Ant Infestation

When I had ants in the kitchen I bought a "bait station" which contains poisoned food that they carry back to the nest. They were gone in a couple of days.

Check any jam jars and the like that were out in the kitchen. I opened a jar of lemon curd and there were numberous ants around the thread of the screw lid.

-- Richard

I did that,the day they arrived I left them on the side in their packaging and the following morning there were no ants, they clearly know what they are.

Spraying all the tops with Dettol may have helped as well :-)

They will get in via the smallest gap.

While we’ve not had your exact problem, we do have a large block paved drive. Block paved drives are ‘ant magnets’. We use the white ant powder as soon as we see signs.

It seems to work for us.

I understand they ‘carry’ the stuff back to the nest and it kills the nest, rather than just killing individuals.

When on campsites, we spray the lower end of picnic table legs with a spray

- we call it Death Lac but I think that is an old name. Not sure if it kills them but it seems to stop them climbing the legs.

Borax and sugar is a traditional ant killer. I think the technique is to make a small amount of thick sugar syrup and stir the borax into to make a thick almost gritty paste, and put that into a yoghurt pot lid or whatever, placed down where the ants are active. The sweet sugar encourages the ants to carry the mix down into the nest, and the borax kills them.

Does that also work for human legs?

That worked well for me, but using Boric Acid rather than Borax. Borax itself is banned in the UK but Boric Acid is readily available, eg on eBay.

I think the ants take some back to the queen and she dies. Hence the song 'Killer Queen'.

I have found where the little beggars are coming in and although still only a handful coming in these seem to have more purpose about them following the same route in and out of the kitchen. I have a couple of bait traps on order and should be here tomorrow so I know where one is going at least and hopefully we will see Antageddon.

Richard

In practice, borax is not exactly impossible to purchase ... ebay, boraxdirect, amazon, HD chemicals

I had a look outside in the vicinity of where they appear in the kitchen but was unable to observe any activity which suggests to me the nest is in the cavity. I was hoping to try to pick up some traps either at SF or TS but SF have none in stock at all and TS can deliver in 2 days. Just hope Amazon can deliver early tomorrow. I am hoping that since we only became aware of them over the weekend that the nest is still small and we can put an end to it before it becomes a metropolis.

Richard

Have you got a "The Range" nearby? They sell Nippon gel ...

I got rid of mine by wiping the top surfaces down with neat Dettol while I was awaiting the ant traps. Didn't need to use them in the end.

No sign of Amazon delivering before tomorrow so I went to the local garden centre and picked up a couple. So far the little beggars have shown little interest in the bait choosing to walk past the entrance, grrrrr!

Richard

Once a few of them find it they should leave a scent trail that others will follow.

-- Richard

That's why they are so successful!

Put the bait trap right on the path they’re currently using…

I thought this was part of the amazon courier thread!

I have put the traps on the path in corners they tend to walk along edges of the skirting or kick boards they come up to the trap but just walk around past it. A few have walked along the edge of the trap but have not been tempted in.

I had a nest inside my cavity wall insulation once.

Came home after a hot day and my bedroom was full of flying ants that had come through the small crack where the timber window frame joints the wall.

There seems to be an epidemic of woodlice this year too.

Where I have been watering juicy leafy plants like Armeria, there are dozens of them in hiding and scurry for cover when exposed to light.

It's the tea-leaves that follow the Amazon and DPD vans (to nick stuff from the doorstep) that need the Borax treatment.