I've got major ant problem in my kitchen. I've already posted the details here:
Thanks.
Find the nest.
greg
I treat around the outside of the house as well as inside and try to close openings where possible. It only takes a trace of grease or sweets to attract ants. Last year, I was putting a mix of boric acid and peanut butter outside and the ants loved it. Hopefully they took to nest to kill queen.
Don't know where you are at but Diazinone worked well but damn EPA now prohibits it.
I try to spray completely around the house perimeter every year. My neighbor gave me a bucket of dichotomous earth, and I sprinkled that around also. I still had ants late in the year, and I see 1-2 a week now in the house. I was also spraying up the brick wall where they were going in late summer. I should spray some Chlordane I have, cause I can only keep it in a container, since nobody will take it.
greg
I've done everything short of hiring an exterminator. There are materials only available to professionals but even then, after you hire one, you'll need periodic return visits and it's not cheap.
I keep the ants at bay but don't get rid of them completely. Also think it is a good idea to treat house perimeter for other bugs. There was a year that I was seeing termites in nearby wood and they hit neighbor but not me. He spent the thousands necessary to exterminate the nest.
For op, there are different ant species and different treatments. You may want to identify them.
I can't remember the exact recipie for the solution but make a strong borax & water solution. Soak some cotton balls in it. Then let the cotton balls dry a bit. Put them in the area where you see the ants. They drink and carry it back to the nest and die there.
We've used it and it worked great.
Might try looking on google for borax and ant's.
Randy
Get some boric acid from your local drug store or some borax detergent. About a handful and about a teaspoon of boric acid. Mix well for a long time on the full of the moon. Place in your basement in your choice of old glass ware high as possible on all four sides of your dwelling. This potion will work outside if you place some under a rock near a nest on a full moon. Remember ants cleanup after folks that discard stuff about. First think carpenter ants (WAR) or (sugar ants) just cleaning up. Full moon stuff is nonsense just cheap thrills.
Bill
Dare them to cross the white line.
Baby powder can be used inside the home to mask trails and suffocate ants.
Flour dumped over a nest results in the nest becoming empty. Don't know if it kills the ants or just makes them move.
Uncooked grits dumped over a nest are mistaken for ant eggs and carried into the nest. The grits swell when the rain reaches them and block air tunnels, killing the nest.
Wood ash, from your fireplace, spread over the nest, kills the nest with the next rain. Do not use wood ash where pets, children or livestock can reach. Wet wood ash is lye.
In a previous post which I can not find I wrote about a cup to 1 teaspoon of boric acid. Not stating that the cup was sugar. Gees!!
Anyway oil of pennyroyal with drive the critters out. OK in a basement but not living areas as the smell is pleasant but soon becomes cloying. Also don't ingest or get it on you. I apply when I seen Ant sign otherwise the Boric Acid bait prevents infestation. Also have a spray X10 prethium based for first interlopers. Having your house up a few blocks seems to discourage ants and termites but YMMV.
Bill
Yet another mIstake. Forget X10 go 1600 x-clude
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