ANTS ANTS ANTS

[Albertodelgado]

So i just started renting this house,, which is great, but has way to may ants,, they are all over the place. So many that i don't think going over to the super market and buying any spray will solve this problem.. anybody hot any suggestions on how to get rid of massive amounts of ants?

[hhfarang]

Hire an exterminator. We use Galaxy on a monthly basis and they spray for everything.

[Takiap]

First of all, you need to go out of your way to make sure they don't have access to any food whatsoever. I would also recommend those little bait boxes you get in some of the supermarkets. You simply pour the contents of the packet into the small bait box, and then set it somewhere where you have ants. The ants carry the bait into their nest for the other ants to eat, so by using this approach you wipe out the entire colony. I've found them to be very effective in the past when we stayed in Takiap.

[advocate]

Any food, even crumbs, will attract them. Get rid of garbage and food scraps promptly. If you can't take out the garage that day, at least keep it away from the house. Even residual amounts of soft drink/sugar in a discarded can will attract them in droves. Anything they can feed off of causes them to multiply rapidly.

I have used the bait boxes with good success, as it will wipe out that particular colony. Also, spraying around the entire perimeter of the house foundation every couple of weeks, more in the rainy season, keeps them away.

A friend of mine metioned sprinkling borax around the yard and along the fence perimeter.

[Frank Hovis]

I agree with Takiap, the little see through boxes with yellow 'nuggets' do a very good job. (or maybe he could lend you one of his chickens - they do a good job eating ants too).

One of the floor cleaning fluids used to have some sort of anti-mot stuff in it - Can't remember the name, I can only remember it was a purple liquid and left a slightly chalky residue but it worked as well.

[bonnielass]

I had a problem in my kitchen last year with small ants around and in my sink, probably caused by food and drink crumbs . Not wanting to use any kind of nasty pesticide near my food area, I tried all sorts of suggestions from websites, including cloves, chilli powder and peppermint. Nothing worked. Finally, I tried the suggestion of johnston's baby powder, which actually did the trick, the ants wouldn't walk on it and disappeared within a few days. Might be worth a try. And pretty harmless stuff.

[chopsticks]

Maybe baby powder and other fine powders, chalk, borax etc. work by blocking up their breathing holes ?

[Lung Per]

Maybe baby powder and other fine powders, chalk, borax etc. work by blocking up their breathing holes ?

If baby powder kills ants you shouldn't use it on your baby.

[bonnielass]

I don't think the baby powder actually killed the ants, they just wouldn't walk on it and then seemed to move off elsewhere.

[chopsticks]

This article also mentions the use of baby powder but doesn't explain how it works ...

http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Ants-Without-Pesticides

[taffinexile]

Certainly in the UK talc powder works. As said the ants don't like walking through it. If you can find the nest, and can stand the smell, creosote works well in killing them off.

[Takiap]

Maybe baby powder and other fine powders, chalk, borax etc. work by blocking up their breathing holes ?

If baby powder kills ants you shouldn't use it on your baby.

Actually, you are absolutely right...................one shouldn't use baby powder on babies, or at least that seems to be what most pediatricians believe, and I tend to agree.