Ants in the holiday home WWUD

[EverybodyKnowsThatYoureInsane]

On holiday with DH, 9mo DD and dog. Woke up this morning to a line of hundreds of ants coming through a hole in the middle of the floor and encircling the kitchen bin which was about a foot away.

Because I know someone will say this no I did not leave food out. There will be remnants in the kitchen bin (has lid and bag) we cleaned up after dinner and this dog rarely misses a crumb!

YABU - ants are a fact of life, just get on with your holiday
YANBU - the owner should do something about it.

Bonus points for what you would do or what you would expect owner to do.

(Edited for typos)

You could ask the owner to get some bait traps. They work pretty effectively. I’d probably just get them myself though tbh.

You could also pour boiling water where they are coming in from outside.

Personally I'd nip out, buy some ant rid and get rid of them, and message the owners you've done so- it's a pretty easy fix

Kind of depends where you are. I live in a country where every home has ants at certain times of the year, nothing to do with how clean or otherwise it is.

This indorex defence flea spray is the best thing I've tried. Completely stops ants coming in when sprayed around the entrance: Indorex Flea Spray www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXN2ABK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Almost every supermarket and hardware type store will sell any powder. Ants are a fact of life I think!
A mild inconvenience on your holiday hopefully. I'm not sure I'd expect the owner to do anything

Whatever you do, tell the owners, especially if pets are allowed. Some of the ant killers are very toxic. Because of the warm weather, insects are active early this year.

Go and get some ant traps and ant powder and get rid. Not something I’d be making a drama out of.

Leave them be.

Ants need holidays too.

I think I'd just deal with it myself, as it's easily done, but inform the landlord so they know about it. Ants hate essential oils like peppermint and tea tree oil, so a few drops sprinkled around where they are coming in always does the trick for me.

I like this. Aww now I feel bad lol.

Window cleaner is pretty good for getting rid of them although not string enough to deal with persistent incursions. But I'd start with that. Less impact on humans and there's probably some around anyway.

So the boiling water thing I would do if they were outside coming in. But do you think it would damage the floor of inside? It's literally slap bang in the middle of the house.

Tell the owner straight away and ask if they have any ant traps. I’ve found them to be the best thing - and safer for dogs / children than scattering powder around. I’d be expecting the owner to sort out some sort of ant killing thing at some point today. It’s not an emergency though it’s not very nice. If the owner didn’t sound very energised to do anything about it and I could get to a shop, I’d be buying an ant trap thing from a supermarket or ordering next day delivery from Amazon.

Well I kind of knew deep down that there was a way I was BU but I didn't want to spend time dealing with it. ( Although I have) 😭We are only here three days and the place was listed as Luxury " but I guess I've just been lucky never having them in the house before. ( Home and holiday both rural UK)

🎼Skip to my lou my darling

But also, we like the Nippon Gel Ant trap thingies. Shoukd help within avout 24 hours with no mess. Then you can remove it when you leave to avoid the next guests being troubled by ant powder etc

Thanks for all the tips. Going to look out for an Ant trap. Something to do in bad weather at least.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable to not like it. But no reason to panic. If you’re going to have invading insects, ants are quite a good one because they tend to religiously stick to their well trodden path, and I’d say are less likely than other beasties to end up everywhere in all crevices. I would expect the owner to try to sort them out but it depends if it’s happened before or not - would likely take them a bit of time to get to shops, buy stuff, get it down and in place etc. Ants can be unpredictable. We just randomly got them one summer, never before or since.

I get ants coming in from my garden and trekking through my living room into my kitchen. Diatomaceous earth powder sprinkled outside the living room French doors tends to stop them, and it's non-toxic to pets and cheap enough to get.

I’m in the Uk and I’m currently having this battle in my rental.

Just this last week they’ve been coming into my utility room where the bin is.

The bin bag is inside a sealed metal box with a flip top. I think they are on the search for food and they send patrols out. If they find something, they return to the nest and others follow the scent trails to the food. The more ants the stronger scent trails, the more ants and so on.

I haven’t seen any ants getting into the bin, but I think they can smell it (I have some left over cat food in it).

My temporary solution, bin outside the back door and a carrier bag on a coat hook for rubbish which I put in the bin daily. I could put the rubbish direct into the bin but it hasn’t stopped raining here.

Hope you are having better weather.

I would by some zip lock bags to make sure our food was all safe and leave the ants to enjoy their life

I certainly would not give them much headspace

I would report it and ask them if they wanted me to do anything. The ants themselves wouldn't ruin my holiday. Insects are all part and parcel of cottage life.

I had this happen to me. I let the owner know but did find some ant repellent in the cottage so could start treating straight away. If there wasn't any ant repellant stuff I'd have expected the landlord to sort. However if I was going to a supermarket anyway I'd probably pick up some stuff to sort more quickly. Ants are a fact of life and are very good at finding food!

Borax and sugar

https://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Ants-Using-Borax

I would mention it to the owner btw bc they will want to put a solution in place for the next guest even if they can’t solve it quickly for you op.

Basically you don't want them in the house but don't want to do them harm. Block the hole where they were coming in? Don't leave food out, put the ant stuff on the trail as they follow pheromones or something so you have to get them to forget the path... But mainly block the entry route and get the ones inside outside...