oh god ants in the kitchen

[KMR281]

right, got home yesterday from work, and found little black ants merrily exploring part of the kitchen. Zapped them with spray flash (!), bleached the floor, bleached outside where they might be getting in. this morning, little gits are back again. We had a new outside gas meter installed a few months ago, and I think that must have created an opening for them. it deffo seems to be that they are getting in behind/near one side of the cupboard, which luckily has pots and pans rather than food in. how do I get rid of them?? I hate them and it's driving me mad already. i am already a bit frantic at the thought of what I might come back to after work today. We have decking directly onto the house at the back, so can't see under that.

You need Ant Death. Think its called Nippon. It is white powder. Squirt it everywhere around openings, on ants and it does work.

I bought some Nippon this morning - do you reckon it will work even if I don't find the nest? Will cover everything this evening, inside and out.

any other ideas??

KMR the ants traipse the powder back to the nest so you don't need to find it!

We get them every year, we have an old house with lots of little nooks and crannies for them to get in. Ive hoovered up a jolly little parade of them in the living room today. Don't like putting Nippon down ATM as 2yo DD will be sticking her fingers in it and I don't fancy using Raid spray near her and 5wo DS.

thanks guys. not had ants before. yurk.
I have checked the Nippon pack, but it doesn't specify - presume is safe to use whilst pregnant so long as wear gloves and don't breathe it in? will have to warn the DC not to go near aswell... ah the joys of summer....

I used it when pregnant, in the one spot DD can't get to it.

nippon powder just kills the individual ants, you want the nippon in a tube. the stuff they eat, take back to the nest and make food from, it'll kill the nest.

I bought a couple of black trap things with bait in. I put it by my kitchen door and they take the bait and take it back to the best which kills them off.

Another vote here for the Nippon in a tube. You can also buy it in a plastic pot which stops fingers "accidentally" investigating it.

We had ants I'm the kitchen too - yuck! We got a couple of ant traps which seem to sort them (only after a few weeks).

even if you get the nest, you'll find a second wave 3 weeks later. the nippon kills off the nest as they make food with it, thus also killing off the queen, but, there will already be eggs in the nest, waiting to hatch = new lot of ants. kill off the nest again, and they'll be gone as there's no queen this time to repopulate.

can you tell we've had a massive ant problem?! i've done my research

A child/pet friendly ant antidote is lemon juice.

Or a mixture of half sugar/half salt. We put it near the hole where we think they get in and it stops them very quickly. Apparently they are attracted by the sugar and killed by the salt that they take back to their nest.

Get the ant bait stations,they come in packs of 2 & are on amazon. V effective & safe for children to be near.

i've never had any luck with the bait stations, the ants just ignore it.

not heard of using lemon juice, how/why does that work? i'll give anything a try, we've got them in the kitchen and the sitting room, they're coming in from under the windowsill

Kill them with detail, it's no toxic to children and pets. Leave the dead bodies an the ants will come and clear them up and never return. Try it... Works for me everytime :)

No need to use anything ultra toxic just drown them in dettol.

Not detail... Dettol

AntStop, sprayed round the doors and windows, and along the bottom of the walls outside. Makes a barrier that the ants can't cross, and lasts for months (6, if I remember right). It worked like a charm at our last house.

Stop putting food down for them. This will typically be spills and splashes of sugary drinks or good, but may also be pets dishes.

You can use Nippon Gel, search for "Toddlers are much smaller than ants" and your children need not be poisoned.

Will the liquid nipon work for nests outside? We've got ants nests in the lawn that I try to destroy every year without success. It makes sitting on the grass impossible because they bite.

yes, Nippon liquid is so delicious that they carry it back to share with their friends. You have to protect it from rain, or renew it daily, as it is sugary and will wash away.

I'm off to buy some tomorrow then. We're in for a few hot days

well, got back last night to just a few wee ants scurrying around - perhaps they knew they were in for trouble! I put down nippon powder where they have been crawling, and some outside where I guess they may be coming in.
No ants this morning. i have also ordered some of the ant trap thingys aswell.

children (and DH) have been warned not to touch the powder, and in a month I'll replace with ant traps instead (assuming no more ants) to hopefully allow for any baby ants attempting to invade my kitchen.

DS1 was quite interested in stamping on them, then taking the squashed corpses into school for his nature project....

will get some dettol aswell so I can drown them too.

my ds had a close encounter with ant powder. according to nhs direct, he'd have to consume a whole tub for it to have an effect.

i know in my next life i will come back as an ant, pop out of my nest, have a shed load of ant powder dumped on me, then get sucked up into a dyson