Ants all over the garden- what can I use so the baby can still crawl around?

[smallpotato]

Our garden has loads of ants. If you look down at the grass it's moving (yeeuch).

I have a 3yo and 11 month old. What can I use to get rid of the ants that is safe? The 3yo got bitten by an ant a while ago and now screams blue murder when she sees one!

[katkouta]

I had this problem, tea tree oil worked for a short while. expensive though!

[crystalglasses]

I would also like to know. We've got anthills everywhere.

[smallpotato]

the problem is I can't find the nest so I need something I can put all over the grass. I was wondering if there are any sprays/powders that are safe for kids after it's been left for a certain amount of time?

Failing that, any tips on how to find the nest??

[Sam100]

Find an area that is swarming and pour kettle of hot water all over it. Wait for it to cool down before letting kids loose! If you find the nest then kettle of hot water on that too!

[Sam100]

To find the nest put some food down and watch where the ants head back to with said food!

[reddaisy]

What Sam100 said but we have got more than one nest in our garden and it is a right pain so make sure you look for more than one.

[smallpotato]

hmm interesting thanks! I might try a nest-hunt tomorrow morning while DD1 is at preschool. Once you pour boiling water on the nest is that it?

[reddaisy]

Not in my experience, but like you our garden last summer was crawling with them and I just did it regularly. I guess you will have to monitor the situation.
It is a pain. We had a picnic last year that was soon covered in ants - delightful.

Also we put ant powder around the perimeter of the house to stop them getting in and that seems to work.

[GrimmaTheNome]

We found where our ants nested by accident. We had the paddling pool laid on a different bit of lawn for about 3 days and when we took it up the nest had extended to the surface under it - cue ants swarming frantically to get their precious eggs safely back below!

They were little non-bitey ones doing us no harm, so we let them be. But you could try lying some thick opaque plastic down on likely areas and see if anything shows up.

[GrimmaTheNome]

When I was growing up we had a join in a concrete path in which red ants nested every year and were duly watered from the kettle, poor things.