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.
Don't know where you live but ants are much more of a nuisance in warmer areas than in the cooler ones. Something is attracting them. Suggest you clean your house thoroughly, keep all the things that attract them (sweet foods in particular) cleaned up. Don't eat anywhere except at kitchen table. Take trash out daily. Clean stove, under sink, etc. Wipe up spills quickly.
Honey mixed into borax set out in small jar lids at where they are coming in (if you can locate the entrance) will attract them and borax is a poison to them. If you don't mind the ant bait traps, set them at strategic places--under sink, wherever you find them coming into house, etc.
And stop eating at the computer!!
Good luck. Ants are hard to eradicate once they find out your house is a "candy store".
I found tons of ants entering a second story window frame and walking on my son's desk. They were attracted to the empty glasses and pop bottles on his desk. I killed the ones I saw, and removed the glasses and pop bottles. No more ants have come to visit because there's nothing left for them to want from my son's room. Now my son is bringing his glasses to the kitchen as soon as he's done with them! Those ants were a great thing because he is keeping is room cleaner now!
You should identify the ants first. There are several types. Carpenter ants are the bigger black ones and are the most annyoing since they eat their way through wood. Grease ants are the little brown ones..I'll tell you a good organic way to get rid of both:
Carpenter ants: Get some Borax Soap powder at the market. Mix one tablesoppon with one tablespoon of maple syrup or simple sugar syrup(water and sugar mixed and heated to a syrup consistencey). Just make sure the Borax soap powder is completely mixed up in a syrup blend. Place in a shallow dish where you see the ants but keep pets and kids away. The ants will feed upon it and take it back to the queen and she will eat it and they will all die. They should disappear with 24 - 48 hrs
For the grease ants mix the borax with honey and then some peanut butter. Put in a shollow dish and keep away from pets and kids. They will eat it, take it back to the colonly, and also die within 24 - 48 hrs.
I found tons of ants entering a second story window frame and walking on my son's desk. They were attracted to the empty glasses and pop bottles on his desk. I killed the ones I saw, and removed the glasses and pop bottles. No more ants have come to visit because there's nothing left for them to want from my son's room. Now my son is bringing his glasses to the kitchen as soon as he's done with them! Those ants were a great thing because he is keeping is room cleaner now!
All you did was eliminate the feeding source and the "foraging" ants went somewhere else. See the organic ways to solve the problem and if you see them anywhere in the house, or outside the house again, use it because it works great at killing the colony.
All you did was eliminate the feeding source and the "foraging" ants went somewhere else. See the organic ways to solve the problem and if you see them anywhere in the house, or outside the house again, use it because it works great at killing the colony.
Eliminating the feeding source works for insects/rodents who are coming into a house to feed.
If I keep my house clean, I have nothing coming into MY house to forage.
I could care less if the foraging ants go to my neighbors' houses.
Eliminating the feeding source works for insects/rodents who are coming into a house to feed.
If I keep my house clean, I have nothing coming into MY house to forage.
I could care less if the foraging ants go to my neighbors' houses.
Ants will forage in the cleanest of homes because they are just "looking" for a food source, as you found out. I am not insulting your clean house, please don't take me wrong. Just trying to help.
It is wise to keep an eye out for them, especially at night time. Even the foragers may come back looking for a new food source. It is always good to know where they are coming from if they are the large black carpenter ants, since if they decide to colonize in the wood sill or framing of the house, you will eventuallly have to hire an exterminator at the cost of several hundred dollars..
If the are the little grease ants, they don't do any structural damage to the house, and often come in from outside seeking food and leave.
Carpenter ants have a nasty habit of staying inside the walls to establish a new colony if they find a good food source even 200 yards from your house. So your neighbors carpenter ants, if they live close, could be your carpenter ants by proximity. The like to live in damp places and it is damp wood they love the most. Trash cans inside or out are great sources of food for them. If you were to step on one on the floor, leave it there, and had the patience to wait, you would see them come and get the dead one and carry it back to the colony to be consumed by the others. They are little cannibals.!
If they are the big black carpenter ants, you may have some concerns here because they colonize from the main colony. It is rather like a wheel hub with spokes coming out from the center. The hub is the main colony and the spokes are pathways to the establishments of new satellite colonies. The main colony could be several hundred feet way from your house wbut they may have an eye on your house for a satellite colony.
I'm sorry to tell you the best way is probably the most expensive. You have to apply pesticides. The perimeter of your home must be treated, probably more than once. the inside areas must be treated as well. I have dealt with this with so many clients over the years......some people have the ability to do this themselves, some must pay an exterminator to do it. As all the above have eluded to; the ants are just doing what comes naturally, they must learn that your place is not desirable. Periodic treatments will ensure an ant free home!
I tried terro too and it does work except you have to be careful where you put the bait traps as they can get filled with water or flip over. They are a good choice for keeping a sentinel against the ants year 'round.
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.
