How Can You Tell Where Ants Are Coming From in Great Shelford?

In a bigger house the first rule is that the ants you see furthest from the garden are not the clue. Look for the sighting nearest an outside wall or floor edge. In a Great Shelford family home with an extension, a conservatory and a long back garden, there can be several possible entrances, but the busiest trail normally points to the real one.

Why Larger Houses Confuse the Picture

Ants wander. A scout can walk a surprising distance from the trail, so a lone ant in an upstairs bathroom does not mean a nest upstairs. What matters is where you see a line, and where that line goes.

Work Through the House in This Order

1. Ground-floor kitchen and utility room. These are the most likely to hold the main trail, because of food, water and external doors.
2. Extensions and conservatories. Check the joint between the old and new structure, and the base of the patio doors.
3. Bathrooms and cloakrooms, especially along the pipe runs from outside.
4. Upstairs rooms, only after the ground floor is clear.

The Garden Side

Great Shelford has plenty of mature gardens with deep borders, hedges and lawns running up to the house. Ants like soil that is warm and dry, and the foot of a wall with a border in front of it suits them well. Look for:

• Fine soil grains beside a wall or under a plant pot
• A line of ants crossing a patio edge towards the house
• Ants climbing a wall or a downpipe, which suggests a route into a window frame or loft
• Activity at an outdoor tap or beside a dripping overflow

When the Trail Seems to Vanish

In a house with a cavity wall or a suspended floor, ants can disappear behind a skirting board and come out elsewhere. Do not pull the board off. Note the point they vanish and the point they reappear, and take a photograph of both. It will help us far more than a prised-off board.

What You Can Do Meanwhile

Keep sugary and sticky items in sealed containers, wipe up crumbs and leave the trail itself alone. If you have a pet bowl on the floor, lift it between meals.

Near the Railway and the River

Great Shelford is a commuter village, and many households are out all day. That is useful for tracing ants, because a quiet kitchen at the end of the day often shows the trail at its clearest. Come home, leave the light off for a minute and look at the worktop edge before you tidy.

Ant control in Great Shelford is £240 fixed, covering the whole property rather than a charge per room. See our cost guide for details, or book a pest inspection and survey at £120 if you are unsure of the pest.

Call 01223 902388 or WhatsApp us the rooms where you have seen ants, and we will say where we would start.