Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 26

Thread: ANTS ARGH

  1. #11
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    31
    I honestly have nothing against ants (I kind of like them, despite my reaction to their insta-swarm on dropped food), so long as they don't invade my pantry. But we live in a shared building. I think it would be irresponsible not to try to do something about them, or to at least try not to encourage them.

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    North Bend, WA
    Posts
    212
    We get sugar ants every spring. I find that they do not like cloves. So I sprinkle cloves along the edges of the counters and baseboards, and it keeps them away for about a month at a time.

  3. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,095
    Oh, we had ants this summer, too! We were totally invaded! If you are renting, I encourage you to tell your landlords. Pest control is their responsibility, not yours. Besides, some types of ants (like carpenter ants) can actually destroy or weaken the structural integrity of a home. Just because you don't see them anymore doesn't mean they aren't still working! They can cause a great deal of damage that is very expensive to repair, and the owners of the property have a right to know that so that protective measures can be taken.

  4. #14
    Low Tech grunt iris lily's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,942
    DH always says that they are seeking water, that's why they invade.

    I don't consider ants dirty at all, they come and go. They are extremely annoying when they swarm on certain things, but sometimes I find them interesting.

  5. #15
    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    9,116
    I haven't read all the replies, but many times it indicates that there is water around the ground area. Is your drainage good?

  6. #16
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    31
    I don't think ants are dirty. I have issues about other people thinking that about me. I grew up poor by American standards, but our house wasn't dirty. I got picked on in elementary school a lot partly because of the stuff my family did and didn't have. Once, I invited over someone who I thought was a friend, and she went to school the next day and told everyone in our class about the (fictional) horrible state of our house. I'm sure there's more to my issues than that, but that's the one that sticks out in my mind. So it's not that I think ants indicate filth; it's that I worry about what, say, the apartment manager will think. Yes, I know it's irrational.

    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post
    I haven't read all the replies, but many times it indicates that there is water around the ground area. Is your drainage good?
    I think so, but I'm not sure. I don't see a lot of standing water near the building outside, but the sprinklers are going every night, and we live right next to a marsh. So it's possible there's water just below ground. We've never had any issues with flooding, and I'm told this has been one of the wettest springs/summers on record.

  7. #17
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    4
    Terro is fantastic for small ants, but the carpenter ants do not like it. So, how can I get rid of carpenter ants in a non toxic way? Please help!

  8. #18
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Southern Oregon
    Posts
    1,868
    Quote Originally Posted by Mrs. Hermit View Post
    Try a product named TERRO. It is a boric acid-based ant killer. Works very well. You put the liquid on a piece of cardboard, and slide in into cabinets, under the fridge, stove, etc. Most of the time it eliminates ants in less than a week for me.

    I second, third, fourth, and infinity Terro. I if you can't find it you can make it. AND it's non toxic to humans.


    2 cups of water
    1 cup sugar
    2 T of powdered Borax (buy it on where you get laundry detergent)

    Bring the water to a boil and add the sugar and Borax. Stir it until the sugar and Borax dissolve completely, and then continue cooking uncovered over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 6-10 minutes. You want it to be a clear, runny syrup — don’t overcook it or you’ll get Borax caramels (yuck!). Take it off the heat and let it come to room temperature. Don’t leave it too long or it will form a skin.

    Ideally, you’ll want to keep this in an airtight squirt bottle (like the ones to deliver targeted amounts of condiments). You can pick up something like this at a craft store or at Walmart in the party aisle.

    (For the record, this is the same stuff as Terro, which comes in neat little plastic containers and doesn’t harden up as fast. But this recipe costs a LOT less than buying Terro.)

    Most ants will go for this stuff like you can’t believe — when they encounter it, they absolutely stop and start eating it immediately. So you’ll want to:

    Put the bait down where they can’t miss it, but where you can just leave it for a few days.
    :




    How it works
    For the science-minded, you may be interested to know that what’s happening is that the borax that the ants ingest doesn’t break down and stays in that grainy, gritty texture. The bad news for ants is that that means the borax will eventually do a number on their hard exoskeleton from within, and when it does, they die. If you kill off a big bunch of them, you’ll have less, but will have to do this again at some point; if you kill off the queen, you win (unless you’ve got multiple colonies to deal with).
    http://this-side-of-glory.com/life/h...g-rid-of-ants/

  9. #19
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,169
    I bought some boric acid powder and mixed a solution following these directions. The ants are gone!
    TAke 1 tbsp. boric acid mixed into a solution of 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar. Soak cotton balls with the solution and place on squares of foil around the area with ant problems.

  10. #20
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    3,660
    We had a colony of ants, unfortunately, we found out when we moved into this house. The regular style ant traps were not working so my husband bought the brand Terro ant traps. We followed the directions to a "T" and it worked perfectly. There are scout ants that come out to see where they can find food, they go back to the colony leaving a scent trail for all to follow, then the colony comes out to eat the bait thinking it is food and they bring some back to the Queen ant. It was kind of hard to watch all the ants going to the bait, and not kill them, but I restrained myself as the only way to kill the whole colony is if they all eat it and then give it to the Queen ant. My husband bought Terro in either Home Depot or Lowes. We just put some more down as we saw some scout ants. They are the few you see here and there.

    Good luck. I know how gross it can feel to have ants crawling around!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •