Ant control. Nuclear option?

Lead them to a better food source away from the kitchen.

try to remove all food sources: clean floor daily, put loose foods in tupperware etc

NT

Or remove the food sources in the kitchen. Keep all shelves and surfaces wiped down, clear up spills and splashes. All things that ought to be daily routine anyway. Well perhaps not shelves but if something leaks or spills clean it up.

If you can't see an obvious food source watch and follow the ants to find it, they might be "just passing through".

Or you could move, we don't have ants, at 1400' winters are too cold and summers too cool. Being snowing/sleeting all morning today, 2C with a NE'ly. There are few ant colonys down in the town at 1,000', the snow/sleet up here will be just rain in town.

A mix of Borax (Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate )and icing sugar. Many ebay sellers for borax.

...and the borax will come in handy for shutting down the reaction if you are finally forced into the nuclear option :)

Nick

Got an ingress a few years ago and got a gallon of paraffin which I carefully used to soak all around the outside of the house and obvious weak points inside including around where they were getting into the kitchen. The house stank for a day or two - no more ants since.

Don't know if it is still available but Deathlac was very effective. It is an aerosol which purs a thin layer of lacquer onto the surfaces, containing insecticide. Apparently the ants pick up enough on their feet to kill them. Iy is applied around any possible access points.

Malcolm

I've had good results with ant powder blown behind cabinets and on outside walls at ground level.

The solution is much simpler. Remove the food source(s) that they are going in to visit. We had this problem once with an ill fitting glass lid on a container of candied peel. The result was an amazing stream of ants going to and fro when we got home one night. The mix of candied peel and ants went straight in the bin!

If the scouts don't find anything to eat they quickly go home again.

It is only worth killing the colonies closest to the kitchen and even then if the location is suitable they will quickly re-establish.

Brief update.

After all efforts to control the ants failed, I switched tack to trace where they were coming from.

Upper story of our home is (1960's) timber frame, and I located the nest to an insulated wall section that had been kept moist on a continous basis by nano-leakage from broken down shower grouting.

Bathroom completely stripped out. Ants are now euthenased. All water and ant damaged structural timber replaced. Replacement shower will use "multiboard" panels. God willing leaks will be history (as will ants).

I'm a bit surprised that ants damaged timber. They aren't termites.

Andy