Anybody else having a problem with ants?

[zanne]

I'm getting ants in my house. (Big black ones). Anybody else have this problem and if you do, how do you get rid of them?

[MrScorpio]

1. Check out the Sci-Fi channel right NOW

They have the answers!

[zanne]

2. OH NO!

[femmocrat]

3. Yes, we get them every spring.

I found Terra ant traps at Walmart. They seem to be keeping them away for now. I hate those ugly black ants.... :hide:

[Xipe Totec]

4. Solution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFylGqaQziw

[Critters2]

5. I had some early in the spring. They went away on their own.

I didn't do anything. Kept telling myself to get something for 'em. Then I realized they're gone.

So, what I'd recommend is some really good luck. That seems to have done the trick for me.

[zanne]

6. I'd love some good luck.

Where can I get some? Is there a sale somewhere?

[applegrove]

7. My brother has ants. He got some ant traps. The ones where the ants

go in and then take back the poison to the nest. No after two days it didn't look like it was working but time will tell.

[zanne]

8. I have three cats. I was hoping for something

That won't kill them, too. Sure, the cats enjoy playing with them (yech), but I'd hate for one of my cats to get sick.

[applegrove]

12. My brother put the ant traps high up on shelves. That's where the ants were.

[zanne]

15. Good idea. Thanks, applegrove. nt

[Inchworm]

9. They know its gonna rain :P

:hug:

[NJmaverick]

10. Yes, I had the problems for years

first off they are usually referred to as carpenter ants. They live in wet wood. You should probably get a good exterminator in, who can spray and check for signs that they are living in wood of your home. If they are coming from outside the home, there are good pesticide crystals you can spread around the perimeter of your home, and traps for the inside. Consider clearly wood or wood piles (another source of wet wood for them to live in) away from your house.

[undeterred]

11. There was a huge ant pile in my driveway

I didn't want my dog to mess with them, so I turned the hose on them. Now they're being carried down to the street on a wave.

[LaurenG]

13. We've got them but they're trained

they act like cats. They know they aren't supposed to be on the counters and they jump off before I can get them. They know when I've spotted them and will take a flying leap onto the kitchen floor.

They hate red chili powder and cinnamon helps a little it you sprinkle it around their trails.

Otherwise spraying (I am no fan of pesticide) around the outside of your home will stop them.

[quiet.american]

14. Yes -- in my apartment.

Curiously enough, I've found that washing down the areas I spot them in with white vinegar keeps them away for about three days. Then I rinse and repeat, so to speak.

[halobeam]

16. I've had such problems in the past, I almost sold my home "as is"..

no joke. By the time two companies tried their "magic".. they split the colonies from one end of the house to the other and we had millions of small ants for nearly a decade, during the season (feb. through oct.). I couldn't sit on on the toilet without them crawling up my legs; they were crawling out of the fixtures of the bathroom shower nozzle, out of the grout, out of the baseboard heating, out of the air conditioner (walking lines across the walls). Leave an un rinsed juice cup out by mistake for two hours and the table top was moving. (Ate with a plate in my hands, not on a surface of my home). My boys were smaller then, they once snuck a cookie in their bed and one of them woke up covered in ants in the middle of the night. It was a true horror.

I had no choice but to use chemicals, but I've read up about alternatives, especially once there were few enough to start dealing with them.

Identify the ant first: carpenter, odorous, etc...

Ours were odorous (small ones)


WATCH where they are going to and coming from FIRST. You need to do everything you can to find out.
BAIT traps really are best as they take it back to their nest. Usually three days you should see a decline (you'll see more at first, don't panic).
We baited everywhere they were coming from and along their trails, except the kitchen.. there I used deterrents, I couldn't deal with attracting them there. If in the kitchen, zip lock EVERYTHING. Wipe out cabinets with white vinegar. If you have a dishwasher, rinse dishes first before putting in and leaving overnight (can't imagine the nightmare we had one morning inside our dishwasher)... We have kids, so I washed down everything in their rooms with vinegar, from Feb. through Oct. every three days.. they have asthma, no way to the chemicals.

Learn to love your vacuum. Always go outside to empty the vac. bag and replace it before storing it again.

Alternatives if there aren't thousands of them....

WHITE VINEGAR is excellent as a deterrent, and re-apply every couple of days.
AVON SKIN-SO-SOFT in the window sill frames(crack and crevice) works great..(I know it's still chemicals, but less chemicals.)
PEPPERMINT PLANTS near doorways planted outside (if on main level).

Plant any kind of flower/plant they are attracted to, about three to four feet away from your home foundation. Most times, they are nesting outside, not in your walls, and you want to attract them away from the home.

So many times I heard when people had to literally battle a pest of any sort, they wound up cooperating with them, by feeding them actually, just a place where it was acceptable to co-exist.

[Kali]

17. diatomaceous earth will block them

or borax/sugar mixed and set in small lids around their trails will kill them - some kinds need a drop or two of water, others will take it dry

also make sure there is no other spills or food for them (clean house, place pet food out of reach)

[FarLeftRage]

18. Molasses, yeast and sugar...

They eat that stuff and then they explode-literally...
We have them almost every year.