Ants! How do i get rid of them?

[Nolim]

For the first gime in my adult life i have a garden (hurray!). But the ants have found the way to the kitchen. What do i do?

oh god i have this at the moment. Every morning there's a pile of dirt inside the front door where the little b*ggers have burrowed in. THey're probably destroying the foundations of the house. ANt poison traps don't work - they have to be the sole source of food for them to work, so for garden ants, no luck. I tried nematodes on the soil but that didn't work. I need to go chemical but not a chemical that's goign to destroy the plants or the bees (worst part is I also now have enough spiders to keep Hogwarts going as they've all turned up to eat the ants)

I use that white powder called Nippon. Scatter a little in ant-range (under brick etc if you want to keep dogs/cats/bees off it) and leave it for a day or two. I don't know it would get rid of them in the garden, but disposes of them in the kitchen and also dealt with the silverfish who had moved in under the stairs.

We use a spray, I think it's Raid. You spray a line across anything you don't want them to cross. So we spray around the door and window frames.

cucumber

It depends how squeamish you are. Boiling water down the holes will kill off the nest.

Alternatively, you could try injecting liquid paraffin, if you're sure there's nothing flammable nearby. The scent of paraffin overpowers the scent trails they follow to find food. Coffee will also work.

The ants are coming in looking for food, so if you can be scrupulously clean for a couple of weeks and not have any crumbs of food or open food anywhere, then they will travel in another direction to find food.

I have an invasion every spring. Year 1 they definitely had the upper hand, but now I can normally fend them off pretty quickly. I just up my usual (not very high) kitchen hygiene standards, mop the floor as often as I can get round to it, and use Deathlac around the area they come in. It keeps the invasion down to one or two every now and again (was hundreds in Year 1).

Thanks for the tips.

I am not very keen on spray or powder since dc play in the kitchen. I can try boiling water, cucumber (who knew!) and moping/ cleaning frequently.

I had this a few years back. The only thing that worked in the end was clear sealant across the joint they were coming through.

vinegar works a treat.

You need one of these ant stop. They are absolutely brilliant, just put it down and the ants will be gone within a day, promise.

Spray vinegar to hide their scent (other ants follow it once one has found food).
Talc across entrances stops them coming in.
If you can spray deathlac one day when the children are in school or out it is very effective.
We have been invaded the last few years so I've learnt all these tips.

Meant to add, sweep up every night before bed. If it's possible, get the dc to picnic/snack outdoors. We have only found 3 ants this year so far. Fingers crossed we are winning the battle.

Just put bait stations down as linked above and change them every few weeks. Keeps them in check.

I spray around the doors / entry points but also cinnamon is meant to work.

Every year our neighbour has had them and I was so smug that we had avoided any invasions - I just put talc on the door step.

Last year, the found another way in. There were lots of them. I had no idea where they were coming from as they just suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room. I washed the floor with a bleach solution then combined talc and cinnamon and put it where they seemed to appear. It worked.

So far I've only had 3 this year.

If you're going to use boiling water on ants, wasps etc, you should add a couple of drops of washing-up liquid beforehand. This will break the 'water-tension' and mean that the insects can no longer 'walk on water'.

A couple of drops of washing-up liquid will mean that the water quickly envelops then and kills them swiftly.