Arrrgh! How can I get rid of ants??

Alf S · 03-12-2004, 09:39 PM

Around here we call them piss ants cause they piss us off I guess...

They are teeny tiny little ants (less than an 1/8" long maybe) that show up in our kitchen EVERY spring..then disappear in the summer, fall and winter.

I've sprayed the exterior foundation area of the house where the kitchen and back door are...I've layed down numeroud ant traps (those little black plastic discs by Raid) and still can't get these things to go away!

I can NEVER actually find a trail leading into the house nor a path that they are walking from within the house...they just randomly roam the kitchen.

And yes we try to keep the kitchen spotless and avoid keeping food out on the counters etc.

Does anyone know of a good methods to get rid of these critters?

Note we have a 2-1/2 year old and 2 cats in the house so I don't really want to spray inside the house.

Thanks!
Alfer

Bob Graz · 03-12-2004, 09:46 PM

Best thing I've ever found to get rid of them is called Terro. You can get it at Ace or Home Depot. You put it on pieces of cardboard. It actually attracts the ants and they carry it back to their nest and kills the nest off. It's very effective. It takes a week or so and they will be gone.

Alf S · 03-12-2004, 09:49 PM

Thanks Bob! I'll give it a try.

Vickie_M · 03-12-2004, 10:28 PM

A tip to help try and find the nest: get some Instant grits and put them down on a paper towel or something. After a while check it, and you should see each ant carrying a grit. Follow the ants to see where they take it. I found a nest using that method a couple of years ago. The tip I read was to use grits to kill them (they'll eat it, it'll absorb the liquid in their bodies and they'll either go kaboom or dry up) but it worked for finding the nest too. It was fascinating watching the ants carrying them across the kitchen floor, go through a tiny hole at the bottom of the kitchen door, outside, then up the side of the building into a notch in a brick about 2 feet above the door. One ant, one grit, but it would be like a human carrying a boulder up the side of a mountain. Amazing.

Use the quickest, most instant-type grits you can find. You could also mix in some sugar and, if there weren't kids and cats, boric acid.

I can't remember where I read that tip. If it was here in HTF, thanks whoever! It worked for me.

Jim Sit · 03-13-2004, 12:44 AM

I had ants jus like yours and also didn't like to spray inside. Here's what worked for me:

Don't just spray the foundation, all that does is force those ants inside to stay inside.

Start with traps, trying a few different brands and types to see which the ants have the best reaction to. Put them in all of the places you see ants, inside and out. As described above, the best traps are those where the poison is brought back to the nest and given to the queen. Watch the ants carry the poison out of the trap and take it to the nest.

Observe them as much as you can. Once you see them carrying dead ant bodies, that's when you know the colony has been destroyed. Shortly after that is when you want to protect the perimeter of your house. Diazinon is a good choice for setting up a barrier.

Using this method, I was able to control a serious ant problem without spraying in the house.

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Jim_F · 03-13-2004, 12:53 AM

N-ETHYL PERFLUOROOCTANE SULFONAMIDE

is the best active ingredient I've tried. Raid used to make baits with it, maybe they still do, but they've changed some names in their product line. The ants go after it like it's a massive dinner party (product contains peanut butter) then disappear after a couple weeks. The best part is the virtually non-existent mammalian toxicity at the available concentrations. If a small dog ate the whole box, you'd only need concern yourself with the foreign body ingestion, not the active ingredient.

DonnyD · 03-13-2004, 05:41 AM

Before we moved, we had those seasonal little critters............. GF used Murphy's Oil Soap on the window sill and other areas......... those buggers wouldn't go near the stuff!

Jon.M · 03-13-2004, 08:52 AM

If you want to use ant baits, I've found that the Combat ant baits work far better than the Raid ones. I had both in my kitchen a few years ago and the ants hit the Combat baits like it was a gourmet meal, while they didn't bother touching the Raid baits. Another good weapon is boric acid, which makes the ants dry out from the inside once ingested. I'd also second the recommendation for spraying the perimeter of the house with Diazinon twice a year (spring and fall.) An exterminator told me about that a few years ago and since I started spraying around the foundation, my ant problems have been markedly reduced.

WarrenL · 03-13-2004, 10:03 AM

Another vote for Terro!
We had tons of ants inside and within a week they were gone. Our situation was very severe, so a couple of months down the road we had to do it again, even though we kept things super clean, but that was the last time we had an ant problem...this was last summer!

Wade · 03-13-2004, 10:21 AM

Hopefully you wont mind me jumping in on your ant thread with a different question regarding a different ant.

What's the best way to get rid of fire ants from your yard? I was out measuring the yard in preparation for some landscape work when I happened upon two fire ant mounds. These guys are aggressive little pests. I was tapping the tape measure outside their mound and they started coming out in numbers and actually clamped onto the metal end of the tape. I really pissed them off when I started stamping their mound with my foot. They've since rebuilt. I don't want these guys anywhere near the house. I thought about pouring boiling water down their mounds but wasn't sure this would work.

Any suggestions?

Wade