Help. I have ants in...

Avatar for hope_bou
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Help. I have ants in...
13
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 12:40pm
the kitchen & bedroom. We are on the top floor(23) and they come in through he window , They are black and ugly. What can I spray, to keep them away??


Summer in the City. Ugh.

Hope

Hug Hope

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 12:49pm
Boy they are determind little buggers to get that far up. I like to use a think syrupy stuff called Tarro (I think that is how it is spelled). You pour a very small amount on a small square of cardboard, put it by the place the ants are coming in and the ants will eat it, they then take it back to their nest and it kills them and the queen.

Pab

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 1:07pm
Good morning, Hope. Sorry about your ant problem; so far, so good here! I think all ours have drowned. Then I read Pab's suggestion, and I had to chuckle: are those ants so dedicated to their queen that they will trot back down 23 flights to take the poison to her? or will they take the elevator? or does she travel by luxury coach up the side of the building? I don't know, it just got my mind to wandering along those lines..LOL

We do normally have an ongoing ant problem from May through the summer. But, seriously, i think they have all been washed away for the time being. Of course, mosquitoes are supposed to be horrific this year. We had huge downpours of rain again this weekend; that is 3 or 4 weekends now that we have had tremendous rainfall, and the ground was completely soaked early on. Here I just use an ant spray, and track them back to their source as best I can. It's not so hard to get rid of them temporarily! It's just a battle of wills as to who can keep on keeping on longer: us or the ants...and they have no other focus in their little lives, you know?? LOL Good luck to you. Seren

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 1:17pm
I don't know what to tell you about ants, Hope. I know there are sprays out there specifically for ants but how well they work ??????? Maybe the garden powder made for ants would be more effective as you wouldn't get the spray in the air (and in your lungs). It works well outside - until it rains - so I don't see why it wouldn't work inside ... no rain to dilute it inside!!

A street fair!!!!! Is it like a crafters market or a garage sale or a real fair? I'd enjy the first two but not the last (which is why I'm at home babysitting while the family is at the fair :))

HAGD - hope the cleanup with your DF went well.

JJ

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-1999
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 1:22pm
LOLOL! You crack me up, Seren. Oh yes, I'm sure our ants have drowned too!

I like Pab's suggestion too, baits always work best for me. Try the Tarro, Hope.

And Seren, yes, ants are dedicated little creatures, with one purpose in life -- to serve the queen. They will travel amazing distances to take food back to her. There was a high-rise here (downtown) that had a persistent ant problem, and they finally traced their trail to the Varsity, which is over a mile away. I've done quite a lot of research on ants, as I do NOT like them at all, especially the fire ants, as I talked about the other day. Grrrrr...

I noticed this morning that you were still getting rain. It has slacked off some here, but looks like your rain is slowly making its way over here. Stay dry.....BB

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Avatar for brenner129
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 2:00pm
anything with boric acid will work, Hope. They won't cross it. Adventurous little things, aren't they? : )
Bren
Avatar for brenner129
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 2:13pm
BB, I didn't realize you had such a dislike for ants. L Some people here recommend that you put grits(the old fashioned kind) near their hills/nests. The grits supposedly expand inside the ant which kills them. Just a little southern flavor there. I still recommend anything with boric acid.
Bren
Avatar for emty_nstr
Community Leader
Registered: 05-25-1999
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 2:26pm
Talk about expanding in their stomachs...Years ago the Catholic church said that people had to stop throwing rice at weddings because the birds will get it and it will expand in their stomaches and kill them...well as it turns out that rice is as much a food as bird seed so it don't matter.

I too had some stuff that you put on a little piece of cardboard the ants came from near and far there had to have been millions of them did they die? Who knows...we were bothered by crickets one year so I took the barn spray(what they use for flies in the milk barns) and sprayed up under the siding on the house. This was in an older 2 story house we lived in. Within an hour or so there were creepy crawlers falling out from under there that it grossed me out. I did that about 3 times that summer and didn't have crickets in the house or spiders.....lol.....the ants though I think you have to get the nest.... if you can stand it here goes... http://www.epestsupply.com/ants.htm good luck. Janet
Avatar for justjudy75
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 4:11pm
Three years ago I was so overrun with ants in the kitchen and couldn't even sit in my living room chair. Brenner has the solution, Boric Acid. I got mine from the pharmacy. I put it on the outside of my kitchen window and in the carpet next to where I thought they were coming in. They take it back to their anthill and within 7 days the hill is no more. I haven't had to redo and haven't seen any ants since. I did line my cabinet under the sink with it.......hopefully it will get other crawlies too! Good luck! Hugs, Just Judy P.S. If you have cats, be careful where it is placed as they lick their paws and could be harmful to them.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-15-2002
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 5:50pm
Are you sure they are ants? I've used Terro II in the past and it has worked, but decided to go ahead and bite the bullet with an exterminator. He came Thursday, looked at the type of ants we have & sprayed accordingly. It cost $95.

Good luck!
Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-15-2003
Sun, 05-18-2003 - 6:15pm
I hear ya Hope! The only good ant is a dead ant!!!! I swear our house was built on an ant hill. They are even in the shower. What'z up with that? I am allergic to all bug and insect sprays, and lawn sprays etc.. so I have to use natural stuff to get rid of them. Did you know that Lysol disinfectant kills their little butts? Ya have to use the one scent that comes in a green can. The other disinfecant sprays on the market don't seem to do the trick. Also 409 kills them....

If they are now so bold as to invite their buddies over to your house then Sprinkel some Boric Acid around where they are setting up house keeping and waa..laaa... ya got yourself a pile of dead ants. I have two dogs and I was kind of leary to use it around them but they are okay with it and haven't died yet. My vet told me that it is a repelant too? hummmm????...

I hate ants with a passion... They can play in my yard that's cool but to start coming into my house is when I go nuts... We just thank God that they are not fire ants!

Aloha,

Leilani

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