Help!! ANTS everywhere!!!

[ThreeMusketeers]

Last weekend, it was spiders..this weekend is is ants. I think its that time of the year again.
I HATE BUGS!

I have an infestation of these small tiny brown/black ants in my kitchen and bathroom.
DOes anyone have any natural remidies or other.
I am a clean freek, so I don't know where they are getting the food from. I am sure they could get in anywhere, they are so small.
I just want them gone!

I bought some baits but i don't know if they are working yet. Tommarrow I was thinking about cleaning out all the cupboards and scrubbing the house down with pepperment oil since i hear they hate that.

What should I do?

 

[dznyacct]

We too have been dealing with ant infestation (in our kitchen). I read here on the DIS boards about using a product called TERRO (available at Home Depot). Let me tell you, it is a miracle product!! Within 24 hours I did not see a single live ant (lots of dead ones on the floor by the back door though). I think the kit I got (6 pre-filled bait traps) was $5.99 and it was worth its weight in gold! Good luck and please post if you have any success using this product.

 

[jensmom]

DOes anyone have any natural remidies or other.
I am a clean freek, so I don't know where they are getting the food from.

They are probably coming in for water, not food, from things I've read. Try using baby powder, it dehydrates them and causes them to stay away from it. It also works great to get in cracks and crevices so it keeps them out. Good luck!

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

We also have the ants, same time every year. The terro works well, but I have had better luck with the liquid terro. The bottle I have is older, but it just looks like some real thick brown suger liquid. I have tried the baits, they worked ok, but this works great.

 

[AlexTina]

Try AMDRO, you can get it at Home Depot also. It's a miracle cure, just sprinkle it around the outside of your house and they will be gone within 24 hours. It kills the queen so once they're gone they're gone for good, at least until another colony moves in, LOL.. Good luck.

Tina

 

[Franne]

I bought Terro after reading about it on here a couple of weeks ago...and poof! The ants are gone! Haven't seen one in a week and we put it down last weekend. We put the baits down all around the perimeter of the house since we couldn't figure out where they were coming in. It works great, I would suggest trying it!

 

[Ariel8676]

If you know where they are coming in from (or suspect they are) you can put a line of talcum powder or Cinnamon..i have heard they do not like cinnamon....and will not cross the line. You can also spray them with Apple cider vinegar or regular whilt distilled vinegar.
I also found this
The first line of defense is to remove the attractants: keep counters free of crumbs and sticky spots. Cover the sugar and put the honey jar in a plastic baggie. Cut off water sources such as drips or dishes left soaking overnight.
If the ant invaders persist, try these simple measures:
Keep a small spray bottle handy, and spray the ants with a bit of soapy water.
Set out cucumber peels or slices in the kitchen or at the ants' point of entry. Many ants have a natural aversion to cucumber. Bitter cucumbers work best.
Leave a few tea bags of mint tea near areas where the ants seem most active. Dry, crushed mint leaves or cloves also work as ant deterrents.
Trace the ant column back to their point of entry. Set any of the following items at the entry area in a small line, which ants will not cross: cayenne pepper, citrus oil (can be soaked into a piece of string), lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds.
Mix a half teaspoon each of honey, borox, and aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc.), in small bottles. Place bottles on their sides, with lids off, in areas of most ant activity. Ants will carry the bait back to their colonies. Important: use indoors only; must be kept away from pets and children.
Leave a small, low wattage night light on for a few nights in the area of most ant activity. The change in light can disrupt and discourage their foraging patterns.
Ants on the deck? Slip a few cut up cloves of garlic between the cracks.

Hope this helped some!!

 

[timandlesley]

We had the same problem last week, they were everywhere, and the problem was we didn't know where they were coming from, we still will come down in the a.m. and see a small group of them, GROSS!!! We bought the traps and have them everywhere we've seen them, not too sure if those work or not. We also bought Hot Shot Ant/Roach spray and use it on every group we see, that has seemed to really work.
Lesley

 

[ogreenlee]

I live in the woods and I have this problem every spring as well. I can't remember the name of the sticky clear liquid I used, but after a few days, I stopped seeing them. I bought it at the grocery store.

 

[Iluvthemouse]

Another vote for Terro. It works!!!

I heard Borax will work as well.

 

[wdw_girl_18]

we use red pepper powder. You just sprinkle it around your kitchen and they leave since they hate the smell

 

[don8life]

I use vinegar. Wipe the vinegar where you see them.

 

[TENIA66]

Bounce dryer sheets, put them everywhere you've seen them. They are miraculous. They also keep mosquitoes away if you put them in your pockets. You'll need the real, original bounce sheets.

Also, if you track them back to their home/hill, pour a pot of boiling water on it.

We live in the country, so I use to struggle with ants all the time. Not anymore. And spiders eat ants, so no ants, less spiders..............

 

[carolsherman]

try Borax, sugar and a little water to make it pasty put it on a cotton ball where you see them. The ants will eat it and bring it back to the queen. I have done this several times it does work.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

I have ants in my living room.Every spring they come. We've caulked all areas but now they come from under my entertainment unit. it is big and heavy so I don't know how many are actually under it. I vacuum the ants throughout th day but we will call the exterminator soon. I don't want to use traps near my kids. I also hate having the house sprayed. I am happy they don't go in the kitchen or anywhere else in the house.
.

 

[taximomfor4]

The city I live in is pretty much a giant ant hill. When we complained that ants weren't disclosed on the homeowners Pest Disclosure form, we were told "Everyone in that city has ants." We have done exterminators (they have to come every month, which gets expensive, but it works well). We have used Terra (our ants go for it some years, but some years they just avoid it). Same with Raid ant baits, etc. And they are in several areas of the house. I think since our house is on a cement slab, in sandy soil, we just will have ants.

We still search out the "ant highways" in our house, and treat those areas..but there are always more ants somewhere else.

Oh, and we live right on the lake -- we get big, bad spiders outside (they eat midges, canadian soldiers, mosquitos, etc). Some of those get into our house, and I have a terrible, terrible spider phobia. I had THREE spider encounters in my house on Friday. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Piecey]

Terro worked wonders for me! I had no idea where they were so I just put down two of the six pre-filled traps and voila! no more Ants.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Another vote for Terro. We get the bottle of liquid and just put drops on the cardboard squares. It worked in just a couple of days. It brings a ton of ants out and than all of the sudden they are all gone.

 

[RayJay]

I bought some baits but i don't know if they are working yet. Tommarrow I was thinking about cleaning out all the cupboards and scrubbing the house down with pepperment oil since i hear they hate that.

What should I do?

My exterminator says baits just bring them in more, your actually providing the food source, although before I had an exterminator baits seem to work fine.

We just couldn't take the spiders anymore so we are now on a quarterly plan for spiders, ants (which we had huge nest under the stairs) etc...

Haven't seen a bug in three weeks since we did it.

RayJay

 

[jls886]

I'll add a vote for Terro...and we have also had more luck with the liquid than with the baits. The good thing about Terro is that they get some and take it back to their colony, essentially exterminating the source. It is more of a permanent fix than just putting down something that makes them not want to come in, then they'll just wait until the coast is clear again. I hate ants and bugs, good luck!!!