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We just moved into a new apartment, which is great except for ants. Lots of ants. The landlady says they are sugar ants, but I don't know for sure if they are. The exterminator has been out at least twice and will come back periodically. They both say it's a work in progress. In the meantime holy gently caress. At first they were around the kitchen. We laid out ant traps, but also cleaned with diluted bleach and then sprayed with some mint oil which we heard ants hate. At least it doesn't smell like bleach. They were mostly located around a window. We are pretty clean with no food laying out or dishes in the sink. However, we have cats. The ants have thus far left their food alone, but now they've found it. Last night we came home to cat puke on the floor near one of the doors and a nice little trail of ants. We cleaned all of that up and sprayed the whole area with bleach. I read that if you lay salt where they come in, they avoid it, so I did that. This morning their food was covered again. More cleaning. The kitchen seems to be largely antless at the moment. Now I can't see an obvious entryway. I hear borax is good, but I also hear it's poisonous to pets. So now I'm playing whack-an-ant. Any ideers?
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Aug 19, 2015 17:34
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 06:59 |
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Kill them. Kill them all.
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Aug 19, 2015 18:54
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freemason9 posted:Kill them. Kill them all. Trying! We kill the little scouts when we see them.
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Aug 19, 2015 19:05
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Try diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle it wherever ants are coming in (window sills, etc) and on the floor around the cat food dish or wherever ants are concentrating. It's harmless powdery sand to humans and pets and lethal barricades of glass shards to ants.
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Aug 19, 2015 19:32
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Came in here to suggest diatomaceous earth. It's the poo poo. It breaks apart insects exoskeletons via dehydration,and is cat safe. Can eliminate fleas and some worms /parasites as well, but make sure you get the food grade kind, not the kind for pools as that is significantly less safe.
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Aug 19, 2015 20:07
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Move the cats food and then make sure the food is raised off of the ground. A minor step but it helps. Also be extremely vigilant about anything...I mean ANYTHING on the floor. Keep it spotless.
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Aug 19, 2015 20:23
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Be continuously diligent. I know some people who throw their hands in the air and say "welp, the exterminator will get 'em whenever they come" and leave it at that...meanwhile ants get everywhere. Do not do this. Even if you're just stomping around, you're getting rid of them. Somewhat fruitlessly, but you're getting rid of them. And if you drop crumbs, immediately get rid of them. Carry around a dish towel in the kitchen and be thorough when you've made a meal. Elevate and hide food. Etc. One low-key thing we've done in the past is go outside (if you have an outside) and put down a tasty bit of food a little ways away from your apartment. A little peanut butter or something. With any luck, a lot of the ants in your apartment will catch wind of it and head outside to check it out. Or you'll see where their trail is coming from. And blast the absolute gently caress out of it with Raid. D.N. Nation fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Aug 20, 2015 |
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Aug 19, 2015 20:36
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If you have a house, you basically need to create an ant free zone around the house. You do it by putting out the poison containers, which usually contain poisoned sugarwater. The ants don't just eat/drink it, they bring it home and feed it to the babies and the queen, and the entire colony dies. It's gonna be more difficult if you are in an apartment. What I would do is to put out the poison containers, and you should be able to spot from the line of ants coming to it where the ants are coming in. Then put the poison right there where they're coming in, and hopefully they won't be anywhere else but there, drinking up the poison and taking it home to kill the rest.
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Aug 19, 2015 21:39
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My fix for the cat food situation was to put their dish inside an aluminum pie plate with a couple inches of water in it. Jerkwads couldn't/didn't swim over to it, and the cats did not care. Other than that you just gotta keep everything in the kitchen super clean and make sure everything even food-ish is sealed up.
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Aug 19, 2015 21:44
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The diatomaceous earth is a good idea. I bought a new development house about 5 years ago that backs up to a greenbelt. I've spent the last 5 years waging an unwinnable war against ants, but I have won many battles. Long story short that poo poo the exterminator is using, isn't really going to do jack. He's using the cheapest poo poo on the market, and heavily diluting it. You have to convince them to use the expensive good poo poo on the truck. Some of the stuff you can buy at the store is pretty ehh. Useful in a pinch, but wears off quickly. I fired my exterminator once I learned how to do my own pest control. I get the heavy duty poo poo not available at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. I use Talstar Xtra with Verge, which contains Bifenthrin and Zeta-Cypermethrin outside the house. I broadcast the lawn twice a year and spot treat mounds with it. Inside I treat with Bayer Maxforce baits when needed, but I haven't had any issues in the house since I started using Talstar outside. Ortho Home Defense Max spray is available at most big box stores and contains Bifenthrin and Zeta-Cypermethrin is about the only option I would recommend from a place you can easily buy something. I'm not a fan of the cheaper Spectracide branded products. Since you're in an apartment though I would look at an ant bait. These are pretty well reviewed. If you don't want to spend your own money you should talk to the exterminator guy and see if he'll bait around your apartment. If he's just spraying mystery liquid out of his silver can, not going to be much help. He should have something comparable to the two suggestions below on his truck. http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/advion-ant-bait-gel-p-932.html http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/maxforce-fc-ant-bait-stations-p-38.html skipdogg fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Aug 19, 2015 |
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Aug 19, 2015 22:03
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Authentic You posted:Try diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle it wherever ants are coming in (window sills, etc) and on the floor around the cat food dish or wherever ants are concentrating. It's harmless powdery sand to humans and pets and lethal barricades of glass shards to ants. I thought of that. We'll probably pick some up.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:12
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Professor of Cats posted:Move the cats food and then make sure the food is raised off of the ground. A minor step but it helps. Yep it's on a low table - has been for a few days. My girlfriend may have found a source. It's on the opposite wall, but it was partially covered up by stuff.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:13
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evenworse username posted:My fix for the cat food situation was to put their dish inside an aluminum pie plate with a couple inches of water in it. Jerkwads couldn't/didn't swim over to it, and the cats did not care. That's a cool idea!
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Aug 20, 2015 00:13
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skipdogg posted:The diatomaceous earth is a good idea. I bought a new development house about 5 years ago that backs up to a greenbelt. I've spent the last 5 years waging an unwinnable war against ants, but I have won many battles. These are good ideas. This will probably happen.
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Aug 20, 2015 00:14
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I got out of the car today near some dirt and pine needles on the ground, and a bunch of black formica ants were swarming around. I was like "gently caress these ants" but at least they weren't getting into my home. I did buy this poo poo a couple years ago http://www.nature-gifts.com/1505-ant-farms.html and ordered some of the recommended ants, and it was a good time for a while. They need oxygen every few days or so, and I was being pretty careless and popped the top off and a couple red soldier looking ants with huge mandibles got free; I didn't notice at first until they started biting my abdomen and I crushed enough of the escapees to satisfy vengeance. Also one time when I was in Idaho we had a lot of ants burrowing down into the brick patio, and I was supposed to hose them down with soap but I mixed it with a bunch of water, and it didn't do poo poo. Ants live in the rain and deal with things worse than soap on a daily basis, so that isn't going to do the trick if you want to combat them. That's my ants story.
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Aug 20, 2015 07:35
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The poisoned sugar water is really good, in australia we have a brand called "rid". Wiping out the nest is the best idea, because killing the foragers will never fix the problem. You also need to look at how messy the area is where they like to swarm, and use soapy water to wipe down trails so they lose the scent. Also check for things like messy kitchen garbage bins, sugary foods and breadcrumbs and how quickly to clean dirty dishes. 1. Remove scent trails with soapy water / mop floors, wipe trails. 2. Clean up and remove food sources. 3. Set out "back to nest" poison 4. Reduce clutter
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Aug 20, 2015 13:33
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I've had several sugar ant infestation that I can stop within 3 - 5 days depending on how big the nest it. Use Terro Liquid Ant Killer http://www.terro.com/terro-liquid-ant-killer It is the liquid poison people are talking about, but the bottle of death juice means you can adjust for how many ants you have easily rather than buying more pre-loaded traps. The one scary thing the first time through is finding out that ANTS LOVE THE poo poo OUT OF IT. Check Amazon reviews for reports of the bait not working and just increasing the number of ants in the place. You should, instead, put out more slick cardboard plates of death juice out for more customers. When you first start using it, you should check back often as I've had a good teaspoon of liquid disappear within a half hour after they discovered it. For the first day clear out the area if anyone has issues with seeing a carpet of ants. Remove anything they can eat besides the Terro. They will suck it down fast so replacement is needed often. For the second day, there might or might not be a swarm depending on the size of the nest. Keep dropping liquid down. Third day: nothing or very close to nothing. You might see dead ants on the path towards the bait with only a handful coming in and out. Fourth day: Syrup untouched but everything else edible untouched as well.
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Aug 20, 2015 17:50
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EVIR Gibson posted:I've had several sugar ant infestation that I can stop within 3 - 5 days depending on how big the nest it. Hell yes. I can vouch for this poo poo. I used this as my "back to nest / bait away from my food" solution and it worked wonders. Apartments are different beasts though, I was able to use this directly on the side of my house and it kept them at bay.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:51
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EVIR Gibson posted:I've had several sugar ant infestation that I can stop within 3 - 5 days depending on how big the nest it. This stuff may be effective, but it's just borax and sugar water. You can make your own with stuff you can buy at the store. If something like this doesn't work, try hitting the fuckers with something that contains Indoxacarb, Fipronil, Abamectin, or another fantastic ant killing chemical.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:36
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I have had pretty good results using Amdro. It kind of looks and smells like pet food, but it is ant poison. The main problem is that my dogs keep wanting to eat ant poison that looks and smells like pet food.
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Aug 22, 2015 07:35
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I love that this thread comes out the day I move into a new place that HAS SO MANY ANTS WHERE DO THEY KEEP COMING FROM
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Aug 22, 2015 08:23
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boil equal parts of sugar, borax (in the laundry detergent aisle) and water until it forms a runny paste. Cut down a few empty cans and put about an inch of this mixture in the bottom, then strategically place around the home/apartment, inside or out. Then also smear a little bit on their walking paths. The ants eat it and die, they take some back for their friends who die, and they get it all over themselves so when their buddies try to clean them off they die. Every time I've had ants, I do this and they are gone within a few days. It will poison your pets, so don't put it where they can easily ingest it.
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Aug 22, 2015 13:24
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After accidentally leaving a half eaten candy bar out I got a swarm of ants all over the place. Good news was the trail was thick enough that I could follow it back to the nest entrance easily. They've always been abundant in this one room of the house so I've been planning what to do to these little bastards for a long time. Also, I'm a scientist and I love to experiment. 1. Cram a plastic nozzle (from a frosting squirty thing) into the entrance of the nest. 2. The nozzle is attached to a large airtight plastic bag. 3. The plastic bag is filled with a full pound of dry ice wrapped in a small towel. The dry ice sublimates into pure CO2 and fills the tunnels, gassing out the ants and hopefully the queen. It isn't a matter of suffocation: when CO2 mixes with water (as in the ants' hemolymph) it turns into carbonic acid and kills them from the inside. I did an experiment where I tossed a live ant into a plastic baggie and pumped the bag full of carbon dioxide. It would thrash around for 2-3 seconds and die. Best part: no toxic residue and results are pretty instant. Also it's kinda cool and really appeals to the sadistic 10 year old in me that used to vaporize the things with a Fresnel lens. You can buy dry ice at some local supermarkets. ShadowCatboy fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Aug 22, 2015 |
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Aug 22, 2015 19:44
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skipdogg posted:This stuff may be effective, but it's just borax and sugar water. You can make your own with stuff you can buy at the store. If something like this doesn't work, try hitting the fuckers with something that contains Indoxacarb, Fipronil, Abamectin, or another fantastic ant killing chemical. Thing is, it's like maybe $4-6 at Home Depot and (at least in my case) more cost effective - I had a hell of a time trying to locate straight borax in my local stores for some reason, so there's wasted gas. Sugar for the "sugar water" - good luck spending less than a dollar for a small package of sugar. Borax - I looked just now and there's a small box for $6+ on amazon, sounds fair enough. That little bottle of terro was premade so all you have to do is drop that poo poo around. Anecdotal yes, but why do more work or driving around if you don't have to. Some people have this stuff already handy, but I've never had borax just laying around the house to be used at a moments notice.
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Aug 23, 2015 00:20
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Coffee Wolf posted:
Ditto. I think the last time I saw straight borax was when I was 10 and beakmans article had a reciepe to make "silly putty" with it and glue. (I think?) That small bottle of terro might not compare to the gallons of borax sugar water you could make with the raw ingredients but... they are really small and 1/8 of the tiny bottle is overkill. Now if I had Zantis, then we might have words to exchange.
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Aug 23, 2015 02:19
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As a child I used to be extremely alarmed by the sight of insects; grandfather would grind the one third of a banana with sugar, and would smear on an a one sized papers on the floor, then he would follow the traces and fill the holes with polyurethane foam. Easy food ants will definitely cause them to overpower other smaller ones, so make sure you don't kill/feed them.
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Aug 23, 2015 15:24
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I live in a house made of straw on the woods, ant invasion is a yearly thing in the spring. Use this stuff: We have a dog so we just keep it up on the counters, but you should be able to find a way to keep cats away from them. Be warned, the ants swarm for a day or so but you must resist killing them so they can get the poison back to the nest. I have used this stuff for years at a few different places, but it has always worked like a charm.
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Aug 23, 2015 17:18
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One time I just blasted the ants' path (on a wall) with hornet spray. Job done. Barely even noticeable, and you can get it at pretty much any grocery store that also sells light bulbs and cleaning stuff.
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Aug 23, 2015 19:29
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bunnielab posted:I live in a house made of straw on the woods, ant invasion is a yearly thing in the spring. Use this stuff: Yep. It uses the same stuff in the bottle, but I found the liquid sitting outside freely accessible draws way more ants then when I used the traps you use. The other thing I do not like about it is the ants can only drink from one edge and not the entirety of the square reservoirs. With making my own drops, they can circle around the pool in a huddle and all drink. And if there are way more, I can make another drop and have drink.
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Aug 23, 2015 20:51
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My husband gets this stuff from work & it gets rid of ants in a few days. It's a gel so you can squirt it in the higher spaces away from curious children & pets. http://www.amazon.com/Advion-Bait-gram-Tubes-Plunger/dp/B002Y2H6VS
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Aug 25, 2015 03:36
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OP you're better off just leaving them alone and hope they go away; otherwise, they're going to call in reinforcements of red ants and gently caress your poo poo up while you're sleeping.
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Aug 25, 2015 03:46
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What I do is: Find the pheromone trail by watching the ants move. Trace it back and spread some Borax at where it enters the house/apartment. Spray the rest of the trail with plain old Windex which seems to work well to kill the path. I've had good luck with pipe tobacco as well for an ant killer. That works better outside though.
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Aug 25, 2015 05:24
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I haven't had much of an ant problem, but when we found them repeatedly coming in via the same route, I wiped the area with vinegar and have not seen any since.
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Aug 26, 2015 22:08
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I've had decent results with cinnamon in the past for cat-safe ant countermeasures.
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Aug 26, 2015 22:14
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 06:59 |
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thrakkorzog posted:I have had pretty good results using Amdro. I use this around my house any time I see an ant trail (I keep watch outside in the hopes that they'll never actually make it inside). As soon as I spot a trail I bait it at multiple points with a little pile of Amdro, and within a few days there are no longer any ants. I don't have to bother trying to find the nest at all. If I do spot a nest, I just dump a little pile of Amdro on top of it with the same result.
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Aug 27, 2015 00:20
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