Ants are evil and must be destroyed

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Dammit, they’ve infiltrated the kitchen. Lately, I’ve found a few random ants on the carpet, or on the sofa, here and there…but there were no detectable trails or targets of their appetite. Then they found my kitchen. All over the counters, on the honey bear, in the pantry, chowing on a tiny spill of sugar from my morning coffee, sigh.

How the hell do I get rid of them? I cleared off the counters of any cooking supplies, sprayed them with Raid, put ant baits on the pantry shelves…hopefully that’ll keep 'em back. Tomorrow I’ll scrub down the kitchen (with equally lethal cleansing products) to both kill ants and wipe away Raid residue, as well as remove any baiting crumbs. Meanwhile, the sugar, honey, and other tempting items are now in the fridge.

WTF? There was an ant on my mouse! Dammit, these things suck. What’s worse is I woke up from a nap yesterday to find one crawling across my upper lip. YAR!

What’s aggravating is I find them one place, kill them there, only to have the godless creatures pop up someplace else. I’ve heard ants won’t cross baking soda–true? (I know salt works for witches, but what about these sonsabitches?) If so, I am lining my kitchen with the stuff.

Any tips? I know, I know, spraying counters with Raid isn’t the best idea, personal health-wise. However, I’ve found Raid continues to repel ants, whereas Windex may kill if you nail them directly, but others will come and avoid the puddle. I don’t place food directly on the counters, anyway, and it’ll mostly be scrubbed away tomorrow. (With disposable sponges.)

I hate this little beasties! UGH! Ants SUCK!

formerly known as LauraRae

I’m a Raggety Ann in a Barbie Doll world.

Laura’s Stuff and Things

2

Try Pine-Sol. It works for us here in South Florida, where ants will eat caulking if they are desperate, and sometimes even when they’re not.

3

Boric acid and tons of it. You can get it at your local dollar store, so it’s probably also the cheapest solution. It comes in a squeeze bottle and you can shoot it into all the little cracks and crevices where the Raid and cleaning stuff can’t get: behind the fridge, under the stove, etc. Last year I had them so bad in one room (where there is no food or water, oddly enough) that the boric acid didn’t even work and I had to use a fogger. It did the trick but I wouldn’t recommend it for a kitchen as you’d have to then wash every damn surface, plate, and skillet, which could take ages, haha.

“Open up! It’s the pigs!”

4

I’ve found that if ye send their cards and letters back marked ‘Deceased’ they tend to let you alone after awhile.

Oh! Ye mean the little crawling critters . . .

Well, not bein’ a big fan of livin’ in a state of nature, I’ve found that the best way to eliminate the little bastards is to empty about a half-dozen cans of ‘Yard Guard’ around the outside of the house to stop them at point of entry, then set ant traps around inside by the dozens to mop up the ones that already breached security. Takes a week or so to finish off the advance guard that already made it inside, and ye have to renew the outside barrier quite often (short of using truly nasty chemicals).

If ye live in an apartment building, and the landlord won’t exterminate outside, forget it. Move.

Dr. Watson
“Friend to all critters, so long as they stay on their side of the walls.”

5

Are these pissants, or are they larger?

Don’t use ant baits, unless you leave them outside, away from your house.

Agreed, boric acid is about the best thing available. Try to find out where they’re getting in – windows, sinks, electrical outlets – and spread a lot in those areas. This stuff kills roaches, too.

Also, I prefer Black Flag to Raid. The pine scent doesn’t stink as bad.

And wipe up any standing water, too.

6

Oh do I feel your pain, Ruffian. I had a serious ant problem a few months ago. I could see where they were getting into the kitchen (through a poorly sealed window), but when I plugged up their entry, they just found another way in. Repeatedly. Until they were coming in from under the apartment and through the inside of the cabinets.

In my efforts to rid myself of these annoying pests, I found some information on the web that you might find useful…
http://scarab.msu.montana.edu/extension/insec002.htm

It tells how to make a poison concoction that the ants will carry back to the nest which will kill all the other ants, especially the queen.

I didn’t end up trying it myself though, as my landlord was good enough to send a professional exterminator and I haven’t seen an ant inside my apartment ever since. So ultimately, the best solution is really to call an exterminator, but if you don’t want to spend the money for that, try the suggestions on the linking page.

Good luck!

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank

7

The problem I have with ant baits is all the “snap” sounds as the tiny baits slam shut on each little ant’s tiny neck… sounds like popcorn! How’s a gal to sleep?? Plus it takes so long to set them all up and put the little tiny bits of cheese out…

–
Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com

8

Maybe you can try calling the local zoo and see if they have an anteater for rent.

9

Gas bombs. (They worked on King Kong, didn’t they?)

Insectacide bombs are available everywhere. Set one off, leave the house for a few hours, & presto! No more ants.

With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with.

10

Mix the boric acid 50/50 with sugar.

Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post

11

My 104yr old granny taught me this before she passed away, I have used it often and it has never failed.

She was married to a subsistance farmer all her life, raised thirteen children, and didn’t have running water in her home until she was over 70. Her house was little more than a tarpaper shack but I never saw a bug in it !
I told her one day about my ant problem and she told me this old remedy, pre insecticides.She said the peel from a cucumber was a natural ant repellant (they grow on the ground and you never see ants on them), peel the cucumber and wedge the strips of peel into the cracks the ants are entering through, it will naturally repel them.

I went right home and tried this in my nasty student housing. Can you spell infestation? I was very sceptical, but I lived there for 5 more years and never, I repeat, never, saw another ant.

In my experience though, people don’t want this kind of solution, they want to go buy some expensive and dodgy chemical with a lot of directions and cautions.

I guess I’m just saying, for the price of a cucumber, you could give it a try.

“Wisdom is the booby prize, they give you when you’ve been unwise.”

12

I live in an apartment building, so spraying outside won’t help much. I’ve been meaning to ask my upstairs neighbors if they’ve had any ant problems.

And no more cat, and likely to more tropical fish. The cat could be taken out for a while, but the fish tank is a wee bit more difficult.

Elbows, I like the idea of the cucumber, but I’m a little concerned about the smell. Doesn’t the cucumber start rotting fairly quickly? I’m also not sure where I would put it…they were coming from behind the kitchen cabinets, and I’d need to wedge the cucumber between the wall and the cabinet. I’m not sure it would stay.

I haven’t seen many ants this morning, except for one dead one in the salt shaker. I hope you choked, you little bastard.

BTW, these are pissants…I have hardly ever seen their larger cousins out here in California.

formerly known as LauraRae

I’m a Raggety Ann in a Barbie Doll world.

Laura’s Stuff and Things

13

There has been quite a bit of ant discussion on the board before.

Generally it doesn’t have anything to do with how clean you are. Some of the cleanest places get them & the dirty ones don’t.

I like the more natural approach. I believe they come in because they want food & water.
So, I would put some food [sugar] & water outside & then they would get it there instead of inside. Makes sense, eh? Either that or get some bigger ants from mail order to eat em.

14

The idea behind bait is to poison the queen. In order to accomplish this, the workers must bring the poisen to the queen. Refrain from wiping, this removes their scent trails. Mix boric acid with karo syrup and put a dollop on a square of cardboard and place out of kids and pets way. Allow the ants to form their trail, as disgusting as you may find this to be. Depending on your level of infestation, this may take a couple of days or longer. Using a squirt bottle for dry powder, like a plastic ketchup bottle, fill with boric acid and apply inside walls, using electrical outlets, etc. After control is achieved, replace the boric acid cardboard squares as soon as you see 1 ant. Re-infestation occures rapidly.

Good luck,
John

15

I thought the same thing, but it’s only the peel you use, and as you may know from composting, they don’t rot, they just dry out, and it seems it’s just as repellent. I urge you to try this. I wedged them into every crack and split, using a toothpick at times.

As an aside, I would suggest you use the freshly peeled cucumber to make a delicious martini. Cut the cuke up into smallish pieces put into a shallow dish and just cover with quality vodka, leave to infuse for about ten minutes. It’s best served shaken AND over ice, with a wedge of cuke to garnish, it must be icy cold. Give it a try, I think you’ll like it. Nothing nicer on a hot sunny afternoon.

“Wisdom is the booby prize, they give you when you’ve been unwise.”

16

Ummmm. Has anybody mentioned calling an exterminator??? If you have that much trouble with the little buggers, then it’d be wise to call 'em up. Sure, it’ll cost you, but you’ll have no more ants. Try Orkin.

Just a thought.

Adam

“Life is hard…but God is good”

17

I had an ant problem this summer. They were all over the kitchen. No matter how many traps I planted, they kept coming.

Then my wife, sitting on the living room couch, felt one land on her. Above her was a hanging plant that we’d set outside for a couple of weeks, then brought back in. While outside, a colony of ants had established itself in the plant’s soil.

Once we set the plant back outside, the ants disappeared!

When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled

18

Handy, I’ve told you before, your theory is all wet. If they find food that you place right outside your house, they’re not going to just stop there. They will continue to forage, and eventually get inside your house. Yes, they’ll make use of that one food source, but their instincts compel them to continue looking for other food sources.

Home-made remedies are fine (I have no idea how well the cucumber remedy works, but if you wanna try it, be my guest). But trying to treat cracks and crevices in your own home is (to my mind) like do-it-yourself plumbing. If you really don’t know what you’re doing, you’re liable to mess it up even worse. And with toxins, you may actually be doing yourself and your loved ones harm. As for bombing, SHEESH! Yeah, that will get rid of the ants, but so will burning down your house, so why don’t you do that? Such drastic actions as setting off a bomb are totally unnecessary, and dangerous, as one poster already noted.

Yes, I am recommending that you hire a professional. Being a professional pest control technician myself, of course that’s what I would say. But not because it boosts my industry, believe me. I say it for the same reason I would recommend not working on your car’s transmission yourself (unless you’re a mechanic) or not removing your own appendix, even if you’re a surgeon. You may not solve your problem doing it yourself, and the potential dangers of using boric acid, Raid, whatever, without the proper training make do-it-yourself pest control a dodgy proposition. Go with someone who is trained, licensed, experienced. It’s worth the money to not have the aggravation and know that the job is being done safely.

Remember, if your home is infested (which a professional should be able to tell you), you probably can’t control it yourself. In an infestation, every ant you see on the counter means there are 15 more you don’t see in the wall. If what you’re getting are occasional invaders from outside, your professional can tell you that, also, and recommend control procedures that might not even necessitate indoor treatment.

Get a professional. Or at least talk to one. It’s worth it.

The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx

19

OK listen closely, this is the only REAL way to get rid of ants. You’ll need

1 pair of nailclippers
1 pair of tweezers
1 magnifying glass
30-40 ants
1 bottle of vodka
3-4 drinking glasses
1 handgun or rifle

After you’ve captured 30 or 40 ants, cut their heads off with the nail clippers. Now, carefully, use the tweezers and magnifying glass to arrange a pyramid of little ant heads anywhere you think ants might be coming in. Repeat in a few other places around the house.

If you’ve got a really bad infestation you should take the headless bodies and impale them on toothpics to serve as a warning to other ants.

All this time you should have been taking shots of vodka to strengthen your nerves. Now comes the tough part: You have established your authority over the floor, but there will always be a few reckless ants who’ll try to challenge it. You should find a comfortable chair to sit in and ambush these rabble rousers. Since this may take all day feel free to kill the time by drinking some more vodka. When you see them you can order a summary execution by firing squad. (Just shoot them.) If you are too drunk to do this you can throw your a shoe or a drinking glass at them but make sure to keep the bottle for yourself.

20

DAVEW0071, I don’t have any ants inside, but I have them outside. so there.