Ants (countertops, how much, house) - City-Data Forum

karmathecat · 06-09-2010, 08:52 AM

Is it just me, or are other people finding ants in their house since this heat wave started?
Our house is pretty clean, so I am not sure what they are going after but just in case I SCRUBBED the stove ( found 2 ants there ) and removed the one sugar bowl I had open in the kitchen ( close to the stove ants ) but I still am seeing the odd ant around.

mike0421 · 06-09-2010, 09:07 AM

We have had them for the better part of two months. Mostly in the kitchen pantry. We had an exterminator in here for the second time in the last two months. Now, we are getting fire ants on the patio. I don't think it's very unusual, but the sheer number seems more than last year or the year prior.

Mike Horrell · 06-09-2010, 09:17 AM

I had a bunch colonize the waist-high divider wall in my office space last summer and I
zapped the heck out of the seams with Ortho Home Defender. Haven't seen one since.

However, the colonies in our brick patio are back after getting the same treatment
about 6 weeks ago. I'm going to zap them again today and see what happens.

aries63 · 06-09-2010, 10:00 AM

Depends on what kind of ant, there are so many kinds. I don't like to use nasty pesticides.

The small ones I typically find in the driveway and my kitchen seem to go away if I put out a solution of sugar-water and boric acid as bait. I think it's a quarter cup sugar and three-quarters cup water, plus a tablespoon of boric acid. I divide this into little cups near where they come in the house and they find it pretty fast. After a few days the problem is gone.

Richard Fagerlund, a local exterminator, had a pretty nice website which doesn't seem to be working very well when I just checked it. He has posted some good environmentally-sound pest control advice on it. Maybe it will work better for you: askthebugman.com

But most ants (even more nasty kinds) are cyclical and will go away of their own accord if they're not finding food that interests them. When we had a cat we learned not to leave the cat food out....yuck. Our ants would also swarm pieces of peanuts that got dropped on the kitchen floor. Spraying soapy water on kitchen counters, if that's where you see them, has mixed results. Better than spraying Raid.

karmathecat · 06-09-2010, 10:04 AM

I'll check it out. We have a small child and pets so I need to be careful what I spray.

jaxart · 06-09-2010, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmathecat

I'll check it out. We have a small child and pets so I need to be careful what I spray.

KNOCK WOOD - I haven't seen ants for several years but when I did have them in my kitchen I set out those small "ant traps" in out of the way places inside my cabinets - especially the ones at floor level. Not sure how much good they did but the ants disappeared after a period of time.

Brendan M · 06-09-2010, 08:15 PM

I have ants off and on in my house, usually in and around my kitchen sink, but fortunately not all the time. I have some relatives who have an ant hill of red fire ants in their backyard that has been there consistently for several years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aries63

Spraying soapy water on kitchen counters, if that's where you see them, has mixed results. Better than spraying Raid.

I usually spray all-purpose cleaner on my kitchen countertops and in the kitchen sink when the ants are present, which usually works to kill them.

yukon · 06-09-2010, 09:50 PM

I had problems with the tiny sugar ants when I lived in Ft Lauderdale. I started wiping down the countertops in the evening after dinner with a cleaning solution containing melaleuca oil (tea tree oil). Got rid of the ants faster than anything I've used before, and when sprayed on doorframes, window sills, etc. can help in keeping outside pests outside (did wonders repelling roaches in Houston!). I think they don't like the stuff. Smells good and is safe around kids and pets, too.

mellanieblue · 06-10-2010, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmathecat

Is it just me, or are other people finding ants in their house since this heat wave started?
Our house is pretty clean, so I am not sure what they are going after but just in case I SCRUBBED the stove ( found 2 ants there ) and removed the one sugar bowl I had open in the kitchen ( close to the stove ants ) but I still am seeing the odd ant around.

The ants seem to be an every summer thing. We have to stay vigilant on washing away their beds from our back porch and spraying around the areas of the house they frequent. (kitchen, trash area)

jaxart · 06-10-2010, 07:29 AM

Fire ants - the kind that are found in the southern states - are very different from most ants found in NM. I couldn't ever mow my yard in Austin the first several years I lived there without being swarmed at least once - and swarming on a foot of leg means "catching fire" because they bite instantly and in multitudes!

But then I began noticing GECKO LIZARDS everywhere - in the house and out. Once those lizards arrived I never had another problem with fire ants.

SOOOOOO...for those here in NM who have problems with ants, perhaps acquiring several mating pairs of geckos and letting them loose around your house is a solution.