No, ants will not go away if you keep killing only the visible ants you see, because killing individual worker ants does not eliminate the colony, queen, or nest that contains thousands of members hidden in walls or outdoors, and can actually make the infestation worse and more persistent. Odorous house ants, tiny black ants common in kitchens, have colonies with thousands of workers and a queen that lives 3 to 7 years and continuously lays eggs, so when you kill a few hundred foragers, the queen produces more workers to replace them, and new ants will keep following pheromone trails to food as long as crumbs, sweets, and moisture remain and entry points are open. Squishing odorous house ants releases alarm pheromones and oleic acid that attract more ants to investigate and can cause budding where surviving ants split into satellite colonies in other areas, leading to more trails. Repellent sprays kill on contact but also cause budding and do not reach the queen. The pheromone trails that guide ants remain even after you kill foragers, so new recruits follow same paths. To make ants go away permanently, you need to eliminate entire colony including queen using slow-acting gel baits containing fipronil or borax such as Terro Liquid Ant Bait placed near trails, allowing workers to carry bait back to kill queen within days to two weeks, combined with sanitation by storing food sealed, cleaning crumbs, sealing cracks with caulk, and fixing leaks for carpenter ants, rather than just killing visible ants.
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