Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello, I love my new condo rental but I have found the enemy.. ANTS! I have tons of ants comming in from the sliding glass door, I am on the 4th floor!!?? What should I do?Try to get rid of them on my own or contact the owner? Thanks!
Never mind Kitty Galore (sorry for those too young to remember the original James Bond movies with Sean Connery) but we have ants and roaches galore where I live. Home Depot here carries "Spectracide" spray which seems to work very well and I also use the Zap-A-Roach roach and ant killer powder. Cleanliness is key. Meticulously clean your countertops and tabletops and don't leave food dregs around. Lots of low-cost remedies are available but it's not really an issue to take up with the LL.
If you have pets or small children, and are leary of engaging in chemical warfare, you can try ordinary table salt. Just pour it along the opening of the grooves in the door, and all around the seams of the door, inside and outside.
I have ants every spring, as soon as they show up I line the base of the door with salt, and they vanish until next spring. It should work within a day, it's totally safe to kids and pets, easy and cheap.
If that doesn't work, I would call the LL for an exterminator.
You should tell you landlord so that he can have his pest guy ID them and make sure they are not termites. They kinda can look alike. I always found those ant discs where they take the bait back to the nest highly effective.
If you want to go the chemical-free route, try diatomaceous earth (DE). Be sure to buy the FOOD GRADE and not the POOL GRADE. (Food grade DE is actually edible, and some people do put it in their food or in the food of their animals. Pool grade DE has chemicals in it.) DE is a completely natural product: it's earth (the fossilized remains of ancient sea-creatures or some such) and it crumbles into a fine white powder/dust.
Dust the DE along your baseboards, especially where you see the ants coming into the house. You can do it inside and outside. If you do it outside, replenish the dust every so often.
The DE eats through the exoskeletons of the insects and causes them to dehydrate and die.
Tell the LL. We have an ant problem too and it's in the bathroom, where there is no food and the kitchen where no food is laying around either. We got baits from the supermarket which attracted swarms of ants for a about 2 weeks but did nothing to stop them from coming in. I also tried pepper and vinegar. Neither worked. My husband got spray insect killer and sprayed it inside by the cracks in that bathroom and kitchen and outside. Though we still see one here or there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
