Ants...In my house...

[The_X_Marker]

Hello HeroScapers of the General Forums!

I have been having an ant problem in my home for a few months, since it warmed up enough for them to come out.

It's just my room, upstairs, and the bathroom adjacent to my room. I tried everything, even abstaining from eating anything in my room, but they still come. I sprayed, cleaned, dusted, cleaned, and cleaned.

My brother has old food, dirty dishes, and cups in his room, and my sister currently doesn't have a visible floor. The only mess in my room is paperwork on my desk, it's cleaner than most of the house.

So, aside from the standard bug-killers, anyone know a good ant deterrant?

[Jim]

[MegaSilver]

Clean up both of their rooms. They are draw to the food, seen and unseen in both rooms. Your room maybe a pathway to their's.

[The_X_Marker]

The problem is that they don't go to their rooms. i checked theirs, and haven't seen a thing. We cleaned out the bathroom, as it is how they get to my room (through the baseboard, there's a small hole that they get through, can't find it, but it's there). I haven't seen more than one or two ants an hour since then.

I will take your suggestion to heart though, and have them clean their rooms out, as well as find out how the ants got in.

As gross as it may sound, I left the ants dead bodies around where I assume the ants come in, as a dead ant emits certain pheromones if they were killed in certain ways. This did keep most of the ants away, but it was far too unhygienic, even though it wasn't visible to myself, so I cleaned that up, which made more ants come in.

At this point, I am willing to try a lot of things.

[MegaSilver]

Air Freshener sprays kills them really quickly believe it or not. I've tried on some ants that were on my farm. Kills them, and makes the place smell nice.

[Son of Arathorn]

Run for your life! It's the Xaultica Fire Ants!

Just graft a Marro Hive to the neighbors lawn, the ants will attack it. Might want to wear a tinfoil hat though... telepathic shrieks and all.

[Rich10]

Boric acid powder works well. Put it in corners and crevices where they might be able to enter.

[Xorlof]

Originally Posted by The_X_Marker

So, aside from the standard bug-killers, anyone know a good ant deterrant?

Not sure if you're saying here that you don't want to kill the ants. Assuming killing the ants is an option, read on.

It is difficult to seal up all holes that ants might get through, so yeah, while cleaning things up is good to give ants less to forage for, killing the colonies of ants invading your house is your best bet. The problem is only a small portion of the colony's population will actually enter your house to forage. Even if you kill 100% of those that do enter your house, the colony will make more.

What you need is a bait won't instantly kill the foragers. Rather, you need something that they can take back to the colony and feed to the other workers and especially the queen. Without additional information about your situation (what type of ants these are), I'd say your best bet is to use a product like MaxForce. It's not cheap (expect to pay $25 or so), but you'll have lots and lots of leftovers should ants become a problem again. It'll work on pretty much any type of common ant (different kinds of ants prefer different kinds of foods--MaxForce will appeal to all of them).

Some notes: 1) you only need to use a small amount. 2) try to find all ant trails and bait each one of them because you may be dealing with multiple colonies. 3) monitor your bait stations--if all of the product is eaten at one of them, add some more. 4) make sure you're buying MaxForce *ANT* bait (not the roach bait).

As a bonus, the product is safe for humans and pets, so no worries if you've got babies or pets around the house. If you're trying to get by on something cheaper, that's usually not the case, but if you do need a cheaper product, tell me a bit more about your ants and we'll see what we can do.

--xorlof (despite what's written above, I think ants are way cool!)

[The_X_Marker]

Originally Posted by Xorlof

Not sure if you're saying here that you don't want to kill the ants.

Killing the ants is an option. I was more so saying that the standard sprays and baits didn't entirely work. Sorry about the confusion.

These are the small black ants that're everywhere, Google seems to tell me that they're called Monomorium minimum, in science talk.

I will try the MaxForce bait. Haven't used it yet.
Thanks for the suggestion!

[Bobofdeath's Dad]

Terro Ant Killer has worked great for us.

About $5-8 for a little bottle. Put a few drops on a small piece of card stock where the ants are walking. They will find it and come by the hundreds of thousands. Keep putting more drops of Terro on the card stock. the ants may keep coming for as much as 2-3 days. They take the poinson back to the anthill and it eventually kills the whole thing. We get them 3-4 times a summer by our kitchen sink. Terro takes care of them.

Terro only works with what are called "Sweet ants" ants that are attracted by food. Sounds like that is the kind you have with the messes in the other rooms of your house.

Long term solution is to get all the other rooms cleaned up. We can't leave anything out in our basement family room or it will draw in the ants. No food source = no ants!!

[clancampbell]

Ordinary baby powder. Ants can't stand it for some reason. Sprinkle it all around your base boards and the thresholds of your door ways. Sprinkle anywhere you see ants. Leave it sit out for about a week.

We had a ant problem in our kitchen. We tried everything, nothing worked. Then we did this and haven't seen ants since.

It's safe, won't hurt anybody or other pets you may have, and smells nice!

[The_X_Marker]

Baby powder works because of how the crystals are.

To an ant, baby powder is like stepping on glass, which also absorbs fluid from the ants.

Tried it, but it doesn't work as well on carpets.