Do anti-ant pads really work? Are they any good, and why do ants still get up after you put one down?

Do anti-ant pads work? Yes — for ants that climb up from the floor to reach whatever sits on the pad, as long as 3 conditions are met: the item sits in the middle of the pad, 5 cm from the edge; the pad is clean with no food crumbs; and you give the ants 1–7 days to give up their old trail.

Miss any one of these and the pad can look like it's not working even though it still is. This article covers what real users say, why ants still get in after you put the pad down, how to test it yourself in 7 days, and when to stop relying on the pad and deal with the ant nest instead.

Hard anti-ant pads have been sold on Thai online marketplaces for years. The best-selling shop has more than ten thousand reviews, an average rating of about 4.9 out of 5, and fewer than 1% one-star reviews (figures from the Shopee product page, September 2026). Most positive reviews say the same things: "ants really don't get up" and "I've used it for a year already". Negative reviews are mostly about ants still getting in during the first few days, or the pad arriving scratched.

What these numbers tell you: the pad works for most people, but not everyone — and people who say it doesn't work are usually the ones who didn't meet all the conditions, not the ones with a faulty pad.

The 5 most common causes, in order: one, food crumbs or sugary spills on the pad, so ants eat at the edge without needing to reach the bowl. Two, the bowl is too close to the edge, so ants climb from the floor straight onto the bowl. Three, the pad has been down for less than 3 days and ants still remember their old trail. Four, there's a bridge for ants to walk across, such as a tablecloth hanging to the floor, a power cord, or a wall the bowl is leaning against. Five, the pad has worn out from sun or moisture after long use.

To check: lift the bowl and look for crumbs under and around it, move the bowl to the middle of the pad, look for anything running from the floor to the items on the pad, then wait another 3 days. Only if you've done all that and ants are genuinely walking across the pad surface should you suspect the pad has worn out.

Here's a simple 7-day test that needs no equipment. Day 0: in the morning, photograph the bowl with ants on it as a record, then wash the pad, let it dry, and put the bowl in the middle of the pad in the same spot. On days 1, 3 and 7, take a photo at the same time and count the ants "in the bowl", not around the pad. If the number in the bowl drops to zero by day 7, the pad is working. If there are still as many ants in the bowl even though you've met all the conditions, contact the shop.

KAI67 hasn't published our own test results on this page yet. We'll post real photos from days 1, 3 and 7 once the test is finished, and we won't use mock-up images in place of real results.

A 30x42 cm pad sells for ฿99–199 on the market, and manufacturers state a lifespan of 1–2 years — that's under ฿10 a month. It's cheaper than spray you have to keep buying, and cheaper than cat food you have to throw out because ants got into it. So whether it's worth it depends on how often you have ant problems. If ants turn up every week, the pad pays for itself in the first month. If they turn up once a year, you don't need one.