Ants - Ants - GONE - GONE New Post Update!

DDD

Well-Known Member
We have ants on the patio and I have ants in my kitchen. The
exterminator came two weeks ago and now the ants are back. I bought a couple of ant motel things but I haven't used spray or
anything for ant control for many years. Any instant help suggestions? The exterminator will be called back next week but
I'll go nuts by then! :thumbsdown: DDD
 
K

Kjs

Guest
I heard, used coffee grounds around entry points. Also heard vinegar. Haven't used any. I have used an indoor powder that worked really well. Can't use that anymore because of the dogs.
I've ussed Terro (sp?) That worked well too.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
We often get serious ant problems in summer, especially. They not only come after ANY dropped food, but also after water. I keep a bottle of water beside my bed, with one of those pop-tops on it. If I leave the top open (so I can grab the bottle for a quick drink) then in ant plague times, they cluster inside drinking the water, and I get a mouthful of ants.

Not to be recommended.

Prevention - talcum powder sprinkled round where they're getting in is supposed to help - we haven't found it works well, though.

What works best - a mixture of sugar and borax, mixed with enough water to make a sort of wet paste. Keep it away from dogs and kids... you don't need much, a few drops of it near where the ants are getting in. Put some in a bottle cap in an out-of-the-way spot near where they're coming in, but safe from dogs and babies. Ours come in via the kitchen windowsill, so we keep a lidful there, up the end where they come in. They eat it and take it back to the nest.

When you want to clean it up - it washes off easily. A bit sticky, but once the sticky is gone, so is the borax.

A lot of similar, commercially sold ant poisons have the same stuff in them.

Try and find where they're getting in. At various times we've been horrified to find a nest in a cavity wall of the house - when easy child was a baby and we had a few too many ants in our bedroom (where we had the baby, too) husband dropped some anticholinesterase powder down the cavity wall and there turned out to have been a HUGE nest there, the ants seemed to almost ooze through the wall, like something out of a horror movie. Every possible crevice became an escape-way for ants, into our bedroom. I moved myself and easy child into another bedroom until they were cleared.

Marg
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Call the exterminator back. We have one that comes every month for 25 dollars(all year). If ever there is a bug- I call him up and he comes over and doesn't charge extra. Because your guy was just there 2 weeks ago maybe he won't charge you. Sometimes there is a place you can't get to, or see, that they get in from.-Alyssa
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Another point I may not have made firmly enough - sometimes when you do something in the exterminator vein, you get close enough to the nest to stir them up, but not close enough to do enough damage. The ants then start to migrate (to somewhere nicer and less pestified) and you're thinking, what a lousy pesticide company, the problem is now worse than ever.

This is especially a problem with spiders, which don't take kindly to most insecticides, because spiders aren't insects, they're arachnids and have book lungs as well as the usual insect spiracle breathing apparatus. Book lungs mean that spiders can even live underwater, for a week at a time... spraying spiders generally doesn't kill them, it just makes them cranky, with a headache. Unless you drown them in it, and even THEN it can take half an hour or more. And with our funnelweb spiders, I don't want to make them any crankier than they are. I see one, I don't spray. I reach for a heavy shoe instead.

So yes, let the exterminator know about the sudden attack of ants and do ask if this could have come about BECAUSE of his recent visit. Certainly you shouldn't have problems again so soon, unless he got the nest with a near miss.

We no longer use pesticide companies. Long story. And that's just us. We get by - but then, we have a pet house spider called Charlotte, whose web is in the corner of the kitchen window. Whenever her web area is getting too ambitious, I clean a lot of it away, but I always leave a corner near the pitcher plant and the drosera for her, she keeps the flies down.

Marg
 
I never found anything that really worked for any decent amount of time except sprays. Until you get rid of the source, your only hope is to divert them elsewhere. It is bad if you live in a condo or something where your neighbors' actions (or lack thereof) affect the ant population in your space. I lived in a townhouse that the ants used as Grand Central Station until I gave up on the barrier methods and started using ant spray, which I hadn't wanted to do with a baby in the house. Good luck.
 

Mrs Smith

New Member
I've heard cornmeal. Never tried it though so I don't know if it works. The theory is that they eat it but can't digest it. I imagine this would not be a quick fix.
 
This has been a very bad year for ants for us due to our serious drought problems. We frequent a "Do It Yourself Pest Control" business, and have for years. The guys there are very knowledgable about all things relating to pest control. We have been using small, round bait stations for years per their advice. Unfortunately you can't get these at the store or usual retail. The kind we use is Maxforce professional insect control. I think that you will have to go to a pest control supply company to buy it. You have to become a dectective to use the bait stations. Find the line of ants - usually there is just one - and find their point of entry - and put the bait station there. We usually try to follow the line outside if it is possible. The bait station works as the bait is very delicious to the ants - they truly can't get enough of it - and they take it back to their buddies in the nest. It never takes over one day for the station to work if we place it correctly. We have been using this process for 15 years now, and it never fails to work. We've tried the ones from the retail stores, but they just don't do the job. by the way, if you find the nest outside - here's a simple solution - pour boiling water on it. This works - but it is really hard and takes great patience to find the nests.
 

meowbunny

New Member
I use talcum powder in the kitchen and it has worked quite well for me. Messy to clean up, though. If you can find the entry, put down a small, flat dish of beer. Ants will flock to it and merrily drown. Yucky to clean but does seem to stop some of the influx.

I'd be yelling for the exterminator to get here nowwwwwwwww. I've never known of one to charge for coming back when the first visit didn't do the job.

Good luck on the infestation. Not a lot of fun but at least it's seasonal.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about the ant problem. I'm going to move this topic to Watercooler, please look for more responses there.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Good Grief, TM, did I post this somewhere other than Watercooler?
That's scarey!! I would have bet money that I went to the right
spot........sorry 'bout that......and darn glad I didn't bet!!
LOL DDD

I have to wait til Monday to call the bug guy so I decided to use
your collective knowledge to see if I could get them out of my
kitchen til then!!

by the way I bought those little round things at the supermarket and
put two on the pass through counter from the kitchen to the porch
and "the line" has really thinned out. Unfortunately the little
things popped up inside the kitchen which is separated by a sliding glass window from the counter top.

I'm not good with wildlife problems. LOL
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Wow........I now have powder and pepper flakes on both surfaces.
It looks weird but at least it isn't moving! LOL. Thanks, BLB.
I'll let you know in the morning if there is an improvement. If
you don't hear from me again.....you'll know the ants got big time revenge against the human. DDD
 

Marguerite

Active Member
The sliding door - never assume that is a barrier to denizens of the Outside. We've tracked ants walking through that velvety pile stuff that the door slides over. Small ants can get through there, or through the rubb er seals. I've even had flies hitch a ride on the sliding glass door - if you look when the door is open, the flies can come in part way and sit on the glass inside the outer sliding part, and keep crawling until they're now past the vertical rubb er seal and when the door is slid shut - presto, the flies are now inside the glass. It's like a magic trick, it looks like magic until you watch closely and see how it's done.

I'm glad the various methods have helped. If it's really dry where you are at the moment, they could be coming in for water. Do you have the dogs' bowls inside or outside? Any dropped food (wherever) will also bring the ants, but if you can also move the water bowl outside, you might cut back on the ant problem too. But the slightest trace of food will bring them - we wash down the outside of honey jars, we keep all jam in the fridge, sugar is kept in containers with a tight rubb er seal (like a Vacola jar, clamped down) or cleaned out old juice bottles with a screw cap. And dripping taps, taps needing new washers - we fix them fast. We've often had ants crawling inside the faucet to get the water, and you turn the tap on to get a drink and there is a heap of ants struggling on the top, like they've been tipped into the glass from a teaspoon. We always check before we drink.
All spills wiped up immediately with water, and then dried thoroughly. In bathrooms, too.
No food anywhere other than dining room or kitchen. We've even had to go the the extreme of keeping all fruit in the fridge.

Once you learn to foil them, watch to make sure you keep them away. If you find them back suddenly, try to work out why before you get rid of them, so you can prevent.

I hope you've stemmed the tide.

Marg
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I have pepper flakes that look like they're covered with snow.
There is NOT a single moving ant this morning. Who would have
thought that the powder we buff with is so toxic?? LOL!

As always, the CD family is just one darn smart group. Thanks
everybody. DDD
 

SunnyFlorida

Active Member
I hate ants. I hate them, I just can't stand them. They give me bad dreams, they just make my toes curl and make my face frown and no one likes a sunny frown :smile:

I skimmed this post and when I came to (Who would have
thought that the powder we buff with is so toxic
) I had to go back and re-read.

D3, you really scared me, I'm thinking, ut oh...the powder I put on my face attracts ants? OMG :dance: talk about being in a tizzy!

But.....I'm likin' this pepper and powder idea. My ant problem hasn't been to apparent lately as we had to have the house sprayed with Termidore for subterranean termites last year.

Thanks for the ant scare/solver.....I think.
 
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