Killing Ants

[Cubit]

I've been trying to poison some ants. They are actually in my kitchen, but they come from the garden, so I hope I'm on topic here.

In the past I used Grant's stakes. After a few days of feeding on the poison the ants would be gone for about a year. This year the ants refused to eat the Grant's bait. I even tried removing some from the pod and mixing some water with it. The ants just were not interested. These ants want MEAT. I live in the Silicon Valley, and we have very very tiny ants. People say they are Argentinean ants.

When the Grant's failed I bought Raid and Combat bait stations. The ants took no interest in either product. I then tried Terro ant poison. The ants loved the stuff. They took their fill out the six poison units that came in a pack. Unfortunately, the ants just kept coming in a large column until the bait was gone. They now stream into my garbage disposal, where I dumped some uneaten dog food.

The Grant's I had used had been on the shelf for a few years, so I bought new stakes at Wal-Mart today. Occasionally, an ant will go check out the bait, but they are not interested.

Can someone suggest a brand that is likely to work?

[Bert Byfield]

I use Fantastic kitchen cleaner (soap) or a similar product. It's not too deadly to pets or other living things, and does the job.

[helco]

I've had good luck with MaxAttrax, which is a sort of jelly that you goop onto a surface where the ants will find it; they eat it, bring it home, and disappear in a few days. The ants in my office ate it and disappeared. The ants in my mailbox had no interest in the stuff, though -- but a few mothballs in the mailbox got rid of them. (The mail smells funny, though.)

[chaz]

Takea ritz cracker and crumble it, add to the traps and walla, ant hotels!

[Cubit]

Thanks

I have ordered some MaxAttrax on the internet.

[Snooze]

Out here in the silicon valley we have Argentina ants, most consumer ant bait doesn't work well with Argentina ants. Unfortunately it is very difficult to kill Argentina ant colonies, because the a single colony can be support multiple queens, and the ants will eat just about anything, besides the bait. Hotshot brand bait works occasionally.

Commercial pest control companies use delta dust in the crawl space to kill foragers, you blow it into the crawl space vents using a bellow, delta dust lasts approximately 6 months. Attempt to locate where the ants are entering the house, check window sill cracks, and around door jams. Tap on baseboards, to locate ant passage ways.

Place dabs MaxForce ant killer bait gel , which uses the pesticide Fipronil in a sugar gel in all the above mentioned locations.

Clean out your sink drain, push a handful of ice cubes into the drain, turn on the grinder, flush with water, repeat.

Additionally you need to locate as many of the colonies as possible. Argentina ants will relocate the colony if their nest is disturbed, so mix up a batch of contact pesticide in a sprayer and follow ant trails back to the nests. In particular check along fencelines, the base of trees, and areas where loose mulch or soil is a few inches thick. Plus check near the garbage cans.

-S

[John Bachman]

My favorite ant control is a 50/50 mix (the mix is not critical) sugar and Boraxo. The borax in Boraxo is toxic to ants. The ants are attracted to the sugar but cannot tell the difference between it and the Boraxo. They tote both back to the nest and everyone dies.

John

[Cubit]

Hotshot is the company that makes the MaxAttrax ant bait that helco recommended.

Thanks for the ideas. I never would have thought of using ice to clean out the garbage disposal.

The ants come in through the roof vents, then out through the kitchen cabinets. Attic, as such, is not accessible. They are marching at least

120 feet from I'm-not-sure-where.

[Cubit]

The Terro product I tried had a borax chemical in it.

Thanks for the idea.