Help!! Pet-friendly solutions to ant infestations?

[Rajah]

Our kitchen is being overun by ants. Both sugar ants, and fire ants (the latter of which I'm quite allergic to )

Does anyone have any pet-friendly ways of deterring ants? Or at very least holding them at bay until this weekend when I (DH will be out of town) can gather up Skye, Sienna, and "Bob" the fish and take them to my parents while the house is fumagated?

Right now we've sprayed their current trail with raid ant killer and will let that sit for about 15 minutes before mopping it up several times so the kitties (hopefully) don't get sick -- considering the latest trail is right to their food dish... :/

 

[DonnaS]

We use windex to spray the trails. We figure it is safer around the cats than Raid and it does well at killing the ants and wiping out the scent of their trail.

Of course, you still have to get to the nest and have it fumigated as planned.

 

[shep]

We buy the ant traps that they go into and then go back to the colony and kill everyone off...
Don't know if they'd work with fire ants though..

 

[DonnaS]

Oh yes, we put some of those around, too. And we don't have fire ants so I don't know if windex would work on them.

 

[kejoda]

I have heard that flour or some type of powder will kill them. I know I've heard it doesn't always work but worth a shot. Your best bet is to find out where they are coming in from.

 

[Rajah]

Well, we put out a couple of ant-bait traps where the kitties can't reach it, so that should help against nests, too. We've also been using vinegar to get at them in a larger area since the vinegar is much safer for the kitties. I think that's probly the same idea as the windex.

More suggestions, please? Each time we kill them in one crack, they find another tiny hole in the woodwork to come out of.

I'm actually wondering if the raid fogger/fumagator things we have will be enough to get them.

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by shep
Don't know if they'd work with fire ants though..

Sorta. They do on the ones that get to the traps, but it doesn't work on the outdoor ants.

So far, it appears the sugar ants are the ones coming from the walls, and the fire ants were just coming from outside. Clearing their one trail seems to have worked for 24 hours anyway. The sugar ants just found a new place to move and get to food.

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

Rajah, this won't help with the ants that have already gotten in, but try spraying the outside perimeter of your house. Ortho makes a spray that you use along the outside of your foundation that's supposed to help keep them from getting in. I have some, but haven't had the chance to try it yet.

 

[Dream]

Not sure about the fire ants....but for your garden variety ants....putting a line of talcum powder across the place where they are entering your home should do the trick! Works for me evry time. A very kind exterminator told me this trick instead of charging me 200.00 to spray poison all around. You need to be sure there is "talc" in the powder though! The ants won't cross it!! Good luck!! Fire ants.....ewwwww!!!!

 

[Mskanga]

This is right up my alley today. Just this past weekend we had a colony of ants marching in my livingroom, and I mean colony.
I stood in the livingroom and I saw them coming up the hole where one of the pipes for the heater comes up , dh sprayed some poison and believe me, no more came up that way. I don't know what kind they were, to me they all look the same.

 

[sandramaac]

Spraying only kills the ones you see. And even if you spray where you think you see them coming from, that will only hold them at bay for a short time. The key to getting rid of them is to bait. While this method will usually take a little longer, it out last all the others. After they take the bait, they take it back to the nest, all the other ants ingest it, and then all of them start to die.

The important thing is not to contaminate the bait. Clean where you have sprayed, then place the bait traps in the area where the ants where moving. If you want you can place a lerger perimeter circle of tlac around the bait so the ants do not cross that, but again be sure not to contaminate the bait. It may take about two weeks before you see results.

I would also sprayed the perimeter of you home. But to tell you the truth, I would just get a professional in. Those fire ants can be nasty little buggers I hear (pardon the expression). Good luck!!

 

[Nagle]

How about getting an AArdvark or anteater as a pet?????

 

[LisaRay]

Ok, keep in my this is not my opinion but that of my bug man....

We had to have our yearly termite treatment done last week (our house is only 1 year old but we don't want the problems we had in old house!!) So about 1-2 weeks before this we started seeing ants but only in one room. Of course it is the toy room the hardest one to stray! So when bug man came i asked about the ants and he said he could spray if i wanted him to and charge me $$$ but instead he would look around under house while he was down there. When he was done he said he pulled back some insulation in under the room where our problem was and there was a small nest and he got rid of them.

He said that they really tend to come out when its damp and they make there nests in the insulation under the houses and if you can find the nest you will have solved the problem. He said we just had one small nest but he has seen houses where he pulls back the insulation and the nests are all the way across the length of the room. So he told me that if we start noticing them in any other rooms to send DH under there to look for the nest.

BTW this was on Thursday afternoon and by Saturday we stopped seeing the ants. Of course the rain has also stopped so the real test will be when it rains again later this week.

 

[tc]

I looked on the web, but I can't find the name of a great organic gardener. Stephen has one of his books. He gave a recipe of bacon grease, cornmeal, and other stuff. Put it in a lid and put it near the ant hill. The ants love the stuff, take it back to the hill, and all the ants die. Don't know how it works, but it's great. We put them all around our house and one in the dining room two weeks ago, haven't seen an ant since. Does anyone know who I'm talking about? He used beer on his lawn and stuff like that.