Kitchen

[SweetyPie]

Another vote for Terro ant raps! We had ants galore a few weeks in our bathroom. First time ever........let alone the fact that it's frigid weather too. Read all of the Terro reviews on Amazon. I bought some at Lowe's, put them down, and oh boy, it's like ant crack cocaine! Conga lines of ants lined up, I kept putting down more ant baits, and it took two weeks....and all of them are gone, gone, gone!

[ECBG]

On 2/25/2015 chickenbutt said:

Ugh, ants! We get these tiny ones (the husband calls them pissants) every spring/summer and it drives me crazy.

Anyway, I've tried about every home remedy out there and NONE of them worked. We get the exterminator guy to come once a year now and spray under and around the house. It's stuff that isn't toxic to the bird or me (asthma & auto-immune disease) so I don't have to worry about that.

Anyway, beyond that, he gave us this syringe full of this gel and said to just put a drop down and then wait. YIKES! I put this in my kitchen and the next morning there were more ants than I've ever seen. I called him and he said to just try and leave it alone. They will bring it to the nest and that will be that.

Well, he was right (of course) and that WAS that. I still have some of that and as soon as I see any I will put another drop of it somewhere in a corner and they will take care of themselves within a day or two.

Before that I got all kinds of the little bait things with stuff inside them that you can just buy anywhere and it never made a difference at all. I put out cinnamon and everything else I read about. None of that worked. But this gel in the syringe did it in spades.

ETA - I just went downstairs to find out the name of the stuff I have. It's DuPont Advion Ant Gel.

Thanks, we live in the woods and ((I have lady-slipper and jack in the pulpit in my back yard) and I will have spring ants! Right now, I have snow coming at an inch a minute and we're at 6" and counting!

[kitty4me]

Like these ideas.

[sfnative]

Haven't read the entire thread, but will tell you that we had TERRIBLE ants at one of our condos in San Diego. I mean just horrendous and honestly believe that the entire interior framing of the condo buildings had become the ants' home - I swear!

That's when I discovered Windex. I'd come home from work to ants all over the kitchen and my bathroom, then hit them with the Windex. BAM! Stops them in their tracks. Then I'd get going with the paper towels for clean-up.

As you know, the biggest challenge is finding point of entry. Be patient here - I mean really patient. While the little guys are still alive, watch them, walk all over the place with a flashlight in your hand. Keep this up and you WILL find out where they're entering. Once you have that entry point, the easiest way to immediately block their way in is to go to the drug store and purchase some silicone ear plugs. They come in a see-through plastic case and are round blobs of milky white silicone. Now pinch off a piece of silicone to fit the hole plus a bit more where the ants are coming in, and place it in your dominant hand. Close your hand and keep it there for five minutes so it softens up. Now it's become malleable and you can transfer it to your non-dominant hand while you Windex those critters and clean them up with papertowels.

Once the area is dry, smoosh the silicone into the entry point, stand back and enjoy. No more ants.

(Of course, this is just a stop gap measure. You'll be able to come up with something that suits the area where entry is gained in terms of whether tile, grout, wooden trim, wallpaper, sashing or whatever must be replaced. Just a thought.)

[Bird]

On 2/25/2015 inallsincerity said:

Every year I post this. People must not trust me. Diatomaceous earth is the way to go. They call it food grade or farm grade. Do not use "pool" grade.

I trust you. This stuff is great. I have DE on hand for farm use, but have an old Andrew Lessman large vitamin container (easy to write on with a Sharpie) full of it for home use. It's non-toxic, but you don't want to inhale it.

- Bird

[Bird]

On 2/27/2015 sfnative said:

... Now pinch off a piece of silicone to fit the hole plus a bit more where the ants are coming in, and place it in your dominant hand. Close your hand and keep it there for five minutes so it softens up. Now it's become malleable and you can transfer it to your non-dominant hand while you Windex those critters and clean them up with papertowels.

Once the area is dry, smoosh the silicone into the entry point, stand back and enjoy. No more ants.

...

Wow, what a great idea! I have containers of these plugs around any place I live or work, and in my car too. I never thought of an alternate use for these. Super!!! - Bird

[kckatlover]

I would like to share my experience. I was told this by an agent of my state's dept of conservation.

There are "several" types of ants... the 3 most popular are, sweet ants, grease ants, and wood (carpenter) ants.

Terro IS the best treatment, UNLESS you have grease ants. If your ants are not feeding from a placement of Terro, they might be grease ants.

Try this, put your normal drop of Terro out, but along side of it, but touching, put some bacon or hamburger grease out.

More times than not, when ants are not disappearing after using Terro as recommended, it IS because they are grease ants.

Good luck.... this has always worked for me.

[TX-starlight]

On 2/25/2015 ChynnaBlue said:

Ants are common during extreme weather - hot, cold, or wet. I like the Raid Double Control Ant Traps. If you can find the spot where they are coming in, you can also sprinkle the area with ground cinnamon. Ants won't cross cinnamon and smells nice for you!

Cinnamon doesn't work, at least it didn't for me. Neither did the ant traps.

[TX-starlight]

I haven't read everything here yet, but I have also had ants this winter. I mean they have been everywhere!!

I tried every "home remedy" I could find, nothing worked. I finally got some borac acid & that seems to have them under control for now. It is powder, I will use spray at times, but they come right back. Mine are coming from behind my stove, so it is hard to treat the direct incoming area.

[Harpa]

On 2/27/2015 sfnative said:

Haven't read the entire thread, but will tell you that we had TERRIBLE ants at one of our condos in San Diego. I mean just horrendous and honestly believe that the entire interior framing of the condo buildings had become the ants' home - I swear!

That's when I discovered Windex. I'd come home from work to ants all over the kitchen and my bathroom, then hit them with the Windex. BAM! Stops them in their tracks. Then I'd get going with the paper towels for clean-up.

As you know, the biggest challenge is finding point of entry. Be patient here - I mean really patient. While the little guys are still alive, watch them, walk all over the place with a flashlight in your hand. Keep this up and you WILL find out where they're entering. Once you have that entry point, the easiest way to immediately block their way in is to go to the drug store and purchase some silicone ear plugs. They come in a see-through plastic case and are round blobs of milky white silicone. Now pinch off a piece of silicone to fit the hole plus a bit more where the ants are coming in, and place it in your dominant hand. Close your hand and keep it there for five minutes so it softens up. Now it's become malleable and you can transfer it to your non-dominant hand while you Windex those critters and clean them up with papertowels.

Once the area is dry, smoosh the silicone into the entry point, stand back and enjoy. No more ants.

(Of course, this is just a stop gap measure. You'll be able to come up with something that suits the area where entry is gained in terms of whether tile, grout, wooden trim, wallpaper, sashing or whatever must be replaced. Just a thought.)

Now I'm wondering if it was the Windex for me! I was cleaning all the counters & sink area with Windex frequently. Before that it was just with a bleach cleaner.

I'll amp up the Windex cleaning this year and see what happens.