Thursday, May 5, 2011
Ack! The Ants are Back!
And ant baits are doing nothing. They are in my kitchen and in my pantry, and I need something that works! Right now I am just spraying them with whatever I have in a spray bottle and wiping up their little ant corpses, but as of this afternoon, I seem to be doing it every 15 minutes. Any useful suggestions? Anyone? Please?
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I am afraid that I don't have any suggestions as we have the same problem. Every summer we have tons of them as we live a block and a half from the beach and our yard is one big sand pile. The ants just love it.
ReplyDeleteSometimes cinnamon works to deter them - buy the very cheap kind (like from a dollar store) and sprinkle it on all the cracks and edges of the room where they are getting in. Also, your bait traps may be working even though it doesn't look like it yet. I think they are supposed to take the bait back to their nest and then it kills the ants, so it can take a while. Sorry you're having such pests! (welcome to spring- everything is 'hatching' - meal moths are driving me nuts here)
ReplyDeleteWe're having an awful problem, too. My niece did a science experiment with ants and aspartame, and the aspartame killed them! I've never tried sprinkling it around, though. I just hate them!
ReplyDeleteMint, cinnamon, chalk... none of it worked for us. I guess it depends on what kind of ants you have. Honey with borax in it didn't work for us. Raid, nothing. Motels, nada. The ONLY ant bait that works on our ants is Terro. It doesn't kill them (it's supposed to kill the queen, but we've yet to see evidence of that), but it DOES keep them contained around the bait, and for us that was enough. It was nice not to have ants roaming around the pantry and the counters -- they'd stay contained to their Terro feeding troughs. So long as we kept the troughs full of Terro drops they stayed around it, but as soon as it ran out they'd wander all around again.
ReplyDeleteNasty little creatures!
hey there! peppermint essential oil is said to seriously help. put it where they are going in and out of - if you can find where that might be!!
ReplyDelete~deb
We also used Terro. Very poisonous to children though so you have to be careful where you use it. It definitely keeps the ants contained. At first it seems like it is attracting more but I think they are just more concentrated. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTerro gets them well but you have to leave it out and keep refreshing their pile so they can all wander in and take it home. If you stop feeding it before they stop coming they come back. If it is one spot and you can see the trail walking in-a pile of baby powder kills their scent line but they will go around if they have room. Old farm-wife trick? gasoline on the hills outside. tre dangerables :P
ReplyDeleteGet some food grade Diatomaceous earth.. it is really cheap and kills them all within a day without being toxic to the kids. We recently had an ant infestation (hundreds!) when a bottle of water kefir spilled under the couch and went undetected overnight. anyway, the DE killed them within a day and haven't seen any in days. Only disadvantage, it does leave white dusty footprints around the house, but for dead ants, I don't mind sweeping a few extra times. Also, its good to have on hand for if anyone ever gets intestinal parasites...
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting rid of the ants
Oh! We're having ant issues too. Using bottle caps with a sugar borax solution sometimes works. Then there's the vacuum.. not a long lasting solution but sure feels good to suck up those buggers. I've also considered letting the chicks roam the house and eat them... but the though of cleaning up poop was a major deterrent!
ReplyDeletei also think its the type of ant since some ppl swear by certain remedies yet it does nothing for other ants etc..
ReplyDeletewe tried baby powder sprinkled around the house and the ants were supposed to not cross the line...i am not sure it helped too much but you could try anyway.
i do think this is true: if you decide to do the ant traps then don't do ant spray like raid etc becuase i read somwhere that the two work against each other. I think this is true or has been for me. So if you are going to do ant traps, then just use natural products in addition but i wouldn't use 2 types of different ant killers.
Wow, thank you all! I think we have at least temporarily deterred the kitchen colony, as Bret found their entrance and caulked it up. The pantry ants are tougher--seem to be getting in behind a fully loaded cabinet, which we may have to move. I am reluctant to try Terro with the kids about, but the food grade DE sounds good, if I can get some around here. May have to order it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great response!
I have also had some success with wiping anywhere their trails are with vinegar.
ReplyDeleteDE...get it at the feed mill next to the Amish general store. About $25 for a bag that will last you forever. Problem is you find so many things to do with it. We use Andro that we get at Lowes. You sprinkle it all around the perimeter of the house and no more ants.
ReplyDeleteBaby powder. With talic not cornstarch. Works for me.
ReplyDeleteI have not tried it myself but my sister places "cow's tags" in the areas of her home and she says that ants can't get away fast enought. Cow's tags are those things that ranchers put on the cow's ears. Some of them are treated with something to ward off insects. She even puts them on her outside fencing and says that she does not have trouble with ticks that her neighbors do.
ReplyDelete