Ants!

[mikester]

Oh god its just insane!

Had a small ant problem (well, It appeared small at least...).

It had been going on a while, minor nuisance, they would show up once in a while and I'd clean them up and that would be that. Never could find out where they were getting into the dish washer from but I'd run a sanitizing cycle and clean out the filters real good and we'd be good.

Finally got tired of that and called the pest control place we use for termites. They come, treat and now the ants are invading. Every where I look there they are. Nothing I do stops them. Pest control place called is a 'boil out' and is normal. Of course they didn't tell me it was going to happen. If they had I am not sure I would have escalated the war...

Seriously. Up the walls, on the ceilings, IT'S INSANITY!!! I've had the house cleaned but that hasn't stopped them. Any little teeny tiny little morsel and they go after it. They got into my kids water color paints when they ran out of misplaced food to find.

Everywhere they have attacked EXCEPT THE KITCHEN which of course will probably happen tonight while I sleep.

The pest control place finally agreed to come back on WEDNESDAY of this week but I'm worried that will just make it even worst. I have no idea what to do. I am exhausted from it.

Anyone have any ideas?

They are the little black critters. Monomorium minimum I believe. Irritating as heck!

[GWN7]

Sticky traps?

[GWN7]

From the net: "Use a mix of cinnamon and sugar. The ants will pick up the sugar, along with the cinnamon, and take it back to their queen. Ants can’t digest cinnamon and once the queen dies from not being able to digest the cinnamon the colony will die without her"

[LeeH]

I've had good luck with the bait traps. Usually only takes a couple of days.

[Schrup]

I've battled two different types of little black ants for years. Late Spring I got a kit off ebay that included Advance ant bait . Just a little killed all the ants, they can't resist it, it's amazing. I have tried everything else, anything I've bought in the store was ineffective or worked for a short time.

[look 171]

Boric acid.

I use the old fashion Chinese chalk. You can still get them at swap meets for a buck. I find their trail and use the chalk just cross their path and they will go away after a few hours. I am up in the canyon, so ants are a pain in my azz. I spray the lower corners, doors and windows of my house every three months. Sprinkle Boric acid around as many places as I could. No more ants for years now.

there are two reasons ants are coming into your home. One is sweets and protein. The other is termite. Sometimes they will make a nest up into your walls and go after the termites there. If you had your hosue tented, they will still go after the dead termites. Get the Chinese chalk. I know they are not good for human for pets. My termite man uses it on his own home, so that have to tell you something. He's up in the hills in Glendale, so he has to deal with lots of bugs also. He knows what works and does not use his own chemicals.

[JavaBrewer]

Hell I recently picked up a couple spray cans of ant killer...Hot Shot brand I believe. I sprayed an ant trail and they simply walked through it like nothing. Either Cali has a ban on actual pesticides or the local ants have mutated to something more resistant.

Thankfully it's been definitely cooler the last few days and thus our ant issues have abated. They are going into hiding until the next heat (85+ F) wave.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Hell I recently picked up a couple spray cans of ant killer...Hot Shot brand I believe. I sprayed an ant trail and they simply walked through it like nothing. Either Cali has a ban on actual pesticides or the local ants have mutated to something more resistant.

Thankfully it's been definitely cooler the last few days and thus our ant issues have abated. They are going into hiding until the next heat (85+ F) wave.

So they are coming back this week? I hear it will be back up into the 90s.

[slodave]

It was 94 in the Valley today.

[Jim Richards]

We spent/wasted some time on those little black ants this past week. I think I'm going to have to try the boric acid and the Chinese chalk stuff next time those buggers start to become a nuisance.

[mikester]

Woke up to more trails. They are going to areas I have cleaned already dozens of times. The house is damn near spotless! Still it isn't perfect of course...

I know they go after the termites and appreciate that but in the house I draw the line.

[vash]

my pest man said it was impossible to clean a home enough to prevent roaches or ants..

i get a run of ants once a year..i find that if i fight them on the outside, around the perimeter of the home, i wont see them on the inside. take the fight to them. bring the pest man back to set up a no-fly zone around the house.

[lonewolf]

I had an ant problem for couple of years.
I tried a couple remedies but the mixture of icing sugar and borax bleach worked .
After couple days I couldn't find them anywhere.

[gatotom]

So sorry, I feel your pain.

A few yrs ago, our house was attacked by the small argentine ants and the carpenter ants. I go ballistic when they are in the first floor, kitchen, den & living room but go off the charts when I see them in the bedroom.

I discovered epestsupply.com, there KM antpro bait station worked amazing but the best was Demon WP kills them dead, now.

Took one of the bait stations and place on the trail, within days ants are walking around drunk until there is no more, the bait is boric acid with a sweet taste which is taken back to the nest to feed the queen, slowly death happens to the colony.

Vash is right, kill them before they get into the house, now the bait stations are outside near the house and also a twice yearly spray of Demon WP on the house perimeter, so far so good.

[Zeke]

Absolutely boric acid. I have no ants. But I did.

BTW, Mikester, I think the reason they like you is because you "clean them up." No one else I know would be that nice to them.

[masraum]

Demon WP kills everything dead right now. It's amazing stuff and available off of the 'Net.

I use it to do the perimeter thing too.

[RWebb]

the exterminator made the ants "feel unwelcome" (in the walls?) so they decided to move inside the house

are they carpenter ants? sounds like it; if so, you need to fix the house (replace wooden parts like studs, sills, etc.) and also get rid of any habitat outside the house (old stumps, logs, etc.)

you want to find a bait that they like to eat and will carry back to the nest; there are better things than Boric acid these days

in eusocial insects (ants), the workers are just so many "hands" - killing them merely cuts off a few of the hands -- you need to kill the Queen

now go watch Alien and dream

[scottmandue]

I also have tried corn starch... same theory as cinnamon (hadn't heard that one) they eat it but can't digest so they die... it is a bit messy but seemed to work after a day or two.

[herr_oberst]

I had good luck this season with a product called "Combat"

It's a gel that you squeeze out of a syringe like epoxy.

Hate the little #*@%#&$.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by Schrup

I've battled two different types of little black ants for years. Late Spring I got a kit off ebay that included Advance ant bait . Just a little killed all the ants, they can't resist it, it's amazing. I have tried everything else, anything I've bought in the store was ineffective or worked for a short time.

I made an order - hope it helps...

I also picked up some of these to try to localize them:

Ant Problem? Terro = Ant Control Solutions

I placed them in the spots the ants are coming from usually. One spot the bait is literally full of ants now. That's better than having them trail all over the house. I think I'll need to put another bait there though...