I have had ants in my house over the last 17 years and although when I have found there way into a room I have put nippon powder down I never have eradicated them. Every year they return at this time of the year. Does anyone know of any really effective ant killer to completely get rid of the little beggars?
desparate
Myrmecophaga tridactyla.
Or, in English, a Giant Anteater. Possibly overkill.
Seriously (?), I found the best way to stop ants getting in was to lay something sticky across the ingress point. I used 2" masking tape laid sticky side up and held it flat by taping it to the carpet with 1" masking tape used sticky side down along the edges. It was fascinating to see the ants 'dipping a toe' before turning round. Only caught 2 or 3 ants as they seemed to know it was certain death and gave up.
On another occasion when ants started getting in around the kitchen window I noticed that they avoided a spill of Fairy Liquid. So a dribbled it all around the window frame and the ants stayed away.
However, I find Nippon powder works for me (great for wasps nests too).
Al.
Nippon liquid killer works well if they are in the dry. They take it back to the nest and it kills the queen.
I think its just borax and sugar if you want to DIY.
Other than that the liquid sprays like B&Q ant killer work very well but don't destroy the nest.
In message , BigGirlsBlouse writes
The only way I found (when the lawn had a lump a metre in diameter 15cm tall) was to pour 1/2 litre of cellulose thinners into the entry holes and set fire to it
Other than that no
The above might not be exactly the best solution indoors ...
Like the poor, they will always be with us.
We have had ants in the house every year for as long as I can remember. What I use to get rid of them is a product called 'Ant Bait'. It is a square box about 50mm per side and about 8mm deep and comes on a card shrink wrapped.
Their usual point of entry was via the front and back doors, so I put one of these outside of each door after I had pushed through the entry points so the ants could get in for the food and take it back to the nest. Usually, within about 2 weeks the ants were not to be seen. You might have to replace them after 3 months, as other ants may re-colonise the old nest.
Another thing I learned from this ng a couple of years ago, is that they don't like talcum powder and wont cross it.
Dave
I tried this instead of Nippon as it was less messy. For me, it was 100% ineffective! Probably the wrong kind of ants....
Went back to Nippon...although I like the idea of a pet...a miniature giant anteater - if you see what I mean!
I have heard of the failure of 'ant bait' before. In fact, I think it was you that said that the last time I advised using the product. But all I can say is that it works for me :-)
There are variations on this and one is where you load the bait container with some sort of gell (Nippon?) every few weeks. Once again, the theory is, they take it back to the nest and kill off the whole family in a couple of weeks.
I couldn't believe the scattering of talk though. The ants couldn't get away fast enough :-)
Dave
I know what you mean - it often happens to me at parties.
Fantastic Maxie, fantastic!
Maxie, do you think a hammer is the best solution indoors?
discover their route. Then dusted the whole route with nippon powder. No ants for a few weeks. One day, I was in a rush for work and a bag of bread open in the kitchen. When I got home, ants back. I followed their trail again. This time is was amazing. From the front of the house airbrick, up though floorboard / skirting gap, along the edge of the living room, into hall, into kitchen, across room, then loads on the surface. I noticed a blob of mamalade left there. I dusted all this route, re-dusted the previous route, and never saw them again for a year and then I sold the house and moved out. I also had red ants nests in the lawn, making kind of spongy "mole" hills. They never came in the house though (ants, not moles !) Simon.
The garden next to my GF had these hills; being in London clay, they'd gone tather hard in the Summer. My GF asked me what the proper term was for them; as I didn't know I suggested 'Dimmock', as they were about that sort of, er, size.
No, FWIW you can now get a nematode that you get through the post. It comes in a sort of powder which you mix up and pour into nest. The nematodes then make their way into the ants and kill them. Bit like Provado but for Ants.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "BigGirlsBlouse" saying something like:
If out in the garden, a pint of petrol down their nest followed by a lobbed match. You might find they're coming in from outside and if you can track them to their nest, use the violent and brutal method. Obviously that's not too practical indoors, but you can buy borax powder in bulk for them there and mix it with sugar.
Bayer literature makes claims why Provado is better than nematode treatments, so it seems it is not one.
In message , Grimly Curmudgeon writes
nah - thinners have denser nastier fumes
The RHS says
"A pathogenic nematode, Steinernema feltiae, is available from some mail order suppliers of biological controls for treating ant nests in lawns and flower beds. The microscopic worm-like nematodes are watered into the soil in places where ants are bringing soil up onto the surface."
I'm not denying that there is a nematode available for killing ants (I searched and found it) but I thought your comparison was saying Provado was a nematode that killed grubs.
In article , Andy Burns writes
Oh, sorry, I meant it was an easily applied liquid that gets into the soil and works like provado rather than relying on immediate contact with the ants
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