How to get rid of ants in the house?

I've had the same problem as you with ants and nothing seems to work for me. I've been told to use the ant baits that you can buy at Lowe's but I have not tried them yet.

I would also agree with the Terro baits.. there is another brand that also works well (can't think of the name of it), I just had to put some out last week b/c I had those same little critters crawling around in my kitchen.. Since it is so dry outside, they are coming in to find water. I am also having a problem with spiders! My husband says b/c it is so hot and dry outside. ARGH!!!
Good Luck!! =)

Hi I too had the little criters and after bleaching, a friend said mix boric acid with sugar and apply to areas you've seen the ants. this is a bait system, just like the small traps you can purchase at walmart. At first many ants, then fewer and fewer! It worked!

We put down that home defense spray by orkin. you can buy it at home depot. you spray inside and outside of the house. find out where they are coming in and caulk it as well. kills them dead.

also, make sure you run your disposal to remove any food they may be attracted to!

same problem a couple of weeks ago. fireants even in the bed. Problem solved with boric acid sprinkled all over the perimeter of the insde and out of the house. to purchase at ecowise-store on Elizabeth and S. congress

I second the Terro bait traps. They are about $10 at Walmart and they got rid of our ants when the professionals couldn't.

hi i had this same problem lately. as a last resort i sprayed wasp spray.......let it sit an hour. it did the trick still no more ants and its been weeks. good luck

If they are "little black ants" they are attracted to the water. We had a problem with those types of ants. My husband put down some bait and they went away. If that is what you have let me know, I think we have some left in the garage and I can get you the names. ~M.

The ants are looking for water, most likely. Also they are sugar ants and eat whatever they can get at. If you spray, use ant bait traps, etc... they will only move from one place to the other. They are in the walls of the house. The only way to truly get rid of them is to have an exterminator do about 3 quarterly treatments, specifically for ants. He will bait them and they will carry the bait back to the mound and the queen will die. It takes about 203 times for it all to happen, but it's worth it. I fought ants for years, then had 2-3 treatments, and haven't seen an ant in over 5 years.

Check around the outside of your house to see where the trail is to see if there's an ant hill around there. We always used dirty dish water (wash dishes in a tub then drown them down the ant hill hole w/the dirty water) but if there's a new anthill then there's your problem. Believe me, we had the same problem w/ants. Nothing we did got rid of them so one day, I watched where they were coming in at & used either silicone sealant and/or hot glue to seal off any holes or crevaces all around the windows, etc. that I found, even used clear duct tape to help w/the sealing around the cabinets where it didn't come together tightly & it worked like a charm. Yes the ants will probably find another way to get in so back to using the clear silicone sealant & hot glue but you hafta keep at it til you can't find anymore holes or spaces for them to crawl into. Good luck & see what you can do about getting rid of that ant hill if there is one (or more).

Hi C.,
I use essential oils for all pests. Inside and Out. All natural and safe around children and pets. And this stuff works! Contact me if you would like more info.

i think its called boric acid, harmless to everyone but ants

Hi C.
For a quick fix, when I see them around my sink, I grab the windex (has amonia in it) and it gets rid of them instantly, stops them in their tracks. I wait a few minutes and wipe surface clean with paper towel. It gets rid of them right away at that moment and it is a way also of cleaning around your sink. Especially if it is at a time when you are trying to do dishes or start to prepare a meal,it's a
QUICK FIX I call it.
I also spray the faucet handles and it at the same time gets santitized. Hope this helps,
Chris

They are probably comming in for water. If it's the little black Pharoh ants you'll probably have to have a professional come out and treat because no matter how much you wipe stuff (walls, counters, etc.) which is enough to deter other ants, these little guys just keep coming and coming.

Good luck!

I would use an ant spray in the area you see them. As dry as our weather has been they are probably coming in looking for water. The same thing can happen when we have too much rain, they come in looking for a dry spot.

Clean all your hard surfaces with vinegar and water. It repels the ants...and its totally green. I love it b/c I can spray it right in front of the babies and don't have to worry about them touching it or breathing it! It works on ants and cleans well, too!

Vinegar is a good one. Wipe down everything with vinegar. Yes it will stink, but it's also a natural cleaner.

My info is at home so I'm trying to think off the top of my head, but I think cinnamon on a window seal works too.

Google "ways to get rid of ants" and you'd be surprised of the "natural" ways to do it.

Remember ants love water, hence the attration to the sink area.

Good luck

If it's Fire Ants or those little tiny crazy ants, they are sometimes attracted to water more than they are to food and it's AMAZING how far they will go sometimes, especially with as dry as it's been lately. So, even if your counters are spotless, they will find their way to a kitchen sink. You may have to resort to an Ant spray.

It turns out that baby powder is recommended because a lot of brands contain diatomaceous earth, which is really effective against ants. BEWARE though if you get organic all natural eco-friendly baby powder, it does not contain diatomaceous earth. BONUS: Something you very well may already have on hand- no need to spend more money in our tight wallet economy AND Safe to have around the lil ones.

Dear C.,

My mother-in-law used boric acid mixed in with apple mint jelly & put it in the the plastic caps that come on milk jugs.
She would set them in the windows or by the sinks. It sure
seemed to work.

C.

Spraying them is a temporary fix. You need to try to figure out where they are coming from - and take care of it there. Look outside your house around your kitchen window. If they have a trail going up your house, try to take care of the trail and lead it where they are, and take care of it there. My parents have had a problem with sugar ants (thank goodness we have not) in the past, so we took their advice to spray the perimeter of our home twice a year. It seems to help all unwanteds from getting in.
Good luck!!
K.

Pine-Sol & Water
50/50 in spray bottle

Kills all pests except MIL's :)

Disinfects at the same time.

We use Bulwark Exterminators. What I love about them is that they are very information oriented and their honesty and service are top-notch. We moved to SA in mid-April and the very first 24 hours in the house (new construction by the way from Main Street Homes) tiny black sugar ants were all over our brand new pantry. They were after our cat food. They will go after sugars including starches and protein. Of course now they're probably coming in for water, hence coming in near the sink.

We've had treatments from Bulwark that were just what we needed, esp. considering that my 3 year-old got lice while traveling during the move. They even treated our home with a fogger that killed fleas, lice, eggs/nits and remnants of the regular treatments you do as parent when you deal with it. I can't tell you how much a load that took off me knowing I could still follow up with cleaning but not being paranoid about every single surface.

Bulwark also guided us to try caulking some of the areas where the ants were coming in. My husband caulked the closets and windows where the ants were and it was perfect advice b/c we have not had vigil ant-ees since. Apparantly, the construction crew did not seal the inside of the closets as they sealed the outside. (Probably something about not being able to see the inside of the closets so much whereas with the outside, we all see it.)

If you decide to use Bulwark Exterminators ask for Mike B. at ###-###-#### and tell them that R. Meckes referred you. Mike was very accomodating when I started to ask about scorpions since I've never lived anywhere that had scorpions. We have not had a scorpion problem, but he put all my fears to rest. He was very thorough and knowledgable. He provided excellent customer service and did not seem inconvenienced at all by my questions. (And boy did I have a lot of them!) Bulwark also has an excellent referral program that gives you great rewards should you decide to use them and refer friends that end up using them too.

I hope that helps. We ourselves were spending a small fortune on retail pest killers so it only made sense to go with the pros. Let us know if that helps and what you find your solution to be. Thanks. ~R!