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Ants! Ive had enough!

GlorifiedRice

By GlorifiedRice
in Kitchen Consumer

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GlorifiedRice

GlorifiedRice

Posted
Posted

Everytime it gets warm out, I will get ants in my kitchen.

The past few days were warm, and you guessed it, MARCHING ANTS!

This am Ive scrubbed my kitchen down, sprayed ant spray in all the crevasses and along the bottoms of the cabinets, then went shopping. Came home, relaxed a bit, then got up to make lunch and boom, ANTS!

I cant take it anymore!

 

What can I do?

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

If you are petless, a mixture of borax and confectioner's sugar is effective. 

 

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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thock

thock

Posted
Posted

I second this, and I'm not petless. I just put it in a place the pets can't get to, but the ants can. Or borax and honey. The little ants line up like boats moored along a shoreline. Only takes a few days to get rid of them this way.

Tracy

Lenexa, KS, USA

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

Enrobe them in chocolate

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted

This comes up when my favorite entomologist leads "bug talks"

1 - why are they there? - remove any speck of food and wipe all moisture

2 -  vinegar is your friend and not toxic - they don't like it - spray on the swath o' bugs , wipe away some of the dead BUT leave some - walk away for several hours. They will take their dead home and not a trace will remain

 

Trust me :)

Pesticides - please no

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Paul Fink said:

ants live outside and "march" inside to gather food

 

I have yet to outsmart them but I've determined that ants come into my house for a variety of reasons.  Top four:

  • Too wet outside
  • Too dry outside
  • Just passing through
  • Cat food  

And honestly, I think the cat food is just a bonus.  It's surely a bonus that warrants calling in reinforcements but I don't think it's the main draw.

The last incursion, after a good rain,  emerged into the kitchen from a corner where the wall meets the ceiling, smack-dab in the center of the house.  The other side of that spot is behind the furnace but I can't see it and never figured the actual point of entry.

I believe they are in control and allow me to occupy the house, most of the time alone, of their own good will.  

 

 

 

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pastrygirl

pastrygirl

Posted
Posted

I've had decent luck with the little Terro ant bait stations.  And yes, you will likely want to treat the yard or at least go all around the house at the foundation.  And you may need to do that a few times over the long term, like quarterly, for best results.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Liquid-Ant-Killer-Bait-Stations-6-Pack-T300/202532940

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Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

Posted
Posted

Both times over the years I had severe problems with ants coming in, the exterminator found a large ant hill. The first one was under a pine in the front of and 100 feet away from the house, and the second was under the sweetgum in back and very near the house. They dug them up and sprayed outside around the house. The hills were full of hundreds and hundreds of white egg cases. I never was able to do anything with them until getting to their source outside. Pesky as the little critters are, I think they may be safer to have in the kitchen than pesticides.

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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GlorifiedRice

GlorifiedRice

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I have yet to outsmart them but I've determined that ants come into my house for a variety of reasons.  Top four:

  • Too wet outside
  • Too dry outside
  • Just passing through
  • Cat food  

And honestly, I think the cat food is just a bonus.  It's surely a bonus that warrants calling in reinforcements but I don't think it's the main draw.

The last incursion, after a good rain,  emerged into the kitchen from a corner where the wall meets the ceiling, smack-dab in the center of the house.  The other side of that spot is behind the furnace but I can't see it and never figured the actual point of entry.

I believe they are in control and allow me to occupy the house, most of the time alone, of their own good will.  

 

 

 

 

BlueDolphin? I have the same issue.

I have ants coming in thru 2 interior "junctions" in the middle of the house over the slab part/

I also figured out where these ants today came from. Apparently they have eaten thru the putty under the lip of the sink on the one side. I had borax in my laundry room and put some sprinkles on that one side and wet it down with Windex (not a Big Fat Greek Wedding joke) now Ive seen zero ants. YAY! Tomorrow ill clean it up and go spray the outside.

 

TY all

 

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Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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GlorifiedRice

GlorifiedRice

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
3 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Both times over the years I had severe problems with ants coming in, the exterminator found a large ant hill. The first one was under a pine in the front of and 100 feet away from the house, and the second was under the sweetgum in back and very near the house. They dug them up and sprayed outside around the house. The hills were full of hundreds and hundreds of white egg cases. I never was able to do anything with them until getting to their source outside. Pesky as the little critters are, I think they may be safer to have in the kitchen than pesticides.

 

 

 

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Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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Arey

Arey

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I've had decent luck with the little Terro ant bait stations.  And yes, you will likely want to treat the yard or at least go all around the house at the foundation.  And you may need to do that a few times over the long term, like quarterly, for best results.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Liquid-Ant-Killer-Bait-Stations-6-Pack-T300/202532940

I have a contract with a pest control company and they spray my deck and foundations every 3 months.  They always give me a supply of the Terro bait stations which I use inside the house.  Ants seem to love the stuff but I take precautions so that Bryn can't get to the bait stations.  No pesticides or spraying inside the house since I have COPD and Bryn and I both have allergies. Probably to each other. The pest control company said that once you find where they are  coming in you can lay a little trail with the Terro to guide them to the trap. I also don't allow power spraying by the company, only hand spraying and only the foundations and around the deck.  They have one employee who has been servicing the place for years and we get along fine, but if he's not available and a substitute comes I keep a close eye on them since some of them will just spray away with wild abandon.  Since I garden for wildlife, and butterflies and insects and have a small garden pond ( a real hot spot for the Fowler'sToads in the warm months) the last thing I want is some  idiot spraying a pesticide all over the place.

What you need is a bait that the ants will take back to the nest and feed to the other ants especially the queen and the nest will be wiped out, and the problem solved until a new ant starts a new colony that starts sending out scouts which doesn't take very long.

Edited by Arey (log)
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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

We had a similar thing this past summer with earwigs. We'd gotten plenty of snow, but only briefly and without any real cold (by local standards) to kill off the wee critters. 

I don't anticipate a repeat this year. 

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Duvel

Duvel

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I know it's a bit gore, but I usually grab a few, decapitate them and put their heads on tip of shortened tooth picks for display in strategic parts of my flat. Scares them off every time ...

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted

I've used boric acid, not borax (closely related but not the same compound). It's so effective I feel kind of bad about it. I've mixed it with confectioners sugar or sugar syrup (around 1:10 or so) and put it where they, go on little pieces of foil, and within a couple of days the entire colony is gone. Even if they live way outside, in the garden, but have sent a regiment into my kitchen to commandeer some spilled honey, the boric acid will take out the whole population.

 

No worries with pets. The LD50 in mammals is lower than table salt.

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Notes from the underbelly

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Toliver

Toliver

Posted
Posted
On 3/10/2017 at 3:28 PM, pastrygirl said:

I've had decent luck with the little Terro ant bait stations.  And yes, you will likely want to treat the yard or at least go all around the house at the foundation.  And you may need to do that a few times over the long term, like quarterly, for best results.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Liquid-Ant-Killer-Bait-Stations-6-Pack-T300/202532940

Yes. These. I swear by them.

I leave them down for a week at the most. The first 2 or 3 days takes out most of the colony, and I leave them down a few days more for the next wave/generation that hatches until they're completely gone.

I haven't been able to buy the 6-pack. My Walmart grocery store only sells a 4-pack, which is more than enough to do the job.

Die, little ant bastards, die! >:( xD

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“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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IowaDee

IowaDee

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Posted

I thinking of asking for a Go Fund Me account to set up a Rent an Anteater business.  Think it will fly? :D  Speaking of flying, for a small extra fee, I will add a termite eating attachment,

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