For being such little dudes, ants sure are annoying when they invade your house.

(Cue music: “The ants go marching one by one. Hurrah! Hurrah!”)

This is the time of year when ants resume their activity after the winter and more ants are hatched. They tend to find their way inside homes to, depending on the ant, eat either sweets or meat and grease.

According to publications by K-State Research & Extension, the best way to attack ants is to go to their turf.

“Household infestations often can be traced to the lawn, so treating the lawn often solves the problem,” writes H. Leroy Brooks, a former insecticide specialist with the state extension agency.

His suggestion: Figure out which direction or directions the ants are coming from, and treat all points of entry with spray insecticides.

Also, treat the grass with insecticides such as diazinon, Dursban, malathion and Sevin, then water the area thoroughly and keep people and pets away until the grass has dried.

For ants already indoors, Brooks writes that indoor-use insecticides can help reduce populations but probably won’t eliminate the problem long-term.

Brooks says good sanitation inside homes also is a deterrent for ants.

“Crumbs, grease, food scraps and foods in open or partly open containers are easily found by foraging worker ants and then attract large numbers of ants,” he writes. “Where good sanitation is practiced, heavy infestations in buildings are rarely found.”