You are drooling to eat pasta, only to find ants inside your pasta box. How to get rid of ants from pasta boxes? Ants are one of the most prevalent kitchens or pantry pests. That said, it might be unsettling to watch these hard-working bugs make their way out of or into your pasta boxes in your kitchen. So, how to get rid of ants from pasta boxes?
In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about how to get rid of ants from pasta boxes and kitchens while also helping you take measures to prevent these pests from coming back to feed on your pasta!
Table of Contents
Why Are You Getting Ants in Your Pasta Box?
Ants are insects that are naturally attracted to foods that can offer them large amounts of carbohydrates and sugar. The science behind this allure to sugar is that because ants toil throughout their day, they need sugar to replenish their energy reserves so that they can continue to toil.
In addition to carbohydrate-rich foods, ants also need salt to stay alive. Once again, the reason is that the electrolytes present in salt help their bodies stay healthy despite persistently subjecting their body to hard work.
The pasta that you buy today is largely manufactured using refined wheat flour. This type of pasta is extremely rich in carbohydrates. In fact, about 25% of the weight of pasta is comprised of carbohydrates. Further, salt and water are also added to the pasta to give it some taste during its manufacturing process.
Looking at it logically, it would be abnormal for ants not to exploit a food that meets all their nutritional requirements so well! Therefore, it only holds to reason that the ants that are making their way into your kitchen are actually looking to target the pasta box.
However, that obviously does not mean you’d want ants simply roaming around your kitchen devouring the pasta that you wanted to cook for your dinner! In the next bit of the article, I will explain what measures you can take to ensure that your pasta boxes, and consequently your kitchen, stay free of ants!
How to get rid of ants from pasta boxes?
The fundamental rule you want to follow to get rid of ants in pantry is to deny them access to your beloved pasta. Given below are some ways you can do just that!
Don’t leave crumbs of pasta around your pasta box or in your kitchen.
The first rule to bear in mind if you want to get rid of ants from your pasta box is never to let any wandering ants know that you have pasta. To do that, make sure you never leave any crumbs of pasta lying around the kitchen and certainly not around the pasta box itself.
Once a single ant discovers a source of nutrition as rich as pasta, it will relay the message to its nest and the queen ant. Within no time, you will be able to spot a line of ants extending from your pasta box to your kitchen window.
Don’t let ants enter your house and pantry.
Naturally, it isn’t really possible for you to seal every crevice in your house. You can still ensure that your walls don’t have cracks in them through which these pests can enter.
The idea is simply to prevent ants from entering your house in the first place. Therefore, make sure you shut your kitchen windows when you’re not using them, and your walls don’t have cracks running down them.
Get rid of the ant-infested pasta box itself.
At times, the ant infestation in your pasta box might be so widespread you may have no other option but to simply get rid of the entire pasta in the box and take further preventive measures to get rid of the ants in your pantry.
Make use of natural ant-repellant sprays.
It is best to avoid using insecticidal chemicals in your pantry to prevent them from entering your food. However, you should certainly use natural ant-repellant sprays in the kitchen and specifically around where you store your pasta.
This will create a line of protection against ants and ensure that your pasta box either stays devoid of ants or any ants that were in it are driven away by the repellant.
Keep your uncooked pasta in a dry environment in airtight boxes.
When storing your pasta, make sure to choose a good-quality airtight container to store it in. Because of how small they are, ants find it very easy to crawl into boxes that are not sealed.
The fact is that any box that leaves enough space for moisture and air to enter is vulnerable to ants’ entry. Therefore, your dry pasta too should be stored in an airtight container.
Store cooked pasta in a container with a lid in your refrigerator
If you have leftovers from cooking your pasta, you must never leave them out in the open. In fact, you should put this pasta in a box or a container that has a lid and simply put it in your refrigerator.
When the ants cannot access the pasta anymore, and if they cannot find any other food to feast on, they will leave to go look for a more viable source of nutrition.
Will using airtight pasta boxes to store pasta help prevent ants from entering them?
Much to our relief, ants can only get into closed containers if they are not leakproof and airtight. Ants are extremely small creatures that can make their way into the tiniest of crevices in containers.
However, airtight containers don’t allow them any space to enter since they are entirely sealed. Therefore, as long as you’re using an airtight container, you do not have to worry about ants entering the pasta box.
Can ants live in a closed container?
We all know that ants are extremely resilient creatures that can live in fairly difficult living conditions. So it doesn’t come as a large surprise that even in a closed container, ants have a pretty good chance of surviving. In fact, not even an airtight container will kill them sooner than two weeks.
And if they’re stuck in a regular closed container that does allow the influx of air, an ant would live comfortably for about two months.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the best way to get rid of ants from pasta boxes is to deny them entry to a source of food as rich as pasta in the first place. However, if they do gain access into your food containers through cracks and spaces in the lid or in your walls, it is best to simply get rid of the entire pasta box and use a fresh one.
Your job does not end there. You also have to ensure that you take future preventive measures, such as using airtight containers to store your pasta and spraying natural ant-repellant sprays around your food storage cabinet. Using scents and essential oils like lemon and eucalyptus can do wonders to keep ants out of your pantry!
