We have a nasty infestation of little black ants. We did when we first moved in (last Aug) and an exterminator came (paid for by the landlady....$75). He said we are living on an ant mound. Great.
We've been trying to take care of it ourselves this time (because the landlady won't pay for it again). I don't really want to spend $75 for an exterminator.
We've sprayed the exterior and still have a terrible problem with them in the INTERIOR parts of the house. We've sprayed the inside now, and they are still coming in. UGH!!!
Any ideas other than an exterminator? Is there a better spray than others? The cornmeal thing DID NOT work the last time. It just made it worse.
Maybe get the girls a pet ant eater?
Jenna- Are you talking about the stakes you put in the yard that hold a container of poison? We have 3 of them out (been there for almost 3 weeks now). Getting really bad here. Found a PILE of the yesterday. It looked like a black 8" diameter disc. I sprayed the hell out it. They are coming in the bathrooms and getting on the toothbrushes!!! YUCK!
Thanks for the tips. Not sure about the vinegar/water. I use that regularly to clean anyway. These ants keep finding a new room to invade. I've seen them a few hours later in places I've already sprayed with poison! We are really good about not leaving anything out, and have a dog that helps with anyting that hits the floor. I've heard of Terro, but have never used it. Sent the hubs to the store and he came back with the ant stakes a few weeks ago. I think it's time mama took charge! Lol.
There is this stuff called Terro that is like $4 at Home Depot. I SWEAR by it!!! It's non-toxic to humans and you will find a swarm of the ants around a tiny bit of the liquid but leave them to do the damage. They eat it, take it back to the mound and they all die. It might take a few days, but just let the ants go in and out. That stuff is AWESOME!!
Vinegar and water, spray around area's they like to go (also great for weeds), chalk if you know where they are coming in from, place some chalk around it and they won't pass it..
We were just talking about this at a 4th of July Bbq... my friend uses Taro, Terro...? She said you put it out and the ant come out SWARMING and it's the grossest thing. This happens for about a day and then they are completely gone. She swears by it. Apparently, they are attracted to it and carry it back to the nest where it kills all of the ants. She said just be sure to be ready for complete invasion for a day or so...
Good luck!
Yes! Get the Terro! It works, I promise!!
We have had the same ant problem since we bought our house 4 years ago! We found that the cedar chips work really well and the ant stakes...all for the outside. I just buy the simple ant traps for the inside and they have always worked great. You might need a lot, but if you just hide them behind doors, you won't even notice them...and our animals don't go near them.
Good luck! I know what you are going through!
We had an infestation of ants and all we did is for a few weeks was make sure there was not a crumb or food path ANYWHERE in the house. Each day I would go around and squirt vinegar and water at the doors and on the path they seemed to be following. Ants tend to follow the same trail over and over again and group in the same area over and over so hit those places hard with the vinegar. After about two weeks they were gone and we didn't have to use any poison.
Good luck!
OH MY HECK!!! I was literally JUST about to post this same question. I was answering another one, and TWO ants crawled across my computer screen... I looked down and there are 6-7 of the little buggers crawling on the wall next to my chair! According to my SIL, when she took out our trash this morning it was full of them.
So I'm just going to watch your answers too. :)
Although, if your problem is living on an ant mound... maybe you could get some ant stakes. The ants take the poison back to their evil lair, and feed it to their queen... hopefully killing the whole colony. It might take a while though if you are on a big nasty one.
ETA... yeah, that's what I was talking about... You might also try spraying something really sugary, like a sugar cookie or something with the poison, and putting that near the holes? Ants love the sugar, so maybe that would help.
I think Tiffany has a good answer. Ants come to eat, not to be sociable. If they can't find anything to eat, they'll go somewhere else.
We have outdoor cats in our neighborhood, and I set out a bowl of dry cat food for them, on the premise that they may as well hang around our house instead of bothering people who don't care for cats. Since I started taking a piece or two of dry cat food out of the bowl and putting them on the ground for the resident ants, I haven't seen one of ant inside.
Then again, not everybody is as weird as I am. Feeding ants to keep them away?...
I grew up with this issue! Put things like boxes of cereal and maple syrup in the fridge. Look around for cracks where they are coming in and caulk them. We used ant stakes too...I think they are called Grants Kills Ants. If you have pets, you can buy special food dishes at the petstore that keep ants out, there is a little moat around it. Good luck...its no fun pouring a bowl of cereal half asleep only to find 50, 60...maybe more ants in the bowl. Ugh.
http://www.stacymakescents.com/homemade-ant-bait
there are different versions of this, but it works :)
I would also recommend Terro. I just had a pretty bad ant problem in my house about two weeks ago. Went to Walmart, bought the Terro and within about two days they were completey gone and haven't come back. Good luck!
In OHIO the Landlord would be responsible for the extermination. Especially if the house is "ontop of an ant hill" I would check rental laws in IN and go from there. And I would figure out how this can be a permanent fix so it does not happen again next year. Landlords are responsible for a lot of things people do not realize and will do their best to not have to take care of it. Find out the laws in IN.
There is some sort of an ant bait that uses borax...Or the terro whatever it is. We just started having a problem with them ourselves.
have you tried terro ant baits? We used to have a horrible ant problem in our last house. I set them up around the house in places where the kids couldn't get them and the ants come and eat it and then go back to their nest and die. It fixed the problem very quickly! You can buy them at lowes
Cucumber slices kills them. Combat ant baits are wonderful too. We recently had an infestation of ants because of the extremely hot weather. The cucumbers did the job lovely and I got the Combat baits and put them around the inside of the house. I will know in time how well they are working.
I would get the exterminator.
We had ants in a rental we lived in a few years ago - turned out they were living in the walls. All the spraying inside and outside didn't do a thing to them since they were happily shielded within our walls.
Ant bait helped a bit, temporarily, but did not eradicate the colony.
My former boss lived on an ant infested property, they had to have an exterminator come out every spring, spay the outside and they would be good for a year.
Good luck!
Terracon (SP don't want the spelling police to get me). Someone on here suggested to me about a year ago. I swear by it. We fought those nasty little things for 18 months. Bought Terracon at Walmart and keep the containers in the spots where the ants come in...
Not been a huge issue since.
