OMG........ ANT INVASION IN MY KITCHEN..................................

[BandofMothers]

Came down this morning and there are swarms of them.
Admittedly I left a pot of apple/pear mush with a bit left in the bottom out on the side when DD2 had finished with it, and the dinner dishes are waiting to be washed, but Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

They have formed a line around the edge of my kitchen cabinets.
I have found the entry point now at least. They've only been scouting up til now, the odd one or two, but now they've sent in the legions
Have already powdered all round the outside of the house, but tbh I think they're coming from under the house cos there's no sign in the alleyway where I powdered.
So what is ok to use with an inquisitive 3.4 yo and a nearly crawling nearly 9 mth old???

I have used in a previous house the blobby stuff that they take back to the nest and it poisons them, will buy some today, any other ideas on how to kill them?????

Oh bob!!! I have the worst and I mean worst phobia about them and I freak when I see one

Get water as hot as you can bear on your hands, add some bleach, then take everything off the side and wipe it all down. Then you'll have to use nipon or something similar.

Ooh, I shrieked when I saw the first one a couple weeks ago.
Bleach you say.ok.
Nipon, that's the stuff. Shall I blob it near the entrance where they're coming out???

yes so they can bring it back to the nest.

Bleach and v hot water - wipe the worktop and anywhere they are down.

They do seem to have made a nice neat line all the way to the food.

I reckon the scouts reported back that I often leave the washing up til morning and they can feast here til about 7am

Does bleach deter them then or is that just to clean where they've been???

bit of both, certainly throws them off the scent so to speak

It gets rid of the scent line then.
Will do that in a bit. Needs a good scrub anyway.
But it's not dirty tho, just to clarify

Since I have cleared away the dishes they seem to have all but gone. Just the odd one or two lingering

I am having a one woman battle with ants here too! They are currently on their scouting mission and have been for a while now. I have put powder down at the entry points. I also hoover every single day and wipe all the surfaces obsessively. I don't leave any food out at all, not even a crumb. It's a complete PITA but so far I am winning.

Get your 3.4 year old to help you to spot ants. My ds (2.6) thinks it's a great game and squeals excitedly when he sees one "Mummy squash ant now".

Good luck. They are a nightmare!

oh last year we were infested with the things, couldnt find an entry point, the kitchen sides were covered every day in ants, despite me scrubbing each night before bed, not leaving washing up out, bin outside etc etc. Then i saw a couple of them crawling up a plant pot one night. I lifted the plant up out of the pot, and the bottle of the soil was a mass of ants. there was a huge ants nest in the plant pot! no wonder i couldnt get rid of the buggers. i threw the whole pot and plant out. never had a problem since.

OMG misdee, how annoying, but glad you found them.

Piglit, can I use the powder inside near where I prep food???

In my old house there was a nest behind the fire and in summer they all swarmed out. That was def a mass invasion. And they were the flying ones. So they all flew to the window, went splat and died on the window sill.
They were HUGE andeverywhere.

Thanks for the posts.

Oh misdee you've just made me think.... I hope that's not where ours are coming from. the plant pot just outside the back is a metre high with another metre of large bushy plant in it. Will go and check it out for signs of ants. We're getting just the odd one in the back room and it's not a good sign. I'm expecting the infestation any day.

I used a really good spray which you spray all around skirting and in corners etc. once dry( use when kids in bed) it lasts for weeks and is safe when kids about- certainly my dd was fine and i've used it every year since she was a baby(now 4).Got it in supermarket, called Vapona micro-tech.