Terro Liquid Ant Baits
We all know that ants can be very annoying to have in your home. With the best ant killer, you can stop ants before they lead to a total infestation. For the most part, ants are good for your home: they help you get rid of other pests that you may find even more annoying like flies, gnats, and roaches.
Like any living creature, ants are attracted to food, water, and shelter. They are most likely to enter your home when it’s cold and wet, which mostly occurs during the winter. However, this doesn’t mean they can enter and attack your house at any time during any season. Ants come in thousands of different species and they range from house ants, which are just annoying to have in your home, to carpenter ants, which can weaken the wooden structures in the home, to fire ants which can swarm you and inflict pain.
Best Ant Killer Reviews
- Terro Ant Killer Liquid Ant Baits (Top Pick)
- Advion Ant Gel Insecticide with Plunger
- Terro T401 Ant Killer Aerosol Spray
- Spectracide Ant Shield Insect Killer
- Amdro Fire Ant Bait Granules 2 lb
TERRO Ant Killer Liquid Ant Baits (pre-filled)
TERRO liquid ant baits is the best ant killer for those who want a quick and convenient way to eliminate an ant infestation in their homes. These liquid ant baits come prefilled and ready to use out of the box. You get six on them in one pack. You simply cut open the seal with a pair of scissors and set the trap near an area where you think the ants will be frequently visiting.
Be sure to remove all other sources of food in that area as well. Terro ant killer is a liquid bait that attracts worker ants to feast on it. It is meant to kill in a few days, giving the ant ample time to make multiple trips to and from the bait station and its colony home. In the meanwhile, it is like a ticking timebomb and unleashes ant poison everywhere along its path. Hopefully, it will make its way into the ant home and spread the liquid poison, especially to the queen. We prefer liquid baits over gel baits because gel bait must be carried back to the colony where the ant larvae grind the gel down for consumption. Liquid baits are much easier to be transported and the worker ant can transport more of them at any given time.
We think Terro liquid baits is the best ant killer because it is the most effective and powerful ant killer out of all the ant killers we have tried. These liquid baits and designs just have a clear edge over their competition in terms of their ability to attract ants and their swift elimination of them. We think the bait formulation is superb and maximizes the chances an ant will wander to it.
The time-release poison is long enough for it to spread through the entire ant population but not too long to leave you waiting for weeks. In the first few days, you will see a spike in ant traffic around the house due to the fact that you are actively pulling the ants out of their homes. Essentially you are laying out in the open one giant pie and inviting them to come feast on it. Compared to the competition, no other ant and insect killer delivers an effective and swift solution to an ant problem in the house.
Advion Ant Gel Insecticide with Plunger
Advion is the best ant killer if you want a gel-based ant bait. This is also what the professionals use when you call an ant exterminator over. Gel-based ant bug killers naturally have a disadvantage over liquid-based baits. This is because liquid-based ant killers deliver more damage to the overall ant population in a shorter amount of time due to the ants being able to carry more of it back to the colony without a need to have it broken down to be consumed by the other ants.
Gel baits on the other hand cannot be ingested directly by the ant. Instead, it needs to be carried back by worker ants and broken down by ant larvae before being available for consumption. This is a much longer process and therefore increases the time it takes for the poison to spread. Why would you want a gel-based ant killer? Because gel-based ant killers can be applied anywhere, particularly in small holes and crevices where ants like to traverse. If you have a liquid-based ant killer, you are limited to placing it in bait stations; otherwise, the liquid would evaporate if left out in the open.
Out of all the gel-based insecticides for ants, we prefer Advion. It is a brand that has been around the pesticide community for a long time and they have great quality control. You know every batch is created without defaults. Also, the scent infused in this gel is especially attractive to ants. We generally find that more ants went for Advion compared with other gel-based ant killers in a side-by-side live test.
Plus, it is the brand that many professionals use. When you buy this and apply it yourself, you are saving yourself a lot of money. All in all, Advion Ant Gel is the best ant killer if you want a reliable gel-based formula you can apply it in hard-to-reach areas like a crack in your window. Often ants enter your home through these tiny cracks, so it is good to both block and poison the passage.
TERRO T401 Ant Killer Aerosol Spray
If you want the best ant killer that can kill ants on contact, Terro T401 is your solution. The Terro T401 is a pesticide spray that can eliminate a group of ants in one shot. This is used as a weapon of sorts against ants. It is designed for those who do not want to get down and dirty and kill ants with their hands. The spray is easy to use: simply point it away from your face and hold it at a slight downward angle.
With this ant spray, you can instantly eliminate a line of ants at the picnic table, in your kitchen, or even an entire ant hill. You no longer have to get a paper towel and squash the ants yourself. The Terro T401 also offers two-prong protection. Not only does it kill ants immediately, but also it continues to kill up to a month out. In other words, the poison remains on site for quite a while. The spray will dry out and become a gel-like ant poison. Any ant that comes in contact with it will die.
We really prefer the Terro T401 ant spray over other products. We generally found that other products were not as powerful and effective at killing ants. This is mostly because most other products are designed to kill a combination of different pests around the house. The Terro T401 is specifically designed and formulated to kill all types of ants, which is also the reason we believe it is the most effective. Also, we find the spray stream on the Terro T401 to be stronger than its competitors, which all kind of spray a mist rather than a focused beam. We really find the focused beam better for targeting a line of ants marching to collect food. Overall, Terro T401 is the best ant killer that eliminates ants on the spot and the residual spray hardens and continues to remain poisonous for about a month.
Spectracide Ant Shield Insect Killer
If you want the best ant killer for lawns, we highly recommend the Spectracide Ant Shield. This is a specialized ant killer that works specifically for lawns. Spectracide also kills a large list of other pests around your house. Killing ants in your lawn is very simple with Spectracide. You just simply need to spread it generously around your lawn near ant hills. It is very safe to use around plants and flowers. We wouldn’t worry too much about this stuff harming your lawn.
The Spectracide is designed to kill ants upon contact. It also kills crickets, fleas, roaches, water bugs, silverfish, and all sorts of other small insects. Unfortunately, it does not kill harvester and pharaoh ants. You can also use this ant killer as a perimeter around foundations and driveways. We would consider Spectracide the best outdoor ant killer in terms of efficacy. It kills more ants than any of the other brands we have tested.
And don’t worry about getting it on your hands. It is pretty non-toxic to your skin and to your pets. But please don’t get any in your eyes. We must warn you that you cannot swallow this ant killer. So please keep this stuff away from your pets and children on the lawn. All in all, Spectracide is the best ant killer for yards as long as you find the right ant hills. One package will treat around 1,500 square feet of area.
Amdro Fire Ant Bait Granules 2 lb
If you are looking for the best fire ant killer, Amdro Fire Ant Bait Granules should definitely be your go-to treatment. It is designed to specifically kill fire ants and targets the queen ant. This is a powerful killer and the active ingredient is hydramethylnon. It is actually part of a two-step method to tackling fire ant problems. The first step is to use the Amdro Fire Ant Yard Treatment and spread it all over your lawn. This is for widespread seasonal control and for identifying ant mounds.
Once you have identified the fire ant mounds, you can use the Amdro Fire Ant Bait around the ant mounds. The worker ants will bring it back to the mound and share it with the rest of the colony. Keep in mind that the Amdro Fire Ant Bait is NOT a contact ant killer. This means it does not kill ants upon contact.
Instead, there is a delayed reaction. This is good if you want to wipe out an entire colony for good. Contact ant killers will only kill ants that come in contact with it, which doesn’t allow the ant to share the bait with the rest of the population. Because the Amdro Fire Ant Bait is a slow-release killer, we consider it the best fire ant killer for entire colonies.
Picking the Best Ant Killer
By using the best ant killer, you can hopefully get rid of a major ant problem. The first thing you can do is to eliminate any points of entry for the ants. Try to trace where the ants are coming from and do a thorough examination of your home and outside. Many times these ants can come through small cracks in the walls or windows. When you do spot a point of entry, seal it tight and put the best ant killer near it as a backup measure. Ant killers usually come in liquid form because worker ants can’t really digest solids. Solid foods are usually brought back to the ant colony where they are broken down by other ants. Liquids are directly ingested by worker ants and these worker ants carry the poison back to the colony.
These poisons are designed to intentionally be slow releasing and eventually kill the ant. By that time, the poison would have made its way back to the ant colony where the ant will share the bait and other ants would have come in contact with it. The ant will also leave a trail of scents as it walks back, making it easy for other ants to find the ant poison. Keep in mind that when you do use ant bait, you may even see a spike in the number of ants in the short term. This is because you are intentionally drawing ants out from their natural habitat because they think there is an abundant food source that just magically appeared. Ants are not smart enough to realize it is poison and so eventually it will kill off the entire population.
You may also find that using the best ant killer in your home is not enough to fully kill off an ant colony. You may also need to address the issue starting from the outside. Most of the time, an ant infestation starts from outside your home deep below the ground. If you really want to prevent a widespread infestation from even entering your home, the best thing to do is to use liquid ant killers outside as well.
You can even buy a liquid contact ant spray, which kills ants on contact and leaves a poisonous residual for a few weeks. Spray down your window sills, doors, and other openings to your home. Prevention is the best defense against any ant problem and is even better than using the best ant killer. If you simply store all of your food in sealed containers and in the refrigerator, you eliminate the ant’s primary source of food.
