Does anyone know of an effective one? The stakes and traps I buy at the supermarket are completely ineffective. The ants completely ignore them even if I place them directly on their trails, but they can find crumbs of food anywhere in the house. These things typically contain 0.5% arsenic, so they’re deadly enough, but you would think that they would test them to find something to mix it with that appeals to ants. It is not that hard. I could do it. Arsenic and honey; arsenic and sugar; arsenic and bread crumbs, ad infinitum. What ARE these people DOING?!
If you don’t want to go the way of Malathion and similar agents of death, use boric acid powder, Borax or Pyrethrin spray. RAID house & garden spray is made with natural pyrethrins.
We had a serious problem with pharaoh ants. The stuff that the exterminator used was some sort of boric acid paste. According to said exterminator, the secret is in the bait which the boric acid is mixed with. Judging by the way the ants lined up side by side along the bait, I’ll agree with him.
I’ve had good luck with Terro. You put a smattering on a peice of paper, set it on the floor, and the ants line up like pigs at a through. After a few days, they are gone.
Pouring vinegar along a perimeter is another way to keep them at bay.
I think vinegar might have a quantity of boric acid in it…
Second on the Terro. We’ve been fighting ants for years. Boric acid usually fends them off, but this year it didn’t help. (We had huge hordes of ants marauding through, rather than the usual small crowds strolling here and there. I dunno, maybe it’s been the weather.)
Terro took care of it in 2-3 weeks. (Actually, the majority were gone within a few days, but there were still a few stragglers for a while. Quit putting out the Terro a month or so ago - still haven’t seen any.
I had ants once and they too were ignoring the poison. I smeared it with grape jelly and set it down in their path again. They no longer ignored it! I used only a little grape jelly and when the jelly was gone, they went for the poison. The poison is slow acting and it took a few days, but it worked.
You’re right in thinking that ant bait has to be mixed with some sort of element that the ants recognize as food. Depending on the time of year, ants go for either sugar or protein. I can’t remember which season is for which foodstuff, though. I think they prefer sugar in the spring and summer and protein in the fall. Building themselves up for the winter, I think.
Do you want to go with just bait, or do you want to try a spray? Are the ants just outside or inside as well? The above suggestions are very good, and you might try some of them. If you want to spray for the ants on the exterior of your home, choose a microencapsulated formula. It’s poison in microscopic bubbles that cling to the foundation. When they walk across the sprayed area, they pop the bubbles and absorb the pesticide. The same basic theory as “scratch-n-sniff” patches.
Understand that baits are stomach poisons and pesticide sprays usually work on the central nervous system. They both work well together, as long as you don’t spray the bait, creating an aversion factor. Pyrethrins are good to use, if applied judiciously in cracks and crevices where the ants are gaining access.
Sorry if this is a rambling post. I worked about 12 hours today, and just got home.
I have always found Diazinon (sp)to be very effective. We had several large colonies. It kills bugs dead! Oops, thats a trademark violation.
Adopt a spider. Seriously. Our bathroom has a nest of ants living somewhere nearby. One corner has a web that has been home to several different spiders over the last few months. If there’s a spider there, there are no ants. If the spider has disappeared and a new one hasn’t moved in yet (I have my suspicions that my roommate is serrupitiously disposing of them when I’m away), ants reappear in a few days.
Our latest spider, Bob, just died recently. His dried-up, shriveled little corpse is still lying on the floor. The ants will be returning soon. I’m waiting anxiously for a new friend to move in.
Thanks. I ordered the Terro.
Are these little black ant or the really nasty fire ants like we have in Louisiana? I’ve rarely been able to find black ant nests, but we’ve got fire ant nests all over.
One enviromentally friendly way of dealing with these nests is to set a few gallons of water boiling, and pour it on the nest. I’ve seen before where there is a service using high pressure water pumps with very hot water to do this also.
Anyway that’s one way. You know us Cajuns, give us something with more than four legs, and we’re probably going to boil it. 
Is it possible to get a pet anteater?