My daughter just called with the same problem. I'll just paste in the info I sent her.
Regular Ants Note that different types of ants have different food preferences, so what works for one type may not work for another. You may have to try a few different things to see what gives you the results you want. For ants of any sort inside use your typical bait trap, and sprinkle talc in areas that you do not wish them to travel. usually I can coax them to a bait trap by leaving a certain area without talc. Do not use baby powder that is made of cornstarch... this will not bother them. it has to be talc. (Joseph Howington) (Melissa notes: if you have pets who may lick up or kick up and inhale the talc, it will be safer for the pets to use another method.) This is a good one for repelling ants from the kitchen. Mix a little peppermint toothpaste with a few drops of dishwashing detergent. Apply to area of benches, cupboards, etc. with a cotton bud (Q-Tip). It really works. (Chrissy Pearson) Draw lines using chalk around areas to protect them from ants or to keep them from entering areas. Adding crushed egg shell to potted plants also helps keep plant pests away. (Catherine Rigby) Plant bee balm (Monarda sp.) around the foundations of the house. (Susan MacLeod) Plant around house, or make sachets, or sprays of infusions of spike lavender, garlic, geranium, citronella, eucalyptus, clove, camphor, atlas cedarwood, mints, thyme, basil, rosemary, lemon balm, chili peppers. (Catherine Rigby) I have heard that ants aren't very fond of red pepper, red chili powder or cream of tartar. I have tried cayenne pepper. It kept them pretty well corralled but the really determined buggers would cross the line anyway. (Christa Boroskin) I kill stray ants with a mixture of liquid dish soap and water in a spray bottle. I believe the liquid soap serves to immobilize the ant and then drown it. It works within seconds. My mother-in-law used a mixture of Simple Green and water to the same effect. Just wipe up with a sponge. (Christa Boroskin) Borax powder is used as a sprinkle around the house, but it could be harmful to free roamers. I found an alternate recipe for ant powder: one cup baking soda plus one cup confectioner's sugar. (Catherine Rigby) Ants really dislike mint. You can do all kinds of things with mint. One of the easiest is to get Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Shampoo and just put a line of it across areas where ants are coming in. They won't cross the line. (Judy & Mike Stouffer) Coffee grounds. Make yourself some coffee and just scoop the wet grounds out of the pot and place them in strategic locations. The ants back off. (And if you don't drink coffee, you can still make it and use the grounds.) I used to keep the grounds damp by spraying them with a little water now and then. When the ants start getting bold, use more fresh grounds. After awhile, they just stopped coming! (Amani Booher) I have found that grease-eating ants (carpenter ants) like a mixture of bacon grease, flour and boric acid. I place it in a small glass jar with holes in the lid (this keeps kids and pets out) and mark the content. Just place outside or near the nest. They will eat it and die over a period of weeks. Use the same type of container for other ants and mix with peanut butter and boric acid, or honey and boric acid. For common sugar ants you can buy little containers of liquid boric acid solution. The biggest problem in the south is fire ants. I bait the same way, but I also use a boric acid paste (from Blue mountain) and squeeze into a straw, cut into 3" strips and place near the nest. It will dry, so every few days rub the straw to make fine particles. You want to make sure you don't contaminate the soil. Boiling water works, but you have to be very careful. Fire ants feed in the morning and evening. You have to approach the nest very softly or they will retreat underground. Any detergent will kill ants. (Makes you wonder about detergent.) Keep a mixture in a spray bottle for instant kill. The soap will destroy the chemical trail that they follow. The best solution is to repair and replace screens and window caulking at least once a year. Blocking them from getting in is easier than getting them out of the house. (Nicole Ashley) It seems that ants don't like capsacin, used in topical pain medications. I couldn't find the ground cinnamon one night and was trying to figure out what to use to corral them to keep them from spreading out and guide them towards the bait. Was thinking of trying Vaseline, but didn't have any, and didn't want to sacrifice the little bit of antibiotic ointment I had left. My eye fell upon a jar of chondroitin-boswellian-capsacin cream, so I figured, "why not?" Smeared it on the counter and splash, corralling them in like I've done with cinnamon; they won't cross the line. Told some friends about it and within days one had an opportunity to try it. Worked like a charm... (Melissa Kaplan) The least toxic system we've used for getting rid of the ants is a mixture of 1/3 Boric powder + 1/3 cornmeal + 1/3 powdered sugar. You mix this all up and then make little foil "boats" and put some of the mix on the boats and place them under sinks, fridges, behind w/d, etc. If a warm-blooded pet licks at them, it won't kill them at most it will cause a slight burning sensation of the mouth. This mixture gets rid of everything from the ants to those huge palmetto bugs! You can sprinkle it around the outside of your house. Ants will travel in your house via the wires. You can remove the outlet covers on light switches, etc. and put some of this mixture in there. You can go up in your attic and sprinkle it all up there (works on silverfish, too). I've seen a variation of this mixture on the shelves at stores, but it is cheaper to mix it yourself. I've NOT tried this on fire ants. If anybody does, let me know if it works! (iguanamo...@hotmail.com) There is a product called Terro that is available in hardware stores. When I was in FL for a month going through a biodetoxification program, I stayed at some apartments that are designed to be "safe" for people with MCS. The owners were very strict about what could be used to deal with the prolific ant population. This was one of the products - worked for me! (Barbara Fossey) The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences site has suggestions on dealing with ants. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/ants.htm I was desperate to get rid of the brown ants invading my bathroom and was petrified that they would eventually take over my tiny apartment. I thought I grabbed the container of cinnamon but after a few sprinkles I realized it was cumin! It worked like a charm. A filled all cracks & crevices where I thought they were entering with the cumin and made a border of it at the bathroom door. Thankfully they packed their bags and left. Judging from the other tips at your website-ants are bland eaters, I think any aromatic spice would work. (Dayna Smith) I was having problems with ants getting into my hanging hummingbird feeders. Finally combined a couple of anti-ant tricks and got rid of them...at least on the feeders. First I liberally applied Vaseline Petroleum Jelly in a four inch wide swath on the stand (this would also work on whatever you have the nail stuck into from which the feeder is hung). That, believe it or not, didn't stop them, so next I threw ground cinnamon at the Vaseline so that the jelly was coated with the cinnamon. Twenty four hours later, no ants. Just in case any bypassed the barrier by climbing to higher leaves and leaping for the stand (which is like a big shepherd's crook stuck in the ground) or the feeder itself, I coated the top of the feeder with Vaseline and then topped it off with cinnamon. (Melissa Kaplan) The herb "pennyroyal" is a natural herb to get rid of ants in the home or garden. Just clip off foliage and squeeze out the oils inside the plant onto the ground around your flowers or garden. Within 24 hours, the ants will move on. This works well in the home where ants can be found. (April Henry) Fire Ants I work at a community college in NC and have had to deal with a severe infestation of fire ants on my property. every thing i have tried with the exception of the harshest powdered chemicals has failed... except 1 thing. The bucket. Take a 5 gallon bucket and mix in dish liquid (about the same ratio you would use to wash a sink full of dishes) go to the mound and with a stick or other utensil, scrape across the top of the mound very quickly to open it up and force the workers to come out to play. as soon as you see them react, start dumping the water into the mound. Continue until the water stops flowing into the mound readily, or until the workers that got away make it to your feet. i have seen it take 3 gallons easy to completely saturate a mound. (Joseph Howington) I use a manual method to control fire ants. I turn the mound over with a shovel. If it doesn't work the first time it does after a couple of times. (Neil Sweet) A company called The Bug Store sells organic bug killers and beneficial insects for people who want help controlling insects. There weren't any beneficial insects for regular ants, but apparently there is a nematode you can use against fire ants. Lots of suggestions for control of unwanted insects. Visit their site at www.bugstore.com. I have used chili powder and raw lemons against fire ants in TX - and they are very difficult to combat. Once I went around the outer perimeter of the foundation with chili pepper and squirted lemons and rubbed the rinds around the door jambs. I never saw another ant. (Maggie MacRaven) A boiling water drench of the mound does a better job! Most of the ants and eggs are within inches of the surface, which is why they can appear so fast when the mound is touched. (win...@flash.net) Killing the egg laying queen is the only way to destroy the colony. Wait a day when the ground is dry and the rain is at least a day away, then gently sprinkle a teaspoon of instant grits on each fire ant hill. The worker ants carry the grits to the queen who eats them. When she drinks water, the grits expand in her stomach and kill her. The remainder of the hill dies within less than a day. Suggestion of Karen Hammond of Monroe, GA from the book the Tightwad Gazzette by Amy Dacyczyn, NY, Villard Books, 1999 (912 pp) (Christa Boroskin) To keep fire ants out of pet food bowls, place the bowls inside larger bowls of water. To keep them out of outdoor pet enclosures, place the legs inside cans or pails of water. This trick has been working so far here at our house----in a gallon milk jug mix 4 tablespoons of DAWN dishwashing LIQUID and fill with HOT WATER. Pour the mixture over the mound. BE CAREFUL!!! The ants will come out and start attacking so know where your feet are in relation to where those ants are!! The soap is what kills them and the water is what delivers the soap. (iguanamo...@hotmail.com). If you have two separate nests in your your hard dig one up and place it right next to the hole. Dig up the other one and dump it right next to the first one. The ants will battle between themselves. There are insect companies that will come and kill fire ants for you in an ecologically safe manner. Basically, they bring this unit to your yard, insert a hose into the holes of the fire ant colony, and inject super heated steam. It essentially boils the bugs, but doesn't harm your pets/plants, etc. (Natalie Rigertas) In a dry environment, put down dry grits. The ants eat the grits, drink something or get wet and then they swell up and explode!! They also drag them into the nest with similar results. Well, it is a relatively safe way to deal with them (except for the ants !). (Susan and Jay) ----- Original Message ----- From: Cy Selfridge To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 5:45 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] ant problem Say folks, What has anyone used to eliminate ants keeping in mind that there are also pets in the house? Thanks in advance, Cy [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
