Why are ants coming out of bathtub faucet? Ants naturally invade homes primarily during the spring and summer. They mostly scurry across kitchen counters to grab sugar or bread crumbs for their colony. However, ants can get into your bathroom, too (if you notice flies in your bathroom, check out our guide on drain flies).
Ants Coming Out of Bathtub Faucet
Moisture from a leaky faucet, a wet bathtub, or a bathroom too close to the kitchen attracts ants. We will highlight more in-depth why ants are coming out of your bathtub faucet, how to get rid of them, and how to prevent them from returning.
Why Are Ants Coming Out of the Bathtub?
Over time, as the people in your home take a shower, it accumulates dirt, hair, and grime that transforms into stagnant water. If your faucet is dripping, this can attract carpenter ants making nests inside of it. Alternatively, ants come out of the drain because of hair and dirt accumulating inside it.
Besides stagnant water, ants love sugar. So if you have a bathroom off of your kitchen, you might see ants coming from the faucet because of the bathroom’s proximity to the food sources.
How To Get Rid of Ants Coming Out the Bathtub
Ants can find their way into bathrooms if this is where they choose to nest. Especially if your bathroom is next to the kitchen where there are food sources to dine on, there is a higher likelihood that ants may settle into your bathtub faucet.
If the problem is severe, you can call a professional to eliminate the pests. However, if you have just noticed a few ants, there are several DIY remedies to get rid of ants coming from the bathtub.
Spray Vinegar on Affected Surfaces
Get a clean and empty squirt bottle and fill it with white vinegar. Spray it around and inside your bathroom faucet to kill off the ants and repel them away from the area.
It may be a good idea to scrub the entire bathtub down with vinegar to be on the safe side. Do a vinegar treatment at least once a day until you do not see any more ants. The vinegar will tamper with the ant’s sense of smell that attracts other pests to your bathroom.
Lay Down Talcum Powder
Talcum powder can kill ants on contact because of its chemicals getting into their airways through their skin. Plus, talcum powder can kill the pheromones ants let off to attract others from their colony into the faucet.
The substance is a natural moisture absorber. Ants love feasting on stagnant water, which means they can be wet when you apply talcum powder to them. Plus, they have such small bodies, whereas the talcum powder can quickly and easily extract the moisture from inside their bodies and suffocate them from the inside out.
Boiling Water Mixed with Dish Soap
If you see the ant’s nest inside your faucet, apply a solution of boiling water mixed with dish soap to kill off the entire colony. Once the nest detaches from the faucet, spray vinegar or apply talcum powder to tame the many crawling pests that just entered your bathtub.
Have rubber gloves and a small plastic trash bag on hand to clean up the mess. Wipe down the bathtub once with vinegar and then another separate time with bleach to purify the bathtub back to normal pre-ant infestation.
Spices
Alternatively, you can sprinkle spices such as cinnamon or black pepper around and inside the faucet to repel and kill the ants. Then, mix both spices in a spray bottle with some water for increased effectiveness in repelling the ants away.
Ants do not like the smell of cinnamon. If they inhale it head-on, they will soon die. If cinnamon is nearby, the remaining colony will flee to another nesting location. Cinnamon is a great pest repellant, as studies have shown.
A study conducted in 2017 by Texas A&M University discovered that ants could die from black pepper exposure. One group of ants was not sprayed with black pepper, while another group was sprayed with a mixture of water and black pepper. After an hour of leaving the specimens alone, the ants that received the water and black pepper spray were dead.
Liquid Ant Baits
Set down a couple of liquid ant baits. Try the Terro brand, which Wirecutter voted the best ant-baiting product on the market. It is good to have this on hand for the pesky ants that resurface after using the other natural options. The main ingredient of Borax kills off the ants.
How To Keep Ants From Coming Back to the Bathtub Faucet
Now that you have used one or more of the ways to remove ants coming out of the bathtub faucet, you will want to follow preventative measures to reassure them that they do not build another nest in your bathroom.
Keep Your Trash Cans Emptied Regularly
Whether you have the occasional snack wrapper thrown into your bathroom trash in passing or not, empty your bathroom trash at least once every couple of days. Ants can even smell food inside your bathroom trash from about three to six miles away, depending on the location of their nest.
If you have a bathroom next to your kitchen, empty the trash can in your kitchen regularly, at least once a day. Wipe down all your trash cans at least once a week with a spray bottle filled with vinegar as an extra repelling mechanism.
Fix Leaks Coming from the Bathtub Faucet
Since moisture is one of the factors that attract ants, fix your bathtub faucet if it is dripping. Dripping water will continue to attract ants into your bathroom. Eliminating the drip will mean that the ants go to find another food and moisture source.
Call your local plumber to come to your home to fix it or have a maintenance technician come into your apartment to remedy the problem.
Keep Bathroom Surfaces Dry
Bathroom surfaces, including the sink and bathtub, should be kept dry. After a shower, turn on a fan in the bathroom to remove condensation from the walls and mirror. You can use a plug-in or overhead fan to do this.
After a shower or bath, use a towel to wipe down excess water, which may sound excessive, but it is one of the best ways to prevent ants that used to live in a bathroom from coming back.
After washing hands or brushing teeth, check around the sink to be sure no extra water droplets got on there. Have a clean washcloth or paper towels nearby to wipe down the moisture.
Unclog Your Bathroom Sink and Bathtub Drain
Close the drain off for both the bathroom sink and bathtub drain. Next, pour a half cup of baking soda followed by a half cup of white vinegar. Let it sit in the closed-off drain for at least an hour. Meanwhile, boil some water as you wait.
Open the drains and pour down the boiling water to let the grime, dirt, and hair sink away from the opening of the drains. Then, run extra water down the drains to be sure everything is funneled out.
Conclusion
So why are ants coming out of the bathtub faucet? A combination of moisture and available food sources in or near your bathroom are the most common reasons ants are coming out of your bathtub faucet.
Do a combination of tasks explained above to remove the ants naturally without having to call an exterminator. However, if it becomes a repeat occurrence of ants appearing and reappearing, phone your local exterminator for assistance.
Leave a comment