The Best Way to Control Ants in Your RV or Camper

Ants can be a nightmare when camping. Those little pests seem to find any opening to enter your camper. Fortunately, ants can be controlled.

The most important aspect to understand about ants and your camper is how they enter. Ants can crawl up tires, stabilizers, or the jack and then use these items to enter your camper. Once inside your camper, they are difficult to eliminate. It is best to take preventative measures to keep these pests away.

Prevention

Unfortunately, we learned about controlling ants through experience. We stayed at a campground that was covered in ants, and our family spent a full weekend trying to kill them. There was one small store near the campground from which we purchased four or five spray cans of ant killer. The ant spray was ineffective. We sprayed around and on the camper, plus we sprayed the tires, jack, and stabilizers. The ants just kept coming. The employee at the store told us that ant spray was their biggest seller because everyone from the campground came to buy it. I went to inform the office that there was a major ant problem at our site, and they responded that it was worse in other parts of the campground.

We were not prepared to handle the ants then, but we have since learned. Since that experience, we have never had a problem with ants in the camper again. Our best defense against ants is Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade (Check it out on Amazon). Diatomaceous Earth is a powdered substance that is spread around your camper. The Diatomaceous Earth will control the ants, but it will not harm people or pets. We keep some in a Rubbermaid container, and if we see any ants around our site, we spread the Diatomaceous Earth around the camper as soon as we unhook and set up. Pour plenty around anything that touches the ground such as tires and stabilizers.

Diatomaceous Earth is made mostly of silica. When ants and other insects with exoskeletons walk through the Diatomaceous Earth, the wax coating on their exoskeleton is destroyed. Once the wax coating is removed, their bodies can no longer retain water, and the ants die. The use of Diatomaceous Earth is an excellent way to control ants without dangerous pesticides. Since we have started using Diatomaceous Earth, we have had no ant problems.

Eliminating Ants in Your Camper

If you do get ants in your camper, the best way to eliminate them is through the use of Terro Liquid Ant Baits (Check them out on Amazon). Place the bait in a few locations within your camper and the bait will attract the ants and kill them. If ants are a problem while your camper is in storage, we recommend keeping a couple of bait traps in the camper to kill any ants that may enter. The Terro Ant Bait is also effective if placed outside the camper in strategic locations. However, we prefer the Diatomaceous Earth because it is safer, especially if you are traveling with children and/or pets.

Don’t Tempt the Ants

The number one rule for preventing ants from entering your camper is to keep it free of unsealed food. Ants are looking for a meal. Make sure there are no crumbs on the floor or countertops. We use two different vacuums in our camper. We use a Roomba Robot Vacuum (Check it out on Amazon) to take care of most of our needs. We turn on the Roomba, and it cleans the floors while we are outside enjoying ourselves. Best of all, it is compact and does not take up much room, which is essential because storage is always a concern when camping.

We also carry a smaller handheld Dyson Vacuum (Check it out on Amazon) that we use in areas that are difficult for the Roomba to reach like the sofa and dinette. Read here how we also use the handheld vacuum to control flying insects.

Do not store unsealed food in your camper. Exposed food is an open invitation to ants. We recommend that you remove all food while your camper is not in use. While you are camping, keep open items such as sugar or syrup in a gallon plastic storage bag. If you cook a lot, store your open items in plastic storage containers (Check them out on Amazon). You can use these storage containers for just about any bagged or boxed food items such as cereal, chips, and flour. We also utilize our microwave and refrigerator for food storage since they are sealed.

Although ant invasions can ruin camping trips, these preventative measures should eliminate most problems from occurring.

If you are interested in learning about controlling mosquitoes and other flying insects while camping click here.

If you have tips for controlling ants in your camper, please drop us a line in the comment section below.