Ants will take the path of least resistance when foraging for food and water sources. In nature this may be a tree limb giving them fast access over the jungle they live in called our lawn. But then they encounter an amazing straight road paved like a freeway and slightly moist providing water.
This straight freeway leads them into a structure with a network of highways leading to amazing food and water and protection from predators, called, your home.
The pipes within your house are perfectly suited for their travel needs. They run on the straightest course, are easy to hang onto and have few if any predators guarding them.The access point usually is a garden hose that we conveniently ran out to their location in the yard and might as well have put up a sign saying, come on in.
This is how ants get into your home. The scouts go back to the main colony and this hose becomes a main freeway running both directions, in and out of your house.
This is why you see ants in your bathroom but not in the hallway. Ants need moisture, and at the end of every freeway ramp they find a water source. Just couldn't be better.
So how do we interrupt this convenience? Caulk around your hose bibs and around all the pipe that runs through a wall in your house. This will help and will also slow down mice, cockroaches and spiders that have been enjoying the same paths.
The next thing is to use a ant repellent spray or even a spider barrier product with ants on the label and coat the pipe right where the ant would come in on the pipes.
You may still have ants. This is because you didn't do the preventive early enough and now a queen followed the highway and set up a colony within the house. This is going to take a fresh bait (not store bought) that the foragers will take back to the queen and larvae which will wipe out the colony.
Ants will use limbs touching the top of your roof, the wiring inside your house, cracks in the foundation so always be on the lookout for ways they may be using to access your home.
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