How to keep ants out of pet food

Unless your pet is an anteater or hedgehog, it’s not a good thing to have ants in or around your pet’s food. Unfortunately, this is the time of year in Oregon, California and elsewhere when ants come out of hiding, and the pet dish is often one of the first places they are drawn to in your home.

Ant control is all about outsmarting these morsel-hunting insects. Keep your pet’s food area from becoming an ant magnet with the following pest control tips.

If you have noticed an ant problem around your home or business, there's a Western Exterminator office and our ant control professionals are there to help. Contact your local office today!

There are a number of ways to keep ants out of your pet food. The most effective ways include:

• Storing extra pet food in a lidded plastic container.
• Vacuuming the area around your pet’s bowl daily to keep it free of crumbs.
  If your pet’s food bowl is infested with ants, place the food and the ants in a plastic grocery bag and tie a tight knot at the bag’s opening. Throw the plastic bag away in lidded trashcan outside. Wash the food bowl with dish soap and water. Then use dish soap and water to clean the area around the food bowl to remove the ant trail scent (this is a good time to mop your entire floor, too).
• Making a moat around your pet’s food bowl. Place the bowl of food in a shallow pan of water, like pie tin, cake pan or a food bowl that’s a couple sizes larger than the one you own. When you place the bowl inside the pan of water, there should a ring of water around the food bowl. The water should not be so high that it spills into the pet food. Since ants can’t swim, they’ll drown before they have the chance to get into your pet’s food.
• Keeping your home, particularly the pet feeding area, clean. Never leave food out in the open, wash your pet’s bowl regularly, and use lidded trashcans.

If you have done all of these things and are still finding ants crawling around your pet’s food, contact Western Exterminator to get rid of ants. Our ant control experts will discuss your problem with ants and offer solutions to get rid of an ant infestation and offer prevention tips and methods to keep ants away.

Contact your local Western Exterminator office today for a property inspection to get your ant control service started.