Dad blasted little **** ants!

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Katie H

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Okay, now, do I have your attention? Well, I don't have the attention of the little varmints I'm complaining about.

Unfortunately, our winter wasn't as cold as it normally is, so we didn't get rid of our teeny, tiny ants. We are plagued with them and it's getting to me.

Doesn't matter how I scrub and clean and try to keep anything clean they want to feed on, "off." The little critters are still here. In droves. In the kitchen, that is. And, it's beginning to GET ON MY NERVES!!!!

Does anyone have a a good way of ridding us of these beasties?

Bear in mind, we have kitties roaming free, which means any poison, etc. needs to be cat-friendly.

Please, please, PLEASE. Someone help!!
 
They don't like Boric Acid (cat friendley?) or Bay leaves. I keep Bay Leaves in my cupboards all the time.
 
Katie E, Dove is right on the money. If you mix equal parts icing sugar and boric acid (mix it well) they will take it back home and it kills the little varmints. Works like a son of a gun.
 
Wiping down counters, trails, etc. with rubbing alcohol. They come in looking for water usually, so even good housekeepers get them.
 
don't crush them/stomp them...rumor has it that they release a scent that attracts more every time on is killed.

Try a natural approach like vinegar and water or a little cayenne spray.

Might be worth a visit from the orkin man to go around your foundation and all other entry points that might go unnoticed.
 
Good suggestion, Tatt, but this house is more than "open" to all manner of critters. It's old (1880) and even the drafts have drafts. The Orkin man would simply laugh. Until we are able to do extensive renovations, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with home remedies for the present situation.
 
LOL....I had to deal with this each year at our old house......until Terminix could finally show up I'd blast the lil bugger with a squirt bottle of clorox....LOL.
Prior to getting Trinket I did used to buy some ant bait at Big R. It was in a small brown bottle and you placed the solution on one of the little cardboard circles that came with it. The ants would feed on it and take it back to the nest. It worked really well but I stopped using it after I got her for fear she'd eat it.
We lived in the country and were plagued with the tiny ants, carpenter ants and wasps and I took full advantage of Terminix........if I saw a bug I was on the phone. The one technician took his job so seriously that when it came to the carpenter ants I stood giggling at my kitchen window while I watched him on his hands and knees crawling around on my ground tracking the carpenter ants to their bungalow. Sure enough he found them and took care of the situation and I was relieved to finally be rid of the marching band that would come through the front hallway making its way to my kitchen :LOL: .
Knock on wood no problems here at this house with any such pests.
 
Well, would you believe that they do not like the scent of whole cloves? I have an area above my sink that they like to conduct their caravans from time to time---all I have to do is swab the area down with some vinegar water (which neutralizes the scent that they are leaving behind for the others to follow in a straight path) and then place whole cloves hither and thither across the front of my sink and they are change their travel plans--never have I had to use Raid or call in an exterminator---it really does work and I'm from Texas where ants are not afraid of anything!!!
 
Terro... I think that's the stuff I'm thinking I used. Reddish and white tube, put a little on a piece of cardboard.... the cardboard can be placed where your cats can't get to it (I have a cat and used it BTW), under the fridge, under the stove, in a cupboard, on a basement window ledge...
Also, I spray the outside of my house every year for spiders (Viper) and the inside for fleas (Ultracide), that stuff will take care of any bug that crawls through it. You just need to keep the pets off of it until it dries.
 
:) Katie the sugar is to attract them and want to take it home and when they do they take the boric acid with it.
 
I specifically grow the herb, tansy, for this problem. I can see where the ants crawl up my foundation and I put the cut stems right were the ants are marching up the wall. It could be a long term solution for you to buy some plants and plant them around your foundation. It works every time for me.
 
I had them in my old house and I finally found out where they were coming from. I had a planter which I used to bring in and out as the weather permitted. They were living in that thing!!!!!!
 
jpmcgrew said:
:) Katie the sugar is to attract them and want to take it home and when they do they take the boric acid with it.

Sorry Katie, I didn't see this till now. JP is right on. The sugar makes them want to take it home to mama and the boric acid gets rid of them. I think I read that it dries them out.

Works like a charm though. I've used it successfully and it doesn't bother either kitties or dogs. I am really careful about that.
 
Boric acid is great for killing roaches as well. I was "coerced" (in other words you won't graduate unless you take it) into taking an entomology course at Texas A&M and the prof that I had, Dr. Franke, advocated putting boric acid into a large jar with a piece of apple and setting it out. The apple's aroma attracts the roaches and they run over the boric acid and pick up their crystals which stick to their bodies.Then the boric acid's chemical composition totally screws their nervous system as they love to groom themselves and easily ingest toxins that have stuck to their bodies while cleaning themselves. This is why it's difficult to kill spiders--they're slobs and don't groom themselves so it's more difficult to kill them unless you spray them directly. Ok, you all can now go safely back to sleep with such wonderful trivia tucked away never to be unearthed again. Glad to know that boric acid works on ants--first time that I heard of this.
 
Anyone else got that icky tickly feeling that there are bugs crawling on you???? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! This thread is icking me out!:ohmy:
 
Yeah...but, they REALLY are crawling on me. Well, just ants.

The thing that expatgirl posted about spiders really creeped me out. Ewwww! Several years ago Buck was bitten by a Brown Recluse. Not pretty. Now we're really skittish about spiders around here.
 
I have used the boric acid product but it didn't seem to work. It was more of a nuisance. The red pepper definitely does not work! Some of the ideas here are good and work for a short time. The best method that I have used is taking a wet sponge and scooping them up on it and flushing them down the drain. LOL Some people think that they go south for the winter along with flies and mosquitoes. In reality, they all hibernate! We will be plagued with them all summer too.
 
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