Your bedroom is supposed to be a sanctuary. An escape from the outside world where you can curl up and unwind, which is likely why it’s so upsetting to find bugs there.
Not surprisingly, ants can get into almost any place and don’t care that they’re in your bedroom. I get that you want to get rid of the ants as soon as possible if you find them on your bed or in the carpet in your bedroom.
This article will teach you how to get rid of ants in your bedroom for good. Read on to reclaim your bedroom from these six-legged invaders.
Finding ants crawling around in your bed can be incredibly annoying and downright unsettling. These pesky insects can disrupt your sleep and leave you feeling itchy and uncomfortable in your own bed. While ants are attracted to food sources they may also find their way into your bed in search of warmth or moisture. Getting rid of ants from your bed and preventing future infestations requires some diligent cleaning and maintenance. Follow this step-by-step guide to banish ants from your bed for good.
Signs Ants Have Infested Your Bed
Before you can get rid of ants, you need to confirm you actually have an ant problem in your bed. Signs that ants have made themselves at home include:
- Visible ants crawling on or inside your bed
- Small black specks that could be ant droppings
- Ant trails leading to or from your bed
- An ant-like odor coming from your mattress or bedding
Take time to thoroughly inspect your entire bed, including underneath and inside the mattress if possible. A flashlight can help you spot ants hiding in crevices or cracks. Confirm it is ants and not another insect like bed bugs or carpet beetles.
How to Get Rid of Ants in Your Bed
Once you’ve verified ants have invaded your sleeping space, take action with these steps to kick them out:
Strip the Bed and Wash All Bedding
- Remove all bedding, including sheets, pillowcases, blankets and mattress covers.
- Wash everything in hot water to kill any ants and remove residual scents that may attract them.
- Dry on a hot cycle to further eliminate ants and eggs.
Vacuum the Mattress Thoroughly
- Use the crevice tool and hose attachments to vacuum every inch of the mattress surface and sides.
- Pay close attention to seams, tufts, tags and edges where ants may be hiding.
- Vacuum box springs, bed frame, headboard and any cracks or crevices nearby.
Treat Affected Areas with Diatomaceous Earth
- Lightly dust diatomaceous earth on the mattress and around the bed frame.
- The microscopic sharp edges of DE cut ant exoskeletons, causing dehydration.
- Let it sit for several hours before vacuuming up.
Deploy Ant Baits and Repellents
- Place ant baits near bed legs and potential entry points like baseboards.
- Create barriers around bed posts using petroleum jelly, cinnamon, or chalk.
- Spray natural repellents like essential oils or vinegar around the perimeter.
Dispose of Infested Mattresses
- If ants have extensively damaged the mattress, you may need to replace it.
- Severely infested mattresses can be difficult to fully treat.
- Discard the old mattress properly so ants don’t escape and spread.
How to Keep Ants Away from Your Bed
Prevent future ant invasions using these proactive tips:
- Eliminate food sources by keeping your bedroom free of crumbs and spills.
- Seal cracks, crevices and gaps where ants may enter using caulk or weatherstripping.
- Keep bed away from exterior walls, moisture sources, trees, and vegetation.
- Install ant bait stations around the perimeter of your home.
- Use natural repellents like essential oils, vinegar or diatomaceous earth.
- Ensure your mattress and bedding are completely dry and free of mold or mildew.
- Have a professional pest control expert treat your home to eliminate ant nests.
Why Are Ants in My Bed?
If you are wondering why ants have suddenly shown up in your bed here are some potential reasons
Nearby Food Sources
Ants can detect food odors from impressive distances. Crumbs, pet food, trash, ripe fruit, pantry items and more can draw ants to the vicinity of your bed.
Access Points
Small cracks in walls crevices around piping gaps beneath doors and openings around wires give ants easy access to your bedroom and bed.
Warmth and Shelter
Ants need warmth to thrive. The cozy environment of a bed provides an attractive nesting spot for overwintering ants.
Moisture
Ants require water to survive. They may be attracted to the humidity and sweat that accumulates in a mattress over time.
Nest Disruption
Disturbing or destroying an outdoor ant mound can send the colony in search of new shelter, sometimes straight into your home.
Exploring New Territory
Established ant colonies expand and explore new areas. Your bed may just be the next stop on an ant’s expedition.
How to Find the Ant Colony Source
To fully eliminate ants from your bed, you need to locate and destroy their nest. Here’s how to track down the colony:
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Follow ant trails to try to pinpoint where they originate. Move any obstructions blocking the path.
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Search for small mounds of loose soil, sand or wood debris around the exterior of your home. Ant nests are often found by foundations.
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Use a flashlight to look for ants crawling on walls, in crawl spaces, attics, under sinks and behind appliances.
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Pay attention to areas that seem hollow when tapped, which may indicate ant nests inside voids.
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Watch where ants enter and exit. Their routes will lead back to the main colony.
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Listen for rustling noises within walls that could signify tunneling activity.
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Consider hiring a pest control professional to fully inspect and treat your home.
Finding and treating ant nests at the source is the best way to keep the pests from returning to your bedroom again and again. Be diligent in your search for where they are gaining entry.
When to Call an Exterminator for Ants in Bed
While you can often banish ants on your own, it may be wise to call in the professionals under certain circumstances:
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You are unable to locate or reach the main ant colony.
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There are multiple ant nests inside walls, under floors or in other challenging areas.
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Ants continue returning despite your removal efforts.
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You begin seeing winged ants, which means the colony is large and reproducing.
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Ants have caused significant damage to your mattress or home structure.
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Someone in the household is allergic to ant stings or bites.
Licensed exterminators have the expertise and right tools and chemicals to fully eliminate ant infestations at the source. Let them handle severe or persistent ant problems.
Natural Ways to Repel Ants
If you prefer to avoid harsh synthetic chemicals, try these eco-friendly remedies to repel ants:
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Spritz vinegar, lemon juice or essential oils around beds, doors and windows.
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Sprinkle cocoa powder, cream of tartar, chili powder or coffee grounds where ants enter.
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Draw chalk lines around your bed’s perimeter since ants avoid crossing chalk.
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Place crushed mint leaves, cloves, cucumber or citrus peels where ants congregate.
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Use diatomaceous earth sprinkled in a light layer along baseboards and floors.
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Wipe surfaces with tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint or lavender oil mixed with water.
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Grow mint, garlic, onion, parsley or sage plants close to your home’s foundation.
FAQs About Eliminating Ants From Your Bed
How do you get rid of ants permanently?
Eliminate ants for good by locating and destroying their nests, sealing cracks and entry points, cleaning up food spills promptly, using ant baits and traps, deploying repellents, and having a pest management professional treat your home.
Why do I have ants in my room but nowhere else?
Ants may single out your bedroom if there is an accessible entry point, food source, or suitable nesting spot specifically in that room. Rooms on lower levels or near trees/shrubs are also more prone to ants. Check for cracks and crevices particular to that room.
Do ants bite you in your sleep?
Ants are unlikely to bite humans while sleeping, unless the infestation within the bed is severe enough that the ants feel extremely threatened. Ant bites are typically minor, though people who are allergic may experience larger skin reactions. Treat the bedding and mattress thoroughly to eliminate this possibility.
How do hotels get rid of ants?
Hotels prevent and treat ant infestations by caulking cracks, screening vents, clearing vegetation far from structures, installing pest-proof trash bins, utilizing natural repellents, putting out ant baits, thorough cleaning between guests, and fumigating rooms as needed.
How do I permanently get rid of ants in my mattress?
To fully eliminate ants inside your mattress: vacuum extensively along seams and edges, sprinkle diatomaceous earth, steam clean the infested areas, use concentrated essential oils, place the mattress outdoors in freezing temps for 24 hours, or as a last resort, discard the mattress entirely if it is too heavily infested.
Getting ants out of your bed requires diligence in locating the source, intensive cleaning, management of attractants, and prevention. Combine natural and chemical control methods for the best results. With a proactive integrated pest management approach, you can successfully evict ants from your bedroom and keep them from returning.
What Kind of Ants are in Your Bedroom?
An ant is an ant, right? Not necessarily. There are thousands of different species of ant, and each has its own behaviors and food preferences. The reason you’re seeing ants in your bedroom may change according to what kind of ants they are.
To get rid of ants permanently from your bedroom, you need to know why they are there. This means you need to know what kind of ants they are.
This is a very common species of ant around the world and is often found in people’s bedrooms. The little black ant, tiny black ants, or sugar ant is another name for this species. They are about 2 5 to 3. 5 millimeters in length. They will eat more or less anything people will, but they have a preference for sweet sugary foods.
If you see these ants in your bedroom, they are looking for food and water.
Carpenter ants are another species that is sometimes found in people’s bedrooms. They are easily distinguished from odorous house ants by their size. Carpenter ants are black, though they sometimes have red legs, and are huge by ant standards. They can measure up to 13 millimeters long, making them the biggest ant species in North America.
If you are seeing carpenter ants in your bedroom, there’s a good chance you have a bigger problem. These ants like to build nests in wood, including the wood in your home. Since they often build their nests in wood that has been damaged by water, seeing these ants may mean you have a problem with moisture in your walls, attic, or around a window.
For most ant species, bait can be an effective way to control the population. However, in the case of Carpenter ants, baits are less effective. You may need to try several different kinds of bait to find one the ants will accept.
If you find winged carpenter ants in your bedroom, that’s a very bad sign. Only mature carpenter ant nests produce winged ants, which are the reproductive members of the colony. In other words, the ants are nesting inside your home and need to be killed before they do any damage.
Check out our signs of carpenter ants if you’re concerned this could be what you’re up against.
Why Are There Ants in My Bedroom?
Ants are a fact of life, especially in the warmer months. Every year, almost everyone will find a few ants in their home as they look for food and water.
When ants do get inside, they are most commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms. Ants are attracted to areas with lots to eat, and that usually means the kitchen.
This doesn’t mean your bedroom is immune from ants. Figure out why the ants are in the bedroom in the first place. This is often the best way to get rid of them. Here are a few reasons why you might be seeing them.
Like all living things, ants need water. Often, this is what brings them inside, especially during periods of drought. Plumbing that carries water to our kitchen and bathrooms can be a reliable source of water for ants.
Your bedroom can also be a source of moisture for ants. If you have an en suite bathroom, that’s the first place I’d inspect for increased ant activity. For most of the time, the water that builds up on the outside of a water pipe is enough to keep ants coming back.
Ants can get a lot of water from a pipe that leaks in the wall or roof, and you might not even be able to see it. Carefully inspect your bedroom to see if anything is leaking. If it is, this is probably what’s attracting the ants.
It takes a lot of food and a lot of water to keep an ant colony thriving. Colonies find the resources they need by sending out worker ants to forage.
Ants can go up to several hundred feet from their nest to find food, but if you see a lot of them around your bedroom, it might mean that the colony is close by.
Check around your bedroom windows or the walls and foundation outside of your home. There are likely to be a lot of ants moving around at any given time, which could mean that a colony is below ground nearby.
It’s possible that the ants aren’t finding anything particularly interesting in your bedroom, but they’ll keep looking because it’s so close.
Just like us, ants don’t like extreme weather. When it starts to get cold, ants will often come inside houses in search of warmth. The same thing can happen during extreme heat. Ants like it warm, but there is a limit to what they will tolerate. Storms can also drive them inside for shelter.
If you only see ants sometimes, check to see if their appearance is linked to times when the weather is very bad. If you see more ants when the weather is bad, that might explain why.
How to Kill House Ants Fast & Easy
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