ants

[friarjohn]

our kitchen is pretty clean but i can't get rid of our unwanted house guest. they are the tiny black ants. I have sprayed counters with soapy water, star san, vinager, ive put chilly powder down. ive tried bait traps. any ideas? Im about to call orkin. has anyone used them? are they expensive? how many treatments needed? are they pet safe?

 

[dataz722]

I have the same problem every year at my house. In fact I started a thread on here a couple years back about the same thing. I had tried everything and all of the "tricks" and whatnot. A few people said to try terro. Let me tell you that is the only thing that has ever worked and it worked really damn well. It isn't a permanent solution but it will last a couple weeks then you have to do it again. They make both an indoor and outdoor one. I got both.

edit- Oh and it is completely safe for pets and kids too. That is the main thing that I was worried about.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I get them every year.

I trace them back to their "nest" entrance and flood the opening with Ortho granular ant killer. Additionally, I place no less than about a dozen Terro bait traps around the outside of the house.

The ants disappear within days and do not re-appear til the following spring.

It's the freaking Wolf spiders that I can't seem to evict.

 

[Walker]

I used to get them every summer like that when I lived in CA. Turns out, they were not coming into the house for food, but rather WATER. We always found them around the kitchen sink and in the bathroom.

I was able to keep them under control by watering the lawn a little more, but one thing I found that worked very well was rosemary. They hated it. I sould stuff a few needles into the holes where I found them coming in and they would stop.

 

[david_42]

Funny, I get ants in the winter. So, I guess they are looking for a dry spot.

 

[Yambor44]

Terro Ant Killer II should be the proper name and dataz is correct that it usually works well. Remember a bait is just that - a bait. Try to keep competing food sources to a minimum. If they are sweet feeding ants, which they probably are, the Terro should do the trick.
Try and find out where they are coming in at. Do an outside perimeter inspection at the base of your home. They will usually be coming in from there. However, sometimes they will create satellite colonies and could be in the attic under/in the insulation. If you find out where they are coming in at, bait near that area. Try and draw them away from your living areas while allowing time for the bait to work.

Remember, READ and FOLLOW label instructions. They are instructions and not "suggestions".

 

[dataz722]

I used to get them every summer like that when I lived in CA. Turns out, they were not coming into the house for food, but rather WATER. We always found them around the kitchen sink and in the bathroom.

That is our problem. We always find them in the 1/2 bathroom near the front door and in the kitchen around the sink and by the cats' water bowl.

 

[arturo7]

Ants are fascinating. I'll often watch them for a while before the slaughter.

 

[Homercidal]

We get them every year. Worse if I don't keep the plants cut short next to the house.

I usually dust that side of the foundation with ant stuff after trimming the grass and plants down to nothing. I have not found an indoor bait worth buying, but I'll look for that terro stuff. Hopefully I'll be ahead of the game this year!

 

[dataz722]

Looks like our ants are starting to come back a little early this year. I just saw a couple in the bathroom.

 

[springer]

boric acid sugar and water

cheapkiller

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Raid makes an ant bait station that really does work well. It gives them a poisoned food that they take back to the nest & share, it doesn't take long till they die off. You can get the same thing cheaper if you buy the store brand (Ace, etc...)

I also sprinkle Sevin dust around the base of the house every spring, it works wonders to control the earwigs as well as the ants. Greenlight dust works too, but I think they changed their formula a few years ago. Those are the things that work well for me, hope it helps. Regards, GF.