To stop ants for good, you have to reach the nest, and the best way to do that is with bait the workers carry home. Spraying the trail kills the ants you can see while the queen and the rest of the colony carry on. In Faerie Glen gardens, where nests sit in lawns, paving joints and the base of walls, baiting is almost always the right first step.
When ants become a problem here
The pattern is very Highveld. Ant activity rises in spring, and on hot, humid afternoons when a thunderstorm is building, colonies get restless. Ants pour into kitchens looking for food and dry shelter, and the trail often appears suddenly along a window frame, a skirting board or a crack in the tiles. In winter, activity slows down but doesn't always stop, especially in warm kitchens and near geysers.
Faerie Glen's mix of established gardens, open grassland near the reserve and paved complexes gives ants plenty of nesting space. Paving is a particular favourite: the sand under the bricks is warm, dry and easy to dig, and you'll often see little piles of fine sand pushed up between pavers.
The ants we see most
- Small brown or black house ants following trails to sugar, pet food and crumbs.
- Ants nesting in paving, pushing up sand and sometimes undermining the bricks.
- Ants tending aphids and scale on garden plants and fruit trees, which then follow branches onto the roof and into the house.
- Ants in electrical boxes and pool pumps, which can cause problems with switches and contacts.
If what you're seeing are winged insects pouring out of the ground after the first rain, they may not be ants at all. Flying termites look very similar, and our page on termites around the Faerie Glen reserve explains how to tell them apart.
How we treat ants
We follow the trail back as far as we can, to find where it leaves the house and where the nest is likely to be. Inside, we place ant bait along active trails. Workers take it back to the nest and share it, which is how the colony and queen are reached. Outside, we treat nest sites in paving and around the foundations, and apply an odourless, non-staining residual barrier at entry points where it makes sense. We'll ask you not to spray or wipe the bait trails for a few days so the ants keep feeding.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Wiping up the trail with a spray cleaner the moment you see it. It's an understandable reflex, but it removes the scent trail and kills foragers before they've taken any bait back to the nest. The colony just sends out new scouts, often by a different route. If you've got bait down, leave the ants alone and let them work.
Prevention, Faerie Glen style
- Cut back branches and creepers that touch the roof or walls. Ants farming aphids in a tree will use those branches as a bridge.
- Seal gaps around window frames and where pipes enter the wall.
- Store pet food in sealed containers and don't leave bowls out overnight.
- Before the storm season starts in October, check the paving closest to your kitchen door for sand piles. That's the nest most likely to send ants indoors.
Ants in complexes and retirement villages
In a complex, the nest feeding your kitchen might be under the shared paving outside the next unit, or in a garden bed the body corporate maintains. Treating your own unit helps, but treating the common areas at the same time deals with the source. In retirement villages, we pay particular attention to residents' kitchenettes, where a forgotten sugar bowl or a pot plant on the windowsill can keep a trail going for weeks.
What does it cost?
Cost depends on how many colonies are active, whether we're treating inside only or the garden and paving too, and the size of the property. A single trail into one kitchen is a small job, and honestly, a good store-bought ant bait sometimes sorts it out. Persistent ants, nests under paving and complexes with several affected units are quoted after a look.
Ants and cockroaches in Faerie Glen often share the same kitchen, so it's worth mentioning both if you have them. City-wide, see ant control throughout Pretoria, and if you're nearby, our Moreleta Park ant service. The full local list is on our Faerie Glen pest control page.
We're SAPCA registered, and if the ants come back within three months, we come back with them. Call 012 012 5526, or send us a photo of the ants on WhatsApp.
Questions we get asked
Why do ants come inside before it rains?
Rising humidity and falling pressure before a storm make colonies forage harder and look for dry shelter. On the Highveld that often means a sudden trail into the kitchen.
Why are there piles of sand between my pavers?
That's ants digging out nests in the sand bed under the paving. Treating those nests outside cuts down on ants coming indoors.
How long does ant bait take?
Most trails slow down within a few days and stop within a week or two, once the bait has been shared through the colony.
Should I spray ants I see on the bait?
No. Let them feed. Spraying them stops the bait reaching the nest and the queen.
Are ants damaging my pool pump or DB board?
They can be. Ants sometimes nest in electrical enclosures and pump housings, where they can interfere with switches. We treat around these carefully.
Can ant treatment harm my garden?
We use targeted baits and nest treatments rather than spraying the whole garden, which keeps the impact on plants and beneficial insects low.