Fighting Ants Without Hurting Household Pests?

[ejchase]

Sorry if this post is in the wrong place, but I wasn't sure where else to put it.

My SO and I just moved into a new place and we seem to have a small ant problem. We've tried several times to put our cats' food down in the laundry room, but the ants keep discovering it. The spot *is* by the back door, so we've put some ant traps outside, but that alone doesn't seem to work, and we are worried about putting the ant traps inside where the cats might get into them. We are also worried about spraying with Raid because of how it might affect the cats.

Anybody have any suggestions about what we can do to get rid of the ants but not hurt the cats?

Many thanks,
Elizabeth

[Tiam]

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My links aren't showing up,nor my images....http://http://www.biconet.com/crawlers/GIFs/terroAnt1box.jpg

[Spider In The Bath]

I was once away from home. I was speaking to my husband on the phone and he was telling me that lots of ants got into the house and he had hoovered them up! He did also spray with raid (well laid down some of the power version). I have heard that they will not cross a line of salt - not sure if it works though.

[Mrs-M]

Sometimes in order to rectify a problem you have to go the distance and in your case Ejchase that will be to keep your cats isolated from whatever you lay out to eliminate the ants. i.e. Closing the laundry room door, barricading off whatever you set-out as a killing agent, etc.

If you visit the Housing Forum, Greg44 posted a thread pertaining to ants and I replied with a recipe. It will end any ant problem you have. :)

[reader99]

It is true that ants won't cross a line of salt. I once outlined my diningroom in salt to keep them out. Once they experienced that for a while, they didn't come back even after the salt was gone. They won't cross cinnamon either, but salt is cheaper!

[peggy]

IN the meantime, try putting your cats dish in a larger pan with an inch or two of water. Might keep the ants out of the cats food at least.

[treehugger]

IN the meantime, try putting your cats dish in a larger pan with an inch or two of water. Might keep the ants out of the cats food at least.

Yes, this absolutely works. Every time we have an ant problem, they go right for the cat food. Our ants love their protein!

[RosieTR]

IN the meantime, try putting your cats dish in a larger pan with an inch or two of water. Might keep the ants out of the cats food at least.

Yes, this is common in the tropics because of ants. If the cats are bothered by having their food in a bowl of water and/or the salt thing is difficult to maintain a perimeter or too messy, try lining the bowls with packing tape sticky side out. The ants can't cross it. I do this around my ankles when I'm gardening because we have fire ants and I appear to be mildly allergic or just highly reactive to their bites. Even if the tape is a little dirty it appears to be effective, though too much dirt would cause failure of the method.

[ejchase]

Thanks, All! These are very helpful ideas!

[Anita]

we had a huge ant problem and we bought a little can of Antsbegone,worked like a charm.We put it down and hundreds of ants came from where ever and ate it all wow.It was amazing to see,we bought it a a hardware store on their recommodation.
Anita

[LaBryon]

Late response, and since nobody mentioned it, your cooperative extension's website may help.

I am a former outreach volunteer/Master Gardener for our county's Cooperative Extension, and reading the how-to text here will help you and your immediate environment immensely: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7411.html

[Yppej]

If they are carpenter ants they will cause structural damage to your home if you don't get rid of them. Do you hear noises at night like someone crumpling up cellophane? If so, that's them chewing and you want to call in a professional.

[grendel]

I came across this bit of humor about ants:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/openletters/20antnation.html

[ejchase]

Many thanks, everyone, for your responses!