topic Re: Does Terro liquid work? in Community Chat

Does Terro liquid work?

MoJoV — Mon, 20 May 2024 03:04:00 GMT

We were out of town for 3 days and came home to little ants in my kitchen. So awful to have them around food. Can't stand it. I want to try to get rid of them myself before calling pest people. One way or another they GOT TO GO. Advice please please.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

greencardigan — Mon, 20 May 2024 03:12:46 GMT

I don't know about the product you listed but my last apt got them all the time. I would spray with undiluted simple green or Mrs meyers all purpose cleaning spray. Both killed instantly and they didn't come back (except every spring). Then I would re-clean with spray after wiping them up.

Good luck! They are so gross in the house, especially the kitchen!

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

HerRoyaLioness — Mon, 20 May 2024 03:24:27 GMT

Yes, the liquid works, but it draws more ants!

I switched to the spray and it works well. Sometimes I need to spray more than once as my ants are relentless.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Desertdi — Mon, 20 May 2024 04:09:43 GMT

Follow the trail. If it leads to a kitchen cabinet, there's something in there that they want. You need to get rid of "the source" of their FOOD.

Could be the ants are heading to a leaking can, sugar, flour, dried fruit, candy, etc.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

In-x-s — Mon, 20 May 2024 03:33:37 GMT

@HerRoyaLioness wrote:
Yes, the liquid works, but it draws more ants!
I switched to the spray and it works well. Sometimes I need to spray more than once as my ants are relentless.

I agree! Yes, it works. I think it draws more ants for awhile once word gets out to the other ants and they all come get some and take it back home. Then they're usually gone. I prefer the Terro syrup because I can control where it is vs having the spray all over.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Kachina624 — Mon, 20 May 2024 04:05:43 GMT

My sister in PA. Just went through an ant crisis. She said Terro was the only thing that worked.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

meallen616 — Mon, 20 May 2024 08:39:00 GMT

@Kachina624,

Good to know, thank you!

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

catter70 — Mon, 20 May 2024 08:59:32 GMT

For whatever reason, last year I had them big time coming out of the closet in my bathroom. A friend suggested Terro. It seemed like every ant in the house crammed itself in that container of liquid and I was gonna toss it, but forgot. The next day the container was there but the ants were gone they didn't come back.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Roscoe the Rascal — Mon, 20 May 2024 09:33:33 GMT

Works for me as well. Only thing I use.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 20 May 2024 10:48:16 GMT

@MoJoV Absolutely yes! Every year I get those little ants in my kitchen and my kitchen is clean....cause I know they will show up, it's like clockwork every year.

I put out a couple of drops of TERRO on a piece of cardboard in several locations on the kitchen countertops and within 24 hours or so, ants are gone. For me it's almost a miracle product.

The ants congretate on the terro drops and then travel back to the nest.....and then they are gone. I might have to repeat a week or so later, but not always.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

ciao_bella — Tue, 21 May 2024 11:41:17 GMT

Every year in April or May, like clockwork, those pesty little ants make an appearance in my kitchen, usually after a rain. They must be getting in somewhere in the tiniest crack near the foundation. TERRO is the answer to getting rid of them. BUT, the TERRO will draw more ants initially! That's what you want, as much as it bothers you to see them crawling around, you need to refrain from killing them with your hand, etc.

TERRO has the liquid in the clear plastic traps. Some of the ants crawl right into the traps and will drown, will others get in there and take the food back to the nest to the Queen. You have to be patient and let them eat and walk in the liquid so they bring it back to the Queen. Once the Queen gets the liquid and she dies, the nest/colony is finished and the other ants die without the Queen. A nest/colony will NEVER die, unless the Queen is dead.

Here's what I do. I open a few of the clear plastic Terro traps and put them in the area, usually around my kitchen sink. I take one more Terro trap and squeeze some of the liquid directly in that area as if it spilled out. Some of the (worker) ants get right to it and go directly to the area that I spilled out, while some crawl into the other traps. Spilling some out hastens them getting the liquid and bringing it quickly to the Queen. You have to give it a few days, and sometimes a little longer up to a week, but it works!

Just so you know, in additon to the liquid inside traps, there are also TERRO stakes that you can put outside the house in the ground near the foundation where you feel they're probably coming from or getting in. The main thing is to be patient (as hard as it is) and let the liquid do its thing and it does work!

One last important thing. Do NOT wipe or clean up around where you put the Terro ant traps. Ants always follow a trail back to the nest, and if you wipe down or clean up that area where they are, you break the trail for them and then they don't get back to the nest to give the Queen the poison.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Ainhisg — Mon, 20 May 2024 11:45:23 GMT

If anyone wants to stop the ants in their tracks before they even have a chance to come into your home, let me know, and I will take a screenshot of a professional product we use that can be ordered online. One spray around the exterior of the house in March, and we never see an ant in the house. It's not cheap, but the bottle will last several years.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

gardenman — Mon, 20 May 2024 11:57:10 GMT

Terro works on most ants. There are grease ants that prefer grease to sugary stuff (Terro seems to be corn syrup mixed with Borax) but grease ants also nest near sugar ants and will steal food from the sugar ants, so if you kill the colony of sugar ants, you'll also end up killing the grease ants when the steal the Terro-laced food from the sugar ants.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

FranandZoe — Mon, 20 May 2024 12:19:29 GMT

Let me put it this way - I've always called it Thre Jonestown Massacre for ants. (Yes it works great.)

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

wagirl — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:00:43 GMT

@HerRoyaLioness ---Am vey happy to hear from you--even if it is about those pesky ants----have been thinking about you lately!!!

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

reiki604 — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:00:51 GMT

I have used Terro every year when the ants are at their worst. It works wonderfullly. I will usually sprinkle peppermint oil arount but if I need something stronger, Terro is my go to.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

gidgetgh — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:12:04 GMT

I had a fairly small ant problem months after I moved into my new house. I tried the Terro baits. They seemed to work great. But.....it was a continuous cycle. The bait draws more ants, then they leave. Then they come back, quickly.

I had an exterminator come one day about my termite contract. He saw the Terro bait thing I had out in my living room. He said get rid of those. They attract more ants. They take the bait back the the rest of the ants and it actually draws more to it.

I got rid of it that day. He sprayed outside one time and I haven't been bothered since.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

MoJoV — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:14:05 GMT

Oh jeeez I don't know if I can stand having them crawling around the Terro. Rotten bugs. Thank you everyone who responded to my SOS.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

Carmie — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:21:22 GMT

It 100% works! I love this stuff.

Early this spring, we had an infestation of ants on my kitchen stove and countertops. There were no crumbs of food there, but still they marched all over everything.

Terro to the rescue. It does draw ants. The ants eat the sticky stuff and bring it back to their nest. The whole colony dies.

If you just kill the ants you can see, more will take their place. If you wipe out the whole nest, they are gone for good....or at least until the next spring.

We have a lot ants around where I live. My neighbors have ant problems too.

You will not be disappointed, you just have to be patient. Leave the Terro out for at least a week, and keep it away from pets and children.

Re: Does Terro liquid work?

SharkE — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:48:46 GMT

yeah, good stuff they walk in it, track it back to the nest

kills off the lot.

only had trouble with ants one time stupid garbage boy

driving the truck let something of somebody else's fall off the truck and here they come in hoards up the driveway

Thank God they wasn't carpenter ants ! We ordered online big bags of boric acid and sprinkled around the foundation of house. Little dinky bags you buy local won't cut it you have to order like 5 lb bags not expensive.

Boric acid will be their waterloo