3 Best Ant Traps For Your Home In 2025

Finding the best ant traps is one of the most effective ways to eliminate these tiny invaders before they overrun your kitchen or pantry. Ants may seem like a minor nuisance, but once they establish trails and nests inside your home, they can be challenging to remove without the right tools. The key is choosing traps that target the colony rather than just the surface activity.

• Common problem: Ant infestations can appear almost overnight.
• Hidden colonies: Many nests are located behind walls or beneath floors.
• Quick solutions: The right traps deliver results within days.

Whether you’re dealing with sugar ants, carpenter ants, or another common species, using the correct trap type can make a huge difference. Here’s a guide to the most effective options and tips for using them successfully in Eau Claire, WI, and surrounding areas.

Why Ant Traps Work Better Than Sprays

Many homeowners start with sprays or DIY cleaners when ants appear, but these methods only provide temporary relief. Ant sprays kill visible insects without addressing the source of the problem—the colony itself. Traps, however, use a baiting system that allows ants to carry poison back to their nest, wiping out the entire population.

How Ant Traps Function

• Attraction: The trap’s bait draws ants inside.
• Transfer: Workers carry the bait back to the nest.
• Elimination: The poison spreads through the colony, including the queen.

This delayed-action method ensures long-term results without the need for repeated surface treatments.

Common Types Of Ant Infestations

Before choosing the best ant traps, it’s important to know what kind of ants you’re dealing with. Each species behaves differently and may prefer specific types of bait.

Sugar Ants

• Habitat: Kitchens and bathrooms.
• Attraction: Sweet foods and liquids.
• Best bait: Sugar-based traps with slow-acting insecticide.

Grease Or Protein Ants

• Habitat: Near pet food, pantries, or garbage areas.
• Attraction: Protein, grease, and fatty substances.
• Best bait: Traps containing protein-rich or oily attractants.

Carpenter Ants

• Habitat: Inside wood structures, basements, or window frames.
• Attraction: Moist wood and decaying areas.
• Best bait: Gel traps or slow-acting poison designed for large ants.

Knowing which type you have helps ensure the traps you choose actually appeal to the ants invading your home.

How To Choose The Right Ant Trap

When selecting the best ant traps, consider where the ants are entering and what type of food source they’re after. The ideal trap will match their preferences while allowing easy placement around active areas.

Key Factors To Consider

• Bait type: Choose between liquid, gel, or granular based on the infestation.
• Placement options: Some traps are designed for walls, corners, or under appliances.
• Safety: Look for child- and pet-safe options.
• Longevity: Refillable or long-lasting traps provide better value.

Professional pest control services often combine multiple trap styles to ensure complete coverage across all affected areas.

3 Best Ant Traps For Homeowners In 2025

With so many options on the market, narrowing down your choices can be overwhelming. Below are three of the most effective and reliable ant traps available for 2025.

1. Terro Liquid Ant Baits

Terro remains one of the most trusted brands for home ant control. Their liquid bait stations use a sweet, sugary formula that attracts a variety of common household ants.

• How it works: Ants feed on the liquid bait and carry it back to the colony, spreading it among the workers and queen.
• Where to place: Along ant trails, near baseboards, and close to entry points.
• Effectiveness: Results typically appear within a few days, though complete colony elimination can take up to two weeks.
• Best for: Sugar ants and odorous house ants.

One advantage of Terro traps is their transparent design, which allows homeowners to monitor bait consumption and ant activity.

2. Raid Ant Gel Precision Bait

Raid’s gel bait is ideal for hard-to-reach areas where traditional bait stations won’t fit. The gel formula allows you to target cracks, crevices, and baseboards directly.

• How it works: The gel’s slow-acting poison ensures worker ants carry it back to the colony before dying.
• Where to place: Around windows, doors, plumbing fixtures, or anywhere ants are entering.
• Effectiveness: Works well for grease and protein-loving ants.
• Best for: Homes with visible ant trails in tight or elevated spaces.

The syringe-style applicator makes it easy to control the amount of bait used, minimizing mess and maximizing efficiency.

3. Advion Ant Gel Bait

Advion is a professional-grade ant bait often used by pest control experts. It’s known for eliminating entire colonies, including difficult-to-target species like carpenter ants.

• How it works: A powerful, slow-acting active ingredient is transferred throughout the colony for complete extermination.
• Where to place: Kitchen corners, under sinks, along walls, or near entry cracks.
• Effectiveness: Works on more than 20 ant species.
• Best for: Large or persistent infestations.

Advion’s gel formula offers consistent, long-lasting control and is often part of professional pest management programs in Eau Claire, WI, and surrounding areas.

How To Use Ant Traps Effectively

Even the best ant traps won’t work if they’re not placed correctly. Strategic positioning is the key to success.

Placement Tips

• Follow the trail: Place traps directly in the ants’ path.
• Avoid cleaning sprays nearby: Strong odors can deter ants from baiting.
• Use multiple traps: Set traps in different rooms for wider coverage.
• Be patient: It can take several days to see a reduction in activity.

Avoid moving traps too soon—ants need time to locate and share the bait with their colony.

Mistakes To Avoid When Using Ant Traps

Homeowners often make small errors that reduce trap effectiveness. Avoiding these mistakes ensures you get the best results.

• Killing visible ants: Let them carry bait back to the nest instead.
• Using the wrong bait: Sugar ants and protein ants prefer different formulas.
• Ignoring the source: Find and seal entry points to prevent re-infestation.
• Over-cleaning: While cleanliness matters, removing bait trails too early can interrupt the elimination process.

Following proper steps keeps ants feeding and ensures complete colony eradication.

When To Call A Professional

If traps don’t seem to make progress within a couple of weeks, or if you notice recurring infestations, it may be time to contact a pest control expert. Some colonies—especially carpenter ants—are too deep inside walls or foundations for store-bought traps to reach effectively.

Benefits Of Professional Ant Control

• Expert identification: Professionals determine the exact species for precise treatment.
• Advanced products: Access to stronger, safer baits unavailable in retail stores.
• Comprehensive coverage: Technicians treat entry points, nests, and trails.
• Long-term prevention: Regular maintenance prevents re-infestation.

Prompt Action Pest Control offers expert solutions tailored to the specific ant species invading your home. Our professionals ensure every part of the colony is targeted and eliminated.

Prevention Tips To Keep Ants Away

Once the infestation is gone, simple maintenance steps can prevent new colonies from forming.

Preventive Measures

• Seal cracks: Use caulk around windows, baseboards, and foundations.
• Store food properly: Keep items in sealed containers.
• Clean spills quickly: Even small crumbs can attract ants.
• Remove standing water: Ants often follow moisture sources.

Maintaining these habits, along with seasonal inspections, greatly reduces the risk of recurring infestations.

Why Prompt Action Pest Control Is Your Best Choice

Prompt Action Pest Control provides fast, reliable, and long-lasting ant control for homeowners across Eau Claire, WI, and surrounding areas. We combine expert knowledge of local species with advanced treatment methods that go beyond store-bought solutions.

Our technicians identify the problem, apply professional-grade baits, and seal off entry points to prevent future invasions. Whether you’re dealing with small kitchen ants or large carpenter ant colonies, our team ensures complete and lasting protection.

Find The Best Ant Traps For Lasting Results

Understanding how to choose and use the best ant traps gives you the upper hand in keeping your home pest-free. With the right bait, proper placement, and patience, you can stop infestations before they take hold.

If ants have invaded your home, don’t wait for them to spread.Contact Prompt Action Pest Control today for professional ant control services in Eau Claire, WI, and surrounding areas. Our team is ready to eliminate your pest problem quickly, safely, and completely.