Plague of Ants in House - Advice Pleeeeease

[Egg]

We seem to have ants, big ugly ones. They are coming in from outside, and are making their way across our floors downstairs. Lots in the bins, inside and out. What can I use to get rid of them that is safe? We have a DS who is 16 months and I am early pg, so don't want anything too toxic.

you can get those little house things that you put down and they walk in and out and take the poison back to the nest. They come in packs of two from supermarkets or garden centers. Nothing is in the open air and so as long as you can hide it from ds it will be completely safe.

Ant Stop

It comes in a red bottle (got ours from b&q) and you spray it and leave it.

It is child/pet safe which was a big plus for us with 2 toddlers.

Kills them and one application lasts for months.

We usually get away with one application in the summer and thats it til the following year.

HTH

Watch where they are coming from and find the nest, then bombard it with powder. Not sure about pg, but it's safe for Kids, but is mainly for outside just cover your face while spreading it. If the nest is outside somewhere you should be fine. I think my house is built on a giant ant nest

ooooooooooooooooooooooh...Bom..dont let Gibby see this

Second the Ant Stop. As a preventative, I spray right round the outside perimeter of the house every March and that stops the buggers even crossing the threshhold (first year we did have to spray inside (in the kitchen) too) - we seem to live on one giant anthill unfortunately.

Be aware though that it's only child/pet safe when it is completely DRY, so do make sure they can't access the room while it's wet (if I have to spray indoors I do it after they've gone to bed - doesn't take long to dry though)

If you're pregnant get dh/dp to do the spraying and ban yourself from the area while he does it. Perfectly safe for anything other than ants when it's dry

Will be looking for Ant Stop now then

Thanks so much, will be off shopping later to buy Ant Stop. Hope it works they seem to be multiplying.

ok, i'm going to be the token lentil weaver in this cloud of chemicals :

peppermint essential oil (ants hate the smell) dab a few drops onto cotton wool and wipe it on doorways/windows and cracks, it should prevent them coming back

Oooh might try that first then yadda. Would rather not use the chemicals if I dont have to, even if they are child safe. Will smell nice too . If it fails, then Ant Stop it is.

nippon ant killer gel/liquid

comes in a little tube and you leave it on their path (you only need to put down a tiny amount) and they take the poison back to their nest

for some reason, our ants marched straight past the ant stop like it wasn't there!

if you know where their nest it, you can pour water into it but there are too many ants here with too many nests.

I've given up now and just put the poison down at the doors. What it seems to do is persuade them to go somewhere else (i.e. not inside) so they carry on their anting outside (which is fine my me!).

Like the idea of them carrying on their anting elsewhere. Don't mind them outside, and DS loves to play with them (!). Have tried boiling water in the cracks of the paving outside (where they seem to come from) to no avail. Very grateful for all suggestions .

The little houses are good. You get radioactive killer ant returning to the nest and infecting the lot.

The only thing I found with those little ant bait trap things were that when ds2 was toddling he would find them no matter where I hid them and pick them up. I was always terrified that he would have residue of poison gel on his fingers and pop them in his mouth before I could stop him.

For us, the dried ant stop seemed much much safer.

It said something on Radio 2 this morning about ants hating the smell of mint. It was only on in the background but I think they suggested planting fresh mint at all entrances.

My mum to have those little plastic things filled with ant poison when we were young and we always used to track them down and play with them, esp if they had dead ants attached to them. We survived, but I know DS, and he will definitely like to play with them.

When they were coming into my kitchen I didn't want to use chemicals - they won't cross a line of powdered cinnamon (but it is messy and blows around a bit and then they find a space to get through!) or a line of washing up liquid (while it stays wet).