Ants in kitchen - safest way to deter in a house with toddler

[Liveinthepresent]

Can anyone advise?
No idea where they are coming from but need to get rid ASAP!
Just a regular one or two rather than evidence of a nest.
Anything I can buy that won't be an issue with a lively toddler in the house.
TIA

Get an antbait station
Its a little box you can put out of childrens reach ours is at the back of the work top, under the cupboards kick boards is a good place. Ants are attracted to climb in through a small hole, they eat the stuff inside and take it back to the nest to share, it then kills the nest.
Cost less than £5 for two

Thanks will investigate

I've just used those traps and they worked really well.

If you can keep your floor scrupulously clean then they won't come in looking for food.

There are two natural methods of deterring them, either paint coffee or paraffin over the thresholds where you think they might be coming in. Ants follow scent trails and coffee and paraffin disrupt this trail.

We're ripping out our old kitchen which seems to have invited them in. Having researched, the odd ant is apparently a scout, looking for food sources. If you don't deal with these, the hoard follows. Hot soapy water is recommended for killing both the ant and their chemical trail. We also cleaned our cupboards and work surfaces thoroughly (although they've gone now).

I also noticed lots outside the kitchen door and attacked these with boiling hot and soapy water.

I read cornstarch is good if you have an infestation rather than the odd scout. They bring it back to the nest but their bodies can't digest it so they die from starvation.

Seems a bit cruel but cornstarch won't harm your dc

Thanks for the extra ideas - bought a bait station yesterday and have hidden it out of toddler reach. Am unsure where they are coming from so hard to leave a trail of coffee / paraffin / cornstarch.

worldgonecrazy yes I imagine hygiene is a factor sadly I don't think I can do any better - expecting DC2 in a few weeks so it's going to get worse!

Nippon stuff is really effective. It destroys their nest.

We had ants in the kitchen so I did quite a bit of research on the internet. They won't cross a line of cinnamon or washing up liquid so if you find where they are coming in you can create a barrier.

Also if you put down bicarbonate of soda mixed with icing sugar they take it back to the nest and because they can't "pass wind" they explode. Exploding ants are not dangerous.

following advice on here, I sprinkled cinnamon down. I put quite a lot along a path which they were following, and it worked very well. Apparently it confuses the scent trails.

is it really necessary to kill them?

It's not necessary to kill them if you can stop them coming in. We only use the bicarbonate of soda/icing sugar if all else fails because the green woodpeckers do a great job of eating the ants outside.

Peppermint essential oil is also a really good ant repellant. Put it across wherever they're coming in and leave a few small cotton wool balls soaked in it around the room, remove the food source and that should stop them. And you'll get a minty-fresh kitchen into the bargain!

Put salt down where they are coming in it worked for me it stopped the majority still had the odd one somehow but on the whole it worked.