Best way to get rid of ants inside the house?

[RTR]

Should be a pretty simple question. Any suggestions? They're small and don't really do anything except annoy me.

[jce338]

guns and a six pack.

[Pinner]

[XXX-er]

uh ,ant killer ?

[woodstocksez]

Thread on this subject from 3 years ago: [ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89031"]Respect for the ants[/ame].

This year we had a guy come and spray a few weeks ago. He apparently has access to industrial strength spray from work (I'm a little vague on the details - this is the wife's connection) and sprays for friends, etc. who hear about him. No ants after spraying (well, actually, a few in a couple of places). Jury is out on longer term effect.

Also, FYI, the gel that I mentioned at the end of the above thread didn't seem to work very well this year. The ants were out of control.

[XXX-er]

I had ants that would start in the basement suite and head upstairs as the summer progressed ,you never really kill all the ants ,they come back every year ... its a maintenance thing

[snapt]

I left the house a week ago with a few in the bathroom. Came back today...there's a small spider in the corner with a dozen neatly wrapped/stacked ant's and no more meandering around. I named it Shelob. Get a spider(s).

[PassTheDutchie]

The only problem with this method is that you need to remove the roof to ensure adequate sunlight.

[DJSapp]

As mentioned in the other thread, Grants kills ants stakes work well. Slow acting poison lets the troopers haul it back to the nest (i.e. they don't die in your house, no cleanup!)

If for some reason they don't go for those stakes, take it apart and mix the poison with maple syrup and put it in a bottle cap. They go f-in crazy for the maple syrup mix, just make sure it's out of reach of kids and pets.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

As mentioned in the other thread, Grants kills ants stakes work well. Slow acting poison lets the troopers haul it back to the nest (i.e. they don't die in your house, no cleanup!)

If for some reason they don't go for those stakes, take it apart and mix the poison with maple syrup and put it in a bottle cap. They go f-in crazy for the maple syrup mix, just make sure it's out of reach of kids and pets.

Or take a toothpick and some honey and stir it into the poison through the hole in the stake. This works every time in my experience.

[Tippster]

Flamethrower.

[lemmycaution]

I had ants that would start in the basement suite and head upstairs as the summer progressed ,you never really kill all the ants ,they come back every year ... its a maintenance thing

now this is my kind of thread:

this is generally true. i just went through this and it was a big deal to really get rid of them (which i think i have done) when there is a stream of ants (usually heading to and from the trashcan or something) dont just indescriminately kill them all- first always note where they are coming from- then kill the ants and caulk the hole. over a long while you will limit their movement and be able to really get a sense of where they are coming from. eventually this will lead you to the nest. it is key to get the nest (shopvac the fuck out of it when you find it). it took me about a year to track it down (i had to rip a doorframe off my cellar wall to expose the nest in the end). its been about 2 months now with zero ants. its a pain in the ass but kind of fun if they dont drive you nuts- it takes patience and determintation (and they have pure machine like determination so its a battle of wills).

note- poison by itself will NEVER do it. they will find another route and use that. it is worth researching ant behavior and how they move. it is a kind of self-organizing behavior (like bird flocks) that allows them to adapt to changing environments and you have to work with that. an exterminator approach will be short lived. i used no poison at all, just caulk, tape, the bottom of my shoe or fist (ant killing device) and the before mentioned shopvac.

[powslut]

I had an infestation behind the chimney in my laundry room last summer. Tried a virtually every product on the market before finally using borax mixed with jam in a 9:1 ratio in homemade insect hotels on their little highways as well as a a spray bottle full of dilute dish detergent to get right at their nest. Worked great and got rid of all of them within a week.

[Pegleg]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but the Raid or Black Flag ant traps at the supermarket (the ones that come with 4 little plastic pucks that have poison in them) have worked every time I've encountered ants at my last house and my current one. As soon as I see a few ants, I get the traps and just put them in the corners of the room or wherever the ants seem to be. Apparently they take the poison back to the nest, and it knocks out the colony. They usually are gone within a week, and I don't seem them again for year or two. Supposedly the traps are pet-safe as well (though once our new baby starts crawling, might have to find a different solution if the issue arises...).

[butterscotch]

if you're just starting to get a few scouts, talc/talcum powder will keep them out. I spread this around where I thought they were coming from a week ago or so and have been ant free since. Also, a good idea to clean the area with something strong to destroy the pheremone trail. FYI, baby powder (not the cornstarch kind) is talc.

If you already of ton of ants, then you'll probably need somethign more extreme. Apparently, borax is a good ant poison.

[Flyoverland Captive]

This stuff works wonders. I've got a log home, so I'm always paranoid of carpenter ants. I put a dab of this stuff in any trouble areas, and they vanish.

[mmmthmtskier]

I agree with lemmycaution's technique and can offer a few tips of my own(live in a house in the suburbs of SoCal, YMMV). My problems have been confined to bathrooms(water source) or kitchens(food source). Whatever you do, don't nuke with spray outside until you seal your house up inside and out. You'll just drive 'em inside. A passive approach outside(bait traps) and minimal spraying(at entrance hole/crack) followed by sealing up entrance should take care of the problem.
I had a real tough one to crack: Very small red ants were coming up THROUGH the carpeting in my bedroom and they were biters!(I was snacking while surfing the forums!). Very difficult to locate an entry point(nowhere near the bedroom), came in through the pipe/hole near kitchen sink and traveled through flooring/walls. Sprayed that entry point plus bait traps in the bedroom=Problem solved!

[Jer]

Nuke them from orbit. Behead the remains (if any).

[iscariot]

Take icing sugar or suryp and mix some Borax into it. Leave it out and let the ants swarm it. Wait ~10 days. No more ant problems.

The ants will take it back to the hive/ant hill and distribute it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4881566_make...-ant-bait.html

http://tipnut.com/ant-killer/

[Jethro]

I had a shitload of ants on my concrete walkway. The concrete is edged with old rail road ties, which the ants like. I poured some old two stroke gas on them and it killed them instantly. Faster than any poison! The problem is that they cannot carry it back to their home since they die so quickly. I did not even have to light it, but I did. I hope the gas that soaked into the tie and ground was equally toxic to the little fuckers. Don't light it if you use it on your house.

[Downbound Train]

I moved into a house thet was INFESTED with ants 11 years ago. I used a multi pronged attack...
1. Tarro, a syrupy poison they take back to the nest.
2. Raid has a product that forms a parimeter around the outside of the entire house
3. Raid the entire interior of the house as well as any trails you can see.

I repeat the exterior treatment yearly. No ants in 11 years.

[Poop~Ghost]

How the hell do I get rid of the earth worms that are making my front yard lumpy?

[Jer]

How the hell do I get rid of the earth worms that are making my front yard lumpy?

Nuke them from orbit, then behead the remains (if any).

[Hood26]

Had a mesh internet router in the corner of the living room. Someone didn’t clean up a mess completely, bet is on the middle school boys. Whole nest set up home.

Thought I could save the router, but just tossed.

Guess the best thing is to now just mop
up the scouts and workers that were out and about.

Maybe need to get into the crawl space and check it out. Never saw the queen come out, so hopefully she is enjoying the trash can.

I sweep the dust bunnies in that corner weekly and just last month we had the whole living room torn apart for a deep clean. Crazy how fast those bastards can set up shop.

Teachable moment for the kids. Report every ant spotted. Report every spill and ask for help, and quit sneaking food and drinks into any living space outside of the kitchen and dining room.

[ötzi]

Liquid any baits that kill the colony are cheap and super-effective. The ones from Terro work well, To prevent reinfestation, this shit: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Advion-An...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Is the shit. Put a bead or dots at potential enty points. Needs to be renewed every so often, every few months.

I'm amazed nobody said to use a maul