Ants! Help

[Pepe]

Hi,
What can I use/do to get rid of ants? (BTW: We are not content to live with them among us.) There are different types, the large blackish ones and the small brown ones. Ick. Please advise!

[gretasmommy]

I don't know, but we have them too!!!! Ack!!!!

[BonMaman]

ditto :

[hipmummy]

We wiped down all of surfaces with Vinegar. It was very time consuming but we did it. Then we filled soda bottle caps with ground cloves and put them all around the house. Once we figured out where they were coming from (in our case rotten wood) we rapired it and have not seen them since. Outdoors we made a water,detergant,citus peel mix and filled allof the ant holes with it. After we sprayed garlic oil to repell any new ones.

[roomformore]

My neighbor recently told me that you could sprinkle corn meal about. Apparently, they cannot digest it properly and it will kill them. Anyone heard of this? Tried it?

[ElliesMomma]

Originally Posted by roomformore

My neighbor recently told me that you could sprinkle corn meal about. Apparently, they cannot digest it properly and it will kill them. Anyone heard of this? Tried it?

we did this. for a couple bucks and non toxic was worth a try. it takes a couple weeks by which time ants seem to have run their course anyway. so it's unclear if it was the corn meal or if it was just over for their spring run. we are not 100% rid of ants, but their numbers are down to say 1-2% of what they were.

[abadine]

If you can find the ants nest, you can pour around 1/2 cup of boiling water into the hole. If now, you can use the corn meal & salt to move them on. Goodluck!

[koofie]

I just heard that the "brown" listerine sprayed on their "trails" will mess the trails up. anyone tried this? I've been spraying daily+ with vinegar and it inhibits them for an hour or two, but then they are back. I can't spray too often because the vinegar smell drives my family nuts!

[brandyk]

Food grade diatomaceous earth (i.e., not the stuff you put in a swimming pool). It shreds open their exoskeletons through dehydration. Do a google search.

If you actually want the ants to go away with no fuss, get some terro ant baits. It uses borax. Seriously. I don't like having to mix everything and the ant baits are safer than having bowls around. From super highway to dead ants in a day in a half. A miracle. Borax is a mineral so it's natural.

Don't buy other brands. It's a waste of your money. Buy Terro.

[catkendig]

One thing to note - the large black ants are probably carpenter ants and they eat wood. It may be worth having a professional come out and check for damage. The little brown ones are usually harmless and just lookin' for a little sugar. I've not tried this myself but have been told that ants will not cross black pepper. So, I suppose if you know where they're getting in, you could put some of that down if you're running out of ideas. Good luck!

[brandyk]

FYI, I laid down a huge swath of black pepper, vinegared everything, did the cinnamon things, etc. I'm pregnant and wanted to try everything natural first. The Terro was more easily sourced than the DE and killed the whole colony. Nothing else worked. I was about to lose it with the 3 inch wide super highway colonizing my apartment.

[lovemyfamily6]

We had them twice in the last month in our kitchen. Both times we used the Terro baits and it worked. The first time they were coming in near the back door. They were gone in less than two days. The second time, I found out they were coming in the kitchen from the garage (coming up from the crack in the floor. We had three ant baits out there and it took nine days before we didn't see any ants. There were so many!

I thought we were done with them but tonight my boys showed me one that crawled on the vent on the family room floor. I'm going to be so upset if we have them in other rooms now. I don't know what to do in there. We have a crawling baby and can't leave the ant baits in there but we can't have ants in there with him either.

[DocsNemesis]

Peppermint oil! We get ants EVERY year-and every year the stupid terminex people come out, they go away for a week and are back in full force. So much for chemicals....So last year out of desperation and an attempt to avoid bombing the whole house, my dh bought some peppermint oil and used it around all the areas where they were and were coming in. He also made a baking soda/peppermint leaf powder for behind the freezer where they were concentrated. They were gone within a few days and never came back.

We also planted peppermint plants all along the front of the house (where they were coming in) and over the year, its grown A LOT. We havent had any sign of them this year.

Also, on a side note, I use Mrs Meyers lavender stuff in pretty much my entire house and I have read from 2 other users that they had ants and they went away after switching to this....I dont know if it has peppermint too or if they dont like lavender or what, but hey, I love it anyway so if it helps-bonus!