Is an exterminator safe?

[Hannah'sMommy]

We have a reallly bad ant problem at our house... and I mean bad. As in, they have made colonies inside of our house in the modem, router, and charger for our electric toothbrushes. We have also seen them attack our food in the cupboards. So, we have called to schedule Terminix to come out and spray for them once a quarter because it is beyond ant traps and bait.

Has anyone used an exterminator with a baby and pets (we have 2 cats and a dog)? Our DD is 5.5 months, and I'm just totally worried about using the chemicals, but we're desperate to get rid of these ants!

Oh, I do have them scheduled to come tomorrow morning between 7am and 9am, so I'll have time to air out the house before I pick our DD up from the babysitters around 5:00pm.

Any thoughts?? Please either make me feel better about this decision or let me know if you've had a bad experience with this!

[mattemma04]

You need to find out what will be used so you can look up the MSDS on the product. Sprays are good if they are spraying the nest.Will they be looking for the nest,or just spraying the entire house?

I had someone come once and they sprayed at the baseboards.While that decreased the SIGHT of the ants it did not kill the colony. Baits and dusting of wall voids will kill more,and maybe even get back to the nest.

What type of ant do you have? I have carpenter.

I was forced to do spraying when we lived in a condo.Was very upset about it,but we survived.Each person reacts differently to pesticide exposure that is why you need the chemical names.Make sure you don't sign anything that waiver your rights in case of injury. I know I have read of cases against terminix.I say prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

I have read that periodic spraying is a waste of money.The spray will deter them from one spot.Hopefully the company will do more than just spray. I am looking into hiring another and I expect them to use dust,bait,and spray.I am all for void dusting and bait if the actual nest can not be found.

Also look into the guarantee.The first company I hired said there was a guarantee if the ants came back,but then after application they mentioned there was a service fee to come out each time, and spray again during the guarantee period.And to the boot the company never baited!

You can buy a lot of the company strength sprays online.Bait and dust too.I have found it hard though to apply the dust in the void areas along electrical lines/pipes.

Best wishes for an ant free house.If things don't feel right you can always cancel the contract later.Just make sure you CAN cancel without any penalty.

[ArtsyMomma]

Our neighborhood flooded a few years ago, and after the flood I saw a few cockroaches. The landlord called an exterminator in and explained that we had small children living in the building. I talked to the guy who came out - turns out he has a two year old son at home - he said he would feel very comfortable using the products he used on my home, in his home. He didn't spray, just put some weird glue around the house. I didn't look into it the product he used though. I never did see another cockroach.

[newbymom05]

Yikes, OP, that sounds like crazy/raspberry ants! I'd def call the exterminators before they cause even more damage. Hopefully they'll use bait, and as long as you keep your kids and pets away from it, I'd think it wouldn't be a problem. G/L!

[Hannah'sMommy]

Thanks for the input!
We went ahead and had Terminix spray around the outside of the house only to start. It's not a repellent, but it's supposed to be something the ants walk over and carry back to the nests and kills the others, and the nests are most likely in the walls. If we still see ants in 2 weeks, they'll come back out and drill holes and spray in the walls. I wanted to do as little as possible due to the baby and pets, so I originally held off on the inside the wall stuff.

I did get the MSDS, but it's for the full strength stuff, and it's diluted to 0.05%, so it's diluted quite a bit (still poison though). It didn't even leave a pesticide smell inside the house, which is nice. I also requested that they come by in the mornings so the spray has plenty of time to settle and the smell time to go away by the time we get home in the evenings.

They do have a gaurantee, so if we have ants in between the quarterly visits, they'll come out for no additional charge.

The ants are most likely the sugar ants, because they do occasionally get into the cupboards as well.

Thanks again!

[Jackies Ladybug]

i would highly recommend doing the wall treatment, while the spray outside is good, it usually will miss the issue as i am guessing your ants have a colony under the house and in the walls.
they have baits that they can put down in the walls that are highly effective and dont off gas like the sprays do.
i would ask them to come and bait the walls so you dont have to worry about it anymore. it usually is effective within 48 hours.

bummer to deal with, i had to move because of an ant infestation that became a foundation issue.
the colony actually compromised the foundation of the house.