Ants & Cats! (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

We now have more ants in our house than cats (we have 13 cats). I've tried spraying outside and putting out baits that would attract them and kill the hives. Than didn't work. I had a pest control company treat the outside of the house with little results. I didn't let them spray inside the house because of our cats.

Has anyone here treated the inside of their house with confidence they weren't harming their cats? If so, what did you use, did it work?

These are not fire ants are other large ants. They are small black ants.

 

[dvdclon]

We now have more ants in our house than cats (we have 13 cats). I've tried spraying outside and putting out baits that would attract them and kill the hives. Than didn't work. I had a pest control company treat the outside of the house with little results. I didn't let them spray inside the house because of our cats.

Has anyone here treated the inside of their house with confidence they weren't harming their cats? If so, what did you use, did it work?

These are not fire ants are other large ants. They are small black ants.

I have heard that orange peelings repel ants, but have never needed to try it.
I wouldn't think that the cats would be harmed by them.

 

[Stan]

10-15 years ago had the same issue, little tiny black ants and didn't want to harm my cat. Only one cat, so was feeding her out of a bowl on the kitchen floor until the ants found it. Gave her new food on a table, moved the old bowl out onto the back porch, and kept moving it further away from the house. Don't know where the ants ended up, but they stopped coming in the house. Purely by accident, but saw the pattern and kept it up. I did notice the birds snacking, so maybe they took care of things once the ants were easier to access.

Now that I have a black lab, need to keep the food out of the reach of the dog, so still feeding the cat on a table, but no ant problems. Kind of an odd solution, but it worked.

Might have just gotten lucky, but by moving the ants food source further away, eventually got rid of them.

 

[ChristopherG]

I can't get past "we have 13 cats". [emoji1]

 

[Stan]

I can't get past "we have 13 cats". [emoji1]

Yeah, that seems to be a bit much. I've got friends with four cats and a Pomeranian, even that's to much for me.

One cat, one dog and I'm happy. Even the cat is practically invisible, I may see her once or twice a week if I'm lucky. Very, very shy. But food and water disappear, somebody's using the litter box, so I know she's alive

 

[Johnny Angell]

13 cats happens when you get into rescue. That being said, still looking for experiences with treating the house interior for ants without harming our cats.

 

[Stan]

13 cats? How do they get along? That must be tough getting everybody to behave and not argue.

My only advice that won't harm the cats is to remove the food source from the ants. Just temporarily feeding the cats in a different location for a week or two may help. If the ants have nothing to eat, they'll move on.

You could possibly try those sticky roll-up fly traps. Maybe put one near the entrance where the ants are entering the house and hope the cats don't play with it. The ants might get the message and leave you alone.

If you can find the actual nest, boiling water is a nice, safe solution. It takes a few days, but keep pouring boiling water on the nest and eventually they die off.

 

[Alf S]

What brand baits have you tried?

 

[Johnny Angell]

What brand baits have you tried?

Just one, and I don't remember the brand. Do you have a favorite?

 

[Alf S]

I'm pretty sure it was these Raid branded ones that zapped ours. Much better than Terro ones.

 

[Dheiner]

Johnny, I use these at work, and the results are rather good. It takes a couple of days. but they do go away.

Now, I don't know about pets, but the solution is just water, sugar, and borax, so, it should be ok, even if the cats get into it.
(their Q&A seems to say it's OK, but check the box.)

Good luck.

(I would NOT try those ^^^^^ Raid traps around your kitties.)

 

[Johnny Angell]

Johnny, I use these at work, and the results are rather good. It takes a couple of days. but they do go away.

Now, I don't know about pets, but the solution is just water, sugar, and borax, so, it should be ok, even if the cats get into it.
(their Q&A seems to say it's OK, but check the box.)

Good luck.

(I would NOT try those ^^^^^ Raid traps around your kitties.)

You say your "use these" but a pic or name of what you use is not in your post. The commercial baits I bought, I put outside, not inside. I presume the ants have their nests outside.

 

[Alf S]

I beleive he meant to post the Terro brand traps. I've used them a few times and they did nothing to kill the type of ants we have for some reason. The ants walked on and around them, but I never saw a reduction in the number of ants roaming around day to day. The RAID ones will pretty much zap most of them within a few days. Note that we have 2 cats and have had NO issues. We do keep the traps sitting on the corners of the kitchen counters and one or two hiding on side of fridge. They aren't easily accessible to the cats.

 

[Johnny Angell]

IThey aren't easily accessible to the cats.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. Not easily accessible to cats.

 

[Alf S]

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I have decent results spraying Ortho Home Defense around the outside of my house. The ants always come back, but it can hold 'em off for a while.

I'll have to try those Raid traps. I usually use Terro, but it may be time for something more effective.

 

[Dheiner]

Sorry.
http://www.terro.com/terro-liquid-ant-baits-2-pack

And, guys, check the Q&A. They may not seem to work, and DO draw more ants at first. That is why they are called "bait" not "poison". They pull the ants in, then fill them with the killing agent while they are gorging on the sugar water.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We used those Raid traps several years ago when we had issues with smaller ants, and it took care of the problem. We had another issue with carpenter ants later, and that required a pest control company -- they actually sprayed inside our walls.

 

[Stan]

Another solution, illegal now, although you may be able to find it by talking with an older neighbor is "Diazinon". My grandfather had a container that was powder, probably dating back to the late '90s, but it works.

Just a small amount, I used it from an old salt shaker and only outside, never in the house. I don't know if the ants consider it food, but it all disappears into their nest, and everybody dies. You get loads of dead ants. I haven't used it in probably 10 years, didn't realize it was banned, still have it. If desperate, it works fantastic. Just don't let your pets near it and do a big sidewalk/patio/yard rinse after the ant die off.

As I mentioned earlier, if I have a problem now, boiling water is great if you can find the nest. Much more environmentally safe way to deal with them.

 

[Johnny Angell]

We popped for an exterminator to treat the outside of the house. It took about a week, but the ants appear (crossed fingers) to be gone.