retaining structures produced winged ants earlier, which fits what the Natural History Museum says about the urban heat island. So a paved London garden can see its swarm before a garden in the countryside.

On timing, sources differ slightly. The BPCA says July or August, the Natural History Museum says usually July or August but any time from June to the start of September, and Redbridge Council says early summer. Plan on a warm, still, humid day in summer, often after poor weather, and do not worry if your neighbours saw theirs a week ago.

We looked for evidence on the remedies people ask about most. It is thin. We found no UK trials of these remedies on black garden ants, and the best tests are on American fire ants, a different species. Treat the table below as our judgement on limited evidence and not as settled science.

The common problem is that a remedy may kill or deter the ants in front of you but does not reach the queen. Texas A&M AgriLife tests are a useful warning: a cup of used coffee grounds on a fire ant mound left activity the same as untreated mounds, and ground cinnamon left a mound with more activity than the control.

Borax deserves a warning of its own. Boric acid does kill ants, and University of California guidance rates borate baits as an effective consumer option for Argentine ants. But the US National Pesticide Information Center says borax can irritate skin and that swallowing it can cause sickness, and that animals can show signs of poisoning within two hours of eating boric acid. HSE says own-use remedies such as coffee grounds generally fall outside the rules, but that household chemicals used as pesticides still carry risk. Our advice is simple: do not mix your own sweet poison in a home with children or pets. Buy a labelled, closed ant bait instead.

Black garden ants are mainly a nuisance. Redbridge Council says they pose no public health risk, and Mid and East Antrim Council agrees they are not a significant risk, although they can still walk over food. The RHS says Myrmica species, often called red ants, can sting, and that this is usually a minor irritation. You are more likely to meet these outdoors, while gardening or moving a pot.

Pharaoh ants are different, and Redbridge Council says they can contaminate food with germs linked to food poisoning, dysentery and typhoid. If you think ants have reached food in a home with someone who is unwell or vulnerable, throw the food away and clean the surface. For health concerns, ask your GP or NHS 111.

The NHS page on insect bites and stings does not mention ants, but its general advice applies. Wash the area with soap and water, use a cold pack or cold wet cloth for at least 20 minutes if it is swollen, and try not to scratch. A pharmacist can help if the skin looks red or feels hot, or if it is painful or swollen. Call 999 if lips, mouth, throat or tongue suddenly swell, or if someone is struggling to breathe or swallow.

In a rented home, report ants to your landlord or agent in writing, with a photo and the date. Citizens Advice says tenants may have to deal with a problem they caused, while a landlord is probably responsible if the tenancy says so, or if the infestation comes from repairs they have not made, such as holes in walls. Landlords are usually only responsible once they know about it, so tell them early. Pharaoh ants in a block usually belong with the landlord or managing agent, since no single tenant can treat a building.

Council and housing association tenants have stronger rights, and Citizens Advice says an emergency hazard under Awaab's Law must be made safe within 24 hours. It also notes that council environmental health teams have powers over some infestations. If you are moving out, keep the treatment record with your end of tenancy cleaning checklist.

Food businesses have a harder line to meet. GOV.UK guidance says premises must allow for good hygiene, including protection against contamination and pest control, and it says waste should be removed quickly so it does not attract pests. Ants in a café or takeaway need dealing with promptly and recording in your food safety records. Do not use a home spray near open food.

Once the trail has gone, make the house harder to enter. New queens will start nests nearby in future summers, so you are reducing the chance of a repeat and not removing every ant from your street. A few small jobs do most of the work, and spring is the best time to check them, before colonies grow.

Most black garden ant problems do not need an ant exterminator, and you should try bait first. Call for pest control for ants when your own efforts have had a fair test and failed, or when the risk of guessing wrong is too high. The BPCA suggests professional help if ants are in a large centrally heated building, if you are unsure which ant it is, or if any species enters in very large numbers.

Good pest control for ants starts with identification, not with a spray can. Ask anyone you are thinking of booking which species they think it is, whether they plan to use bait or spray, how many visits they expect, and what happens if the ants return. If they offer to spray pale ants in a flat without asking any of these questions, ask why. If you are unsure what you have, a pest inspection answers that before you commit to treatment.

For ant control in London, tell us where you see the ants, where the trail starts and ends, and send a photo with a ruler if you can. We work out which ant it is likely to be, then confirm the price, the visits and what is included in writing before you book. You do not have to identify the ant yourself, but please do not spray it before we arrive.

Ant treatment starts from £69, which covers an initial inspection and targeted treatment. Pharaoh ant control starts from £179 for two treatment visits, with the follow-up timing confirmed at booking. Redbridge Council's 2026/27 list is £150 for garden ants and £260 for pharaoh ants, and it says it may charge more for larger premises. It also offers a free repeat visit within four weeks if a correctly done treatment fails.

If you want more than a single visit, our 2-visit packages carry a 1-month written guarantee and our 3-visit packages a 3-month written guarantee. Packages include a safety report, follow-up and proofing advice as set out in the quote. Our pest control cost guide explains how to compare quotes, our prices page has the full list, and our Ilford pest control page sets out local details.

We are based on Clements Road in Ilford, cover London and carry public liability insurance. Our phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm, or you can contact us online. If it turns out to be something other than ants, our pest control services page lists what else we treat.