Ants, ALREADY? (food, windows, cats)

[Pandoras]

Originally Posted by Gottasay

I am using Raid ant baits and they aren't working AT ALL! I'm also using ant spray -- only a very temporary fix. Ugh! What bait are you using?

I usually use the Raid ant baits and also use the Raid Ant Spray. I do this for approximately two weeks every spring and it repels the invasion...at least till next year. I also engage in hand to hand combat with them using my hiking shoe. This isn't as effective but does make me feel better.

[statecollege]

We had them in our kitchen for several weeks in Jan/Feb before I found a product to eradicate them. They were mostly around a couple windows and seemed to emerge from tiny cracks around the trim. Also, they established a home in some potted plants I had in a garden window. I'm not sure if they were brought into the house when the plants were brought inside in the fall or if they gravitated there after entering from elsewhere. At first I used Terro, which worker ants are supposed to take to feed the queen and poison her. It was useless. I then lucked out when I randomly purchased Ortho Maxx Ant & Roach Killer. You spray it along the ant trails. It dries transparent and lasts. It worked virtually immediately. For two days afterward, I identified a stray ant or two. but nowhere near the numbers before spraying. Since then (2 weeks now), not an ant.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by choff5

Yes, I've had them, and have had them for awhile. First I blamed an old poinsettia plant that I had left on the counter for a month after Christmas. Didn't see many, just one or two at a time. Then I put out the Terro and they came running, and hopefully are also disappearing. I'm so aggravated by it. We just did a major termite barrier treatment last year. I was hoping that would also catch them. Anything better than Terro? Will just boric acid powder work as well, and if so, where do I find it?

Boric acid powder (not Borax, which is another good product with completely different uses, but I digress) is *awesome*, even for severe tiny-ant invasions. It's a white powder that's applied directly from the container (a flexible plastic bottle of half powder, half air, with a nozzle that the powder sort of 'puffs' out of) where you've seen the ants, etc. (particularly near baseboards or wherever you think they might be coming in from outside). It generally takes about a week for the ants (or whatever) to start disappearing, since it isn't an 'instant kill' sort of product (it destroys any bugs that come in contact with it, but not before the ground forces are able to track it back to their nests). It's a very thorough/effective solution, though - once you stop seeing the ants (again, about a week or so in), you're usually good for a very long time.. possibly even until the following year's warm season.

[michgc]

I swear by Terro. It has always been effective in getting rid of ants. I think the main ingredient is boric acid.

[roninsedge]

Usually you can find Boric Acid in your hardware stores with the other bug killing products.

[beatlecrazy]

UGH ANTS. We used Terro, baits, and Raid, and it seems that they get used to them or tell their ant buddies "hey avoid these areas, to really creep her out, go up to the shower".
I got mad last time and bought those bug bomb things and bombed every room in the house besides where the cats usually stay. We had to cover everything but it worked, lol! We even had to bomb our pantry since somehow the ants found some way in there! Eeew they were all over the bottom of our cereal boxes, even unopened! GROSS.

When we bombed the pantry, we came back in the house a couple hours later and found dead ants everywhere...on my unopened syrup, inside cereal boxes, a line of dead ones that had been trying to get into sugar, ones that died crawling up my honey container.

I hate ants, it's an ever-raging war against them in my house!

[Snd485]

We found ants coming in through a window at my house this week. Raid and baking soda seem to be keeping them at bay.

[liloulou]

I was just going to post the same thing... my child found this morning the first ant and spider in the house. Yipee... I guess my battle list of things to combat them needs to be enacted asap.

[smagid]

We use Diatomaceous Earth. Nice organic way to eradicate crawling insects. They ingest it and it breaks down their insides

[statecollege]

Originally Posted by smagid

We use Diatomaceous Earth. Nice organic way to eradicate crawling insects. They ingest it and it breaks down their insides

But don't breathe in that stuff. It's not toxic, but the composition will tear up your lungs.
Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia