We’ve got little reddish-brown ants coming up through cracks in the floor (I guess). Since we’ve got a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old in the house, I don’t want to go haphazardly spraying poison everywhere, and the little ant traps aren’t worth a damn.
I’ve Googled up a hundred ways to get rid of them - talc, cinnamon, vinegar, black pepper and chalk to name a few. Before I go and try any of these, I thought I’d run it by you, fellow Dopers, because you’ve never let me down. It’s got to be non-toxic, though; even cayenne pepper is kind of out, because I don’t want SmithBoy to get it on his hands then in his eyes (or where ever).
You have to find out how they’re getting in and caulk/seal/plaster that/those entrance(s). Then go outside and find out where they are living and kill them there. Hopefully, your kids aren’t allergic.
I found the best way is to poison them outside, if that is an option. You find out where they are entering and sprinkle the poison of choice, they carry it home. If it is a colony in the home, I cannot offer any advise, as I have never dealt with that. Yet.
Get some boric acid powder from the drug store. Mix the boric acid powder w/ a small amount of sugar and sprinkle a small amount around the point where you believe they are coming in. The ants carry this back to their nest where it is consumed. Check w/ your pharmicist, but I don’t believe that boric acid will harm children or pets.
You will find other recipes such as boric acid w/ p-nut butter and jelly, but I found sucess w/ just sugar and there’s less mess and less likelyhood that children and pets will be attracted to it.
You could also sprinkle it around the foundation of your house.
Get thee some organic, food-grade diatomaceous earth. It’s the skeletons of long-dead tiny sea creatures ground up into millions of microscopic glass-like shards. The shards, when they come into contact with an ant or other insect will cut into its exosleleton, leaving it exposed to dehydration and causing it to die. It’s safe for humans and other critters because the individual shards are so minute they can’t do any damage to our soft, water-based bodies. However, when spreading it around, you should use a dust mask so you don’t get a ton of the little buggers in your lungs where they could possibly do some damage.
Do not use boric acid where there are kids and critters. It is toxic! This site explicitly says, “WARNING! HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED. CAUSES IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. AFFECTS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, LIVER AND KIDNEYS.” Besides, I tried boric acid in a crappy place that I once had to control the cockroaches (eeesh!) there and the results were zip!
I don’t want to mislead anyone, but I think your reference fails to mention amounts involved. Table salt and aspirin are deadly in sufficient quantity. My mother used a solution of boric acid and water on me and my sibs when we were children. I’m certainly not an expert and that’s why I cautioned checking w/ the pharmicist. I have used the boric acid/sugar combo w/ great sucess, both on ants and roaches.
I’ve always suspected our backyard compost pile has something to do with the lack of ants in the house (we had them come in our living room for about a week this winter–that’s all, in the last 3 or so years). There are tons of ants in the yard and our compost, but none in the house. I realize this maybe isn’t the type of solution you’re looking for, but just thought I would throw that in there (and see if other Dopers have had the same experience.)
We get ants in our apartment sometimes and it drives my boyfriend crazy. He always wants to kill them NOW. I hate having stinky chemicals in my home. It has taken months, but I have finally demonstrated the wisdom of simply removing/cleaning up whatever they are after. Within an hour or so, they will all be gone. No chemicals required. All you need is patience. Of course if you don’t know what they’re after this doesn’t help, but if you do know what they’re after, it works every time.
For the dog’s food dish, I set the bowl in a pie tin filled with a centimeter of water or so. They can’t get to it across the water, so I’m able to leave her food out all day. Good luck - ants are annoying.
I have the best luck with the kind where they go in the trap, eat the poison, and bring it back to the lair. You might be able to find places for them where the ants go, but kids and pets do not, such as inside cabinets.
I agree with killing them outside (well, not really, but I don’t want them taking over my yard). We have been very successful with a hot pepper drench - buy some hot peppers, cut them up, boil them in a large pot of water, and pour directly on the anthill. We tried just about everything else (except boric acid and sugar), with virtually no effect at all.
Or you could get a cat that likes to eat ants. Mine likes to eat bugs of all kinds.
Terro ant baits, if you can get them and are willing to suffer through some hell. Before I came up to Berkeley, we had insane ant problems every year at our house. You open up a bait and leave it somewhere; ants will swarm them and take the fluid back into their little ant homes. After a few days the ground will be black with them. Keep adding baits and have faith in them. After a couple weeks, the ground will be black with ant carcasses. Vacuum them up.
It’s been about three or four years since we Terro’d our house; now we see a couple a year and that’s it.
The nice part about this is that you can Terro inside the house or the yard. It doesn’t really matter; once one or two of their ants go after the baits, the whole colony will go monomaniacal for them.
I know that boric acid has its medicinal uses. I’m just saying that since the OP has toddlers, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have piles of it around that the kiddos could get into. Especially since the sugar mixed in might convince them that that there stuff is good eating.
I am liking featherlou’s hot pepper solution for outdoors. If the ants that live under my cement patio get too annoying, I’ll do that. I would use ditomaceous earth but hate to buy a big bag when maybe a half cupful would do the trick, in my case.
I agree with this… If you can stand a few hours of ants running around, removing the food source usually takes care of it. A few hours of ants is better than getting a can of raid and then having to clean up the carnage.
Safe for pets and kids. Spray and fergit about it. The citric acid or other orangy component either eats through their exoskelton or plugs up their breathing holes, I forget which.
I’ve used it for years (and still do); it was featured on HGTV’s I Want That last night.
