Damn ANTS!! Nothing works!

[RudisFL]

I'll spare you the story, but I went with the nuclear option and used outside granules indoors.

Wal-Mart Eliminator Granules for Fleas/ Ticks / Ants. I paid $2.50 for a red and black canister.
Spread the granules all over problem areas then swept / vacuumed the next day. Problem solved.

 

[oldognewtrick]

I'll spare you the story, but I went with the nuclear option and used outside granules indoors.

Wal-Mart Eliminator Granules for Fleas/ Ticks / Ants. I paid $2.50 for a red and black canister.
Spread the granules all over problem areas then swept / vacuumed the next day. Problem solved.

We love to hear happy endings.

 

[Rusty]

I just use my S&W 22. It kills ants easy.

 

[Flyover]

I just use my S&W 22. It kills ants easy.

Hah, that sounds kinda hard to me.

 

[slownsteady]

Not long before the countertops are un-usable.....and lots of splinters left in the floor

 

[slownsteady]

Today I heard that lemon juice works. Probably smells pretty good around the house too.

 

[thebuilder20]

Do love the smell of lemon. Vinegar and water also works, but perhaps not smelling as good.

 

[Billbill84]

Thanks. This is my second house and it seems like the battle with ants is something they initiate seasonally unlike my last house whereas the fight was year round! Now, they show up early spring and mid summer and will probably show up late fall I'm guessing. A little bit of Terro around the place in and out, seems to work until they have new stronger babies that are looking for a fight lol

 

[rbm328]

go here and get the stuff the professionals use. i had carpenter ants coming in, in the spring. sprayed the recommended all around
my crawl space and put some paste stuff in my receptacle covers. gone, never to return
Rich

DoMyOwn.com <domyown@newsletter.domyown.com>

 

[stephanie20]

These ants jerks are stubborn. They will stick to a place until they keep finding the food source for their storage.

I keep my house inside neat and clean to avoid the ant attack. I also use a chalk powder that helps ants, cockroaches away.

 

[Rusty]

Diatomaceous earth will kill ants and most other insects. And it is non-toxic.

 

[Billbill84]

Diatomaceous earth will kill ants and most other insects. And it is non-toxic.

Yep anything with an exoskeleton in my area. Since I put a trail of it around the entire foundation of the house and garage I haven't seen any uninvited guests, besides my inlaws and a spider or two, anywhere in the house.
I think timing is key to its effectiveness because when the cold weather breaks in early spring the intruders will be looking for a snack. I'll have to put a new barrier of the diatomaceous earth out again. A couple applications every other month or so will continue to keep them away unless they become adapted to it like they do with chemical treatments.
I was using terro for the ants but they would always be back after a couple weeks. The diatomaceous earth poses a different kind of problem for any insect and it has worked for everything so we'll see.
I'll update as time goes on

 

[Connie B]

Peppermint essential oil will get rid of those nasty little black ants. I have tried everything over the years and nothing worked. Get a spray bottle and dump some oil (no real dose,just where it smells good and strong) Spray it inside around the windows, under cabinets, around doors, and anywhere those guys can come in. Spray it all over and keep the bottle handy.They hate that stuff and will leave quick!! I was told about this 2 years ago and thought, yeah, right, but I went to the Dollar store and bought a bottle,and sure enough it worked and I haven't seen them or anything else since. I used the diatomaceous earth all over the yard,around the house,inside and out and it kills fleas, ticks and runs off spiders and whatever but it didn't touch those ants. I even have a metal lid off a jar with cotton balls soaked in the oil in it and sitting in the mail box too and it kept them away too. I just had to spray around the post they climbed up.

 

[Billbill84]

Peppermint essential oil will get rid of those nasty little black ants. I have tried everything over the years and nothing worked. Get a spray bottle and dump some oil (no real dose,just where it smells good and strong) Spray it inside around the windows, under cabinets, around doors, and anywhere those guys can come in. Spray it all over and keep the bottle handy.They hate that stuff and will leave quick!! I was told about this 2 years ago and thought, yeah, right, but I went to the Dollar store and bought a bottle,and sure enough it worked and I haven't seen them or anything else since. I used the diatomaceous earth all over the yard,around the house,inside and out and it kills fleas, ticks and runs off spiders and whatever but it didn't touch those ants. I even have a metal lid off a jar with cotton balls soaked in the oil in it and sitting in the mail box too and it kept them away too. I just had to spray around the post they climbed up.

It amazes me that the diatomaceous earth was not killing the ants but worked for ticks! In my personal experience the ticks are usually the hardest to remove from an area as the area would require continuous treatment to just minimize their population though never completely getting rid of them. They also have a much harder and tougher design literally than soft exoskeleton of the ants so that seems strange. Thanks for sharing your findings

 

[jvc714]

I have an ant problem too.

I have created my own ant bait. It is not as good as Terro but it seems to have lessen the numbers coming into the house.

Here is my recipe.

Boric Acid: 2.5g
Sugar: 25g
Water 75g

That's for a small amount. If you want more, feel free to multiple all numbers by whatever multiple you need. For example, when I want to make enough to last me a 3 weeks or so, I do the following

2.5 * 7 = 20g of boric acid
25 * 7 = 175g of sugar
75 * 7 = 525g of water

I usually pour it in an empty disposable water bottle, close the lid and shake it so I don't get it all over the place.

Then I put the bait outside near the ant trail.

Hope this helps you too.

 

[slownsteady]

Thanks for the recipe jvc. Do you put it in an open tray so that the ants can feed on it?

 

[Rusty]

One of the local gun stores sells flamethrowers.

 

[jvc714]

I started with the outdoor terro baits. It got too expensive to keep on replacing it so I refilled it with my own.

This was what I used as the container. When the lid eventually cracked, I just replaced it with aluminum foil.

https://www.amazon.com/Terro-Outdoor-Liquid-Baits-Stations/dp/B00JG77IUI