How to get rid of ants?!!

[Quaranteenyweeny]

I've tried vinegar, soap, coffee, room spray, good old fashioned squishing but every day they come back!! Please tell me theres a magic cure. I have cats and a one year old so can't try anything toxic !

You need to find the nest and pour boiling water on it.

Bait stations. Put a couple where you see them most, keeps them busy and eventually kills them off.

if you know where they are coming in, put a narrow line of baby powder there.

Not sure if it is safe for DCat though.

Why do you want to kill them? Fascinating, industrious social creatures and we, human beings, the most pointless and destructive species of all, could learn valuable lessons from the social structure of ants. What harm are they doing that they have to be destroyed?

I sometimes pick them up with tissue and throw them out my door, I don't want to kill them! But I don't want them trailing along my floor, would you? Its gross! I'm sure like all creatures they're magnificent, but I wish they would be magnificent outside!

How do I locate their nest?? I've tried and there doesn't seem to be one and my garden is very small

@msbevvy

You need to find the nest and pour boiling water on it.

This. Only thing that works.

We also found that religiously hoovering and mopping the kitchen floor daily helped too. No kids crumbs, no ants. Once they start it's difficult to stop them though which is where the water comes in.

I read that lemon juice acts as a barrier they won't cross but haven't tested it.

We were invaded last year, they were marching along the kitchen floor.. I’m afraid I went the ant powder/spray route and kept the dogs well away from it. We were invaded at all 3 exterior doors, it was horrific.

Get a babysitter for the day and get someone to look after your pets and spray the place with indorex. Cheapest, last I checked, at pet supermarket.

Just get a bait station. They will take the bait back to their nest. We had an infestation in the bathroom last year and while I don't like to kill things we could t just keep them!

@Hedgesfullofbirds

Why do you want to kill them? Fascinating, industrious social creatures and we, human beings, the most pointless and destructive species of all, could learn valuable lessons from the social structure of ants. What harm are they doing that they have to be destroyed?

I don't know about the OP, but I don't like being crawled all over by beasties when I'm sitting watching telly.

How are humans pointless? Destructive, sure, but pointless??

Leave them be!

They pop up, do their ant thing and are gone again. Imagine somebody pouring boiling water on you and your family.

Honestly.

@SecondCityShark

Leave them be!

They pop up, do their ant thing and are gone again. Imagine somebody pouring boiling water on you and your family.

Honestly.

Imagine living in a house crawling with ants

Bait stations will sort it out

We bought our first house in 1980.
Returned from work one day to them all over the kitchen and in presses.
Asked next door neighbour did she have a problem..yes she said always this time of year. Had thrown out all the food. She told me to get ddt powder and line the windows and door entrance with it and they will not cross your threshold. Never saw them again and reapeted it mid may w every year. I dont know if its still available. Talc or jeyes fluid can also work . Nearly abandoned house over ot !!!

I think the best humane bet is to try to figure out their routes into your house and block them, if you can. I’ve got them coming out from under the kitchen skirting boards at the moment so my next DIY job is a line of mastic along all those. Last year they had a route through a gap by the frame of the garden doors so we blocked that up. Ongoing process...

You either need to wash everywhere they go religiously or sit and watch where they go and see where they get it.

A few years ago I found them come out of the floorboards upstairs where the brickwork stops and the exterior is tiled. They normal come in where the seals shrink away from.the windows or doors so ant powder around the outside works

If you get a household spray recommended for fleas from your vets and spray downstairs then that will do the job. You will have to keep the pets and kids out of the room for the time (a few hours I think) it says on the can but could do a couple of rooms at a time. Its effects last a year and it’s designed to be used in houses with pets & families.

Cinemon powder deters them. I sprinkle it where their trail comes in to the kitchen and it stops them. Need to top up every few weeks.

*cinnamon !

Washing up liquid is a good barrier.

I make a 50/50 mix of bicarb and icing sugar. Give it a good shake and put on the floor near the nest. The baking soda is taken back to the nest with the sugar as a nice sweet treat and kills the Queen.

It's never failed me yet.

Go to town with the sealant, block up where they're coming in (window frame, door step) and sprinkle bicarb to deter them, put any sugary food/drink in the fridge, leave them an easy food source (sugar, boiled sweet) outside away from the house.

We have had them 3 years running, we have a nest under the house according to the pest man, he said block where theyre coming in (in our case through skirting) and seal with flexible caulk, keep doing this as they find new gaps until they cant get in and they make their way outside where he would then treat with something more powerful (think its a licenced(?) product) that they take back to the nest and it destroys it, he said the stuff us mere mortals can buy just kills them too quick so they dont take it back with them, leaving the nest unaffected. The caulking has worked up to now but watching and waiting cos theyre relentless little gets