Tiny black ants (SoCal type) won't go away.

[scottmandue]

I know we have had this discussion before but it has been awhile.
This little sucker just won't go away! We kill them off but when we have a heat wave they come back every few weeks.
Wife try's the TERRO... the ants eat the poison... they come and go for days... looks like a little ant buffet line.
We have laid down Diatomaceous earth all over the inside and outside of the house.

Only thing that works is I get out my pump sprayer, load it with malathion and spray down the perimeter, foundation vents, all around the garbage cans. that last for a week or sometimes a month or two depending on weather.

Problem with these little black ants is there is no ant hill to attack (before you guys go all gasoline and dynamite on me), I even suspect there are multiple underground ant nests and they are so small they disappear in the grass and cracks in the ground so they can't be followed.

Spraying works but it stinks and it is a PITA because I suit up (gloves, mask, boots) yeah, I know I'm lazy. Plus I like to spray in the morning when the wind is down, that means doing it on my day off from work... and when the kitchen is crawling with ants on Wednesday it sucks to have to live with that for a couple days.

Just wondering if any of you guys know some trick we haven't tried yet.

TIA

[craigster59]

Borax....

"Borax will kill odorous house ants, and powdered sugar will attract them. Make a homemade bait by thoroughly mixing one part borax with 3 parts powdered sugar. Fill tiny containers (such as bottle caps) with this homemade bait and place them as close to the place where you suspect ants are entering your house. If you see trails of ants, place small containers of the mixture directly in their path. This prevents most of them from traveling all around your house if they have easy access to this sugary treat.

(Have pets or kids who might get into this powdery mixture? Try this instead: mix one cup warm water with ˝ cup sugar and 3 tablespoons borax. Soak it up with cotton balls and place them in shallow dishes near ant trails.)


Resist the urge to kill all the ants you see. They will carry the bait back to the nest, unable to differentiate between the borax and sugar, and the borax particles will eventually kill the entire colony. The more bait carried back to the colony, the less ants you will have."

[Tobra]

I like borax and powdered hot cocoa mix

[look 171]

Time to go nuclear, Scott. I bought some Chinese chalk years ago and only have to use it a few times and proof, they are gone. I only need to draw a tiny little line right across their path and jsut go out to lunch. Come back no more ants. I draw a small line underneath doorways but I haven't had to do that for years now. I jsut spray the perimeter of the house once a year. It seem to keep most bugs away. I know, I know, they are outlawed but someone told me that you can still get em' at the swap meets. I would try the one at Alpine Village. I haven't been in a very time, but I remember seeing them there once

[masraum]

I've had extremely good results at killing bugs from an insecticide called "Demon WP (wettable powder)." I've been able to buy it from Amazon, and have even sprayed it inside the house. It doesn't smell, and as long as you keep the pets from licking it when it's wet, it's supposed to be OK for pets and kids.

I always sprayed the perimeter of the house foundation, and around doors and windows and even the soffit vents. I would sometimes do the yard. When I sprayed inside the house (which wasn't every time) I'd do things like up under the bottoms of the kitchen counters, beside and under appliances like the dishwasher, oven and refrigerator, and then similar places in the bathrooms.

[drkshdw]

We have tiny black ants, odoriferous house ants (smell like coconut when you smoosh em), some sort of larger red ant, carpenter ants and velvet ants (really a wasp). The only thing that kills all of them is Ortho Home Defense from Home Depot. Takes 2 applications around the foundation perimeter in spring to kill them and then once a month to keep them from coming inside. One $6 gallon lasts us an entire season.

And Terro used to work wonders years ago. Then they changed the formula. It now invites the suckers in and they stay as long as you feed them. Won't ever make that mistake again!

Also, get rid of any wood mulch around your foundation. That will keep 90% of them at bay. They love that stuff. I noticed a huge dent in the fight since switching to rock.

[ckissick]

Cinnamon.

[legion]

I put Terro traps around my foundation every spring. No ants.

[Cajundaddy]

+1 on the Borax/sugar cotton ball mix. They suck it up and take it back to maybe 20-30 satellite nests that all belong to the same colony. Tricky little varmints spread themselves out so one big hit will never get them all.

One of my friends is a retired entomologist from UCR and he said we will probably never completely rid ourselves of these Argentine ants until we get Fire ants. They will eliminate the Argentines but the cure is worse than the problem.

[Drbraunsr]

Tenacious with a capital T. Had the same problem and lack of results with spray, bait, powder, etc
Found Advion Bait Arenas (fancy name for bait trap) on Amazon. Highly rated.
Bought it and was less than impressed. They just weren't interested in entering the "arena".
Googled to find out the ants like sugar (water) and/or grease.
Tried sugar water - yawn. Quick fix but wouldn't reach the inner poison. Tiny strip of uncooked bacon fat leaning against the inner lip of poison - viola, party time.
Gone...gone...gone

Worked for me.

[R K T]

TERRO has worked for us the past two summers when the invasion comes.

[porsche4life]

Amdro granules. Follow them back to their den and sprinkle around. They’ll be gone in 24 hours.

[tabs]

Would you like me to send you some?

I like Borax.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Amdro granules. Follow them back to their den and sprinkle around. They’ll be gone in 24 hours.

That stuff worked great on the outside mound of big red ants I had....don't think I could locate a den for the tiny black bastids...I live on top of bazillions of them, but rarely see them in the house. I don't even try to kill them outside or around the perimeter (and they're underground, beneath the house)....I just find what attracted them inside and remove it. It's pretty rare for me to have an issue though...

[pksystems]

Borax did nothing for the local ants here. Ant-Out spray seems to wipe out an entire hive for a couple months on whatever type of black ants we have in Alberta.

[Schrup]

I have tried everything. I have large hedges around my lot that attracts a lot of ants. The Terro stuff was too weak. I got Bayer Advanced granular bait with some Maxforce gel.

[vash]

Originally Posted by look 171

Time to go nuclear, Scott. I bought some Chinese chalk years ago and only have to use it a few times and proof, they are gone. I only need to draw a tiny little line right across their path and jsut go out to lunch. Come back no more ants. I draw a small line underneath doorways but I haven't had to do that for years now. I jsut spray the perimeter of the house once a year. It seem to keep most bugs away. I know, I know, they are outlawed but someone told me that you can still get em' at the swap meets. I would try the one at Alpine Village. I haven't been in a very time, but I remember seeing them there once

what's in that chalk.?

we had an ant invasion at our office. we tried everything. no success.

some older Philippine lady shows up with that chalk. she scratched a few lines everywhere..and POOF! i think they went extinct!!

she retired..i bet that stick of mystery chalk will last the rest of her life.

[craigster59]

"Ant chalk, also known as Chinese chalk or 'Miraculous Insecticide Chalk', is an insecticide in the form of normal looking chalk. It contains the pesticides deltamethrin and cypermethrin."

It's available on Ebay but ships from China...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-5box-Miraculous-Chalk-Kill-Cockroach-Roaches-Ant-Lice-Flea-Bugs/263590443480?hash=item3d5f36f9d8

[tabs]

This whole Thread is RACIST....and GENOCIDAL. What do you have against BLACK ants.

[BeyGon]

I don't have the problem, I married a UCI grad.