# Ant Invasion!



## v8der (Jun 17, 2012)

We are currently over run with the little black ants that begin to show themselves every Spring. It's a two story house with the ants starting to come in around the kitchen (starting around the garbage and sink area) then they move throughout the house.

Now the kitchen is so over run we've moved to hiding our open food products in the fridge. The upstairs bathroom has now become infested with the garbage always being full and even our home office where this computer is sitting right now is beginning to get infested. We can't even set a drink down being afraid we'll find one.

We've successfully killed many waves of them with the old toiler paper and cleaning solution method, but they just return in full force a day or two later.

So, essentially I need a two pronged attach: first on the inside that will attack and kill all the ones currently inside and second, something that will create a deadly barrier to prevent new ones from coming in from the outside.

Any thoughts?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

http://terro.com/


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

The good news is while pesty, they only stick around for a short period of time.


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## lost_punk (Jun 19, 2012)

run to home depot and buy a jub of this stuff called AMDRO ant block. disregard the directions. sprinkle a think layer around your entire house. use 3/4 to the whole bottle. don't do it if its gonna rain in a day or 2. done this every year every spring. ants are gone in a day or 2. for inside get a case of raid for ants. get the **** that smells good so your house smells good. go around doors, windows, heat ducts, eletrical boxes, your garbage cans, sinks, and under the fridge. this will kill them on contact and the AMDRO kills the nest.


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## creeper (Mar 11, 2011)

Disregard all prior info... casually walk to the grocery store and get a box of borax laundry soap (20 mule team)

Mix a tablespoon or so with the same amount white sugar. put it on a piece of paper on the floor nearest the entrance you suspect they're coming from. 
Either wait for the ants to find this tasty treat or pick one up and put him there. He will tell everybody else and soon there will be a steady stream of ants. Resist the urge to stomp them, they are taking the poison to the queen. In a day or two it will all be over.

Use the rest of the box for spring fresh laundry


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## gjones (Aug 21, 2011)

I agree with creeper. I have been battling those, um, jokers, for the past few years in a 50+ year old Maple in my yard. 

Although, for instant gratification, mix a heavy solution of liquid dish soap and water in a spray bottle and hose down the jerks. The solution kills them awesomely. I just found a queen cruising through my kitchen about 30 mins ago, so GAME ON!!!

Good luck!

Graham


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## creeper (Mar 11, 2011)

See thats why you must resist the urge. Once the queen is gone they won't come back


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## tiredhomeowner (Jul 17, 2012)

*ant worriess*

We had an explosion of ants all over the sunroom window - little black ones some with wings, some big bulby horrible ones with wings too - and another stream of them coming out of the sunroom door frame into the kitchen. (the kitchen is across from the window that had the explosion!). 
We had seen some ants a few weeks prior to this but then were very diligent about keeping the kitchen clean and eventually, we didn't see any more. Then this!!!! 
I have put a borax ant killer solution into the door frame above the sunroom where i have seen a few poke their heads out but they seem to know I am up to something. i fear after i took the molding off the frame they just retreated further into the wall.... 
Are they mostly gone? Are they deep into the walls and making bigger nests? Is the borax solution enough? Oh, I also sprinkled a borax powder solution around the foundation outside. 
Argh. Please help! I am not sure if i should be making holes in my wall to see where they are... I don't see any of them out and about any more.... that almost makes me more worried!
thanks advance for any help!


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Sounds like you need to call in exterminator to see if these could be carpender ants or termites.
Rare to see nonharmful ants develop wings. and and termites do.

Let me make a guess that sliding door is level with a deck, or stoop on the outside?


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## tiredhomeowner (Jul 17, 2012)

we saw them in the window sill of the sunroom. the sunroom was not built properly and the windows were not put in right i am sure. there is no insulation around the windows for one thing - so maybe that is where they came in? 
they are black ants. the sunroom is connected to the kitchen and the back screened in porch. 
i have looked everywhere out there and can't see a line of ants entering the house. 
one of the big ants that had wings did have a gold strip across the bottom of it. the little ants do not. i have seen several of them now and after killing a couple i could inspect them and they had no stripe. 
after this big explosion and putting out this poison it has been quiet. BUT like i mentioned earlier, while i was taking the moulding off the door frame, there were a few that came out of the wall to see what was going on and then we haven't seen any since. i put a yogurt container lid with the borax solution into the cavity between the door frame and wall above the door. 
am i doing enough?


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## tiredhomeowner (Jul 17, 2012)

i don't know if this makes a difference, but the sunroom has no foundation under it - it is raised up on cement pillars. so it is ground, air then the floor. I suspect that this sunroom was once a back porch the previous owners walled in (hastily). the wall that holds all the windows (four in total is made of cheap fibreboard or something - not drywall and there is nothing really behind that. 
the outside has the conexcel? i think it is called - fibreglass siding? looks like wood but isn't. 
any ideas? help? experience? 
i looked at pictures of termites and what i saw doesn't look like that .


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## Daniel Rogers (Jul 19, 2012)

I prefer an "eco friendly" approach to ants especially in my kitchen where there is food. Came across an article on how to get rid of ants in an eco friendly way. 
Soap, water, alcohol in a spray bottle. Cornmeal wont kill them right away but once they eat it, they swell up and die. Cinnamon is another recommendation, it deters ants because they are repelled from strong spices. I chose Soap water and alcohol because it was easy clean up and i had it in my house. Hope this was helpful.


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## shadytrake (Jul 8, 2012)

2nd the Terro and Borax solutions. Ants like to farm scale on my orchids and every once in a while they try to set up a colony. Both of these products work to kill the queen which keeps them from nesting. Move along to another shadehouse please.


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