Follow the trail rather than wiping it
Every worker ant that reaches food and returns safely reinforces the same scent trail for the next one, which is why a line seems to thicken the longer it is left alone. Wiping the trail away only clears what's visible, following it instead shows where the colony really is - the same pattern holds near Colliers Wood, where converted ex-industrial units and new-build flats alongside older terraced streets.
Step one: find where they enter the room
The best time to watch is a warm, still spell when activity is at its highest, follow the trail with your eyes rather than interrupting it, true near Mitcham too, where suburban semis and terraces around Mitcham Common and the town centre. Typical entry routes are a back-door threshold, the edge of a patio door, or a skirting gap, identify which one it is instead of just cleaning it off, true near Colliers Wood too, where converted ex-industrial units and new-build flats alongside older terraced streets.
Larger gardens attached to Merton's suburban semis
The larger gardens typical of the suburban semis around Morden and Raynes Park are a common route for ants coming into kitchens in warmer months, with a nest often settled well away from the house under a path or a low garden wall.
What to leave alone for now
- Spraying the trail, which kills the foragers and leaves the colony intact
- Pouring boiling water into paving, which can damage mortar and rarely reaches the queen
- Filling the entry gap before the nest is dealt with, which sends the ants to a new gap
- Scattering powders along the trail, which can split a colony into several smaller ones
Closing the way in afterwards
With the colony gone, the last step is sealing the exact gaps the ants were exploiting, a threshold, a pipe hole, a mortar crack, and nothing more - the same pattern holds near Colliers Wood, where converted ex-industrial units and new-build flats alongside older terraced streets. Don't seal weep holes or air bricks, doing so just locks damp inside the wall structure, as anyone near Morden will recognise, where comfortable 1930s semis and postwar housing spreading out from the town centre.
Booking ant control in Merton
Ant control in Merton runs £190 for a flat and £220 for a house, and because around Wimbledon, where large Victorian houses and villas near the Common, it helps to say roughly whereabouts in the garden the nest might be when you book ant control, with the rest on the Merton ant control page.
