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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

ANTS - how to get rid of them?

17 replies

JuwEggsm · 09/04/2009 14:02

Does anyone know of a way of deterring ants using bits and pieces I'm likely to have lying around the house? Perhaps some kind of home-made bicarb/ vinegar/ lemon juice insect repellant? At the moment there's only a handful of the wee blighters mooching around, but I'd like to try and get rid before reinforcements start arriving! At the moment I'm just hoovering them up. I'm not hugely averse to using a 'proper' insect repellant, just too lazy and pregnant (41 + 1!) to go to the shops!

TIA

OP posts:

lucykate · 09/04/2009 14:14

do you know if they are coming in from outside or are they living inside? if they are coming in from outside, best thing to do is try and find where they are coming in and block it up.

a few ideas here on homemade repellents

Lilymaid · 09/04/2009 14:18

If you can see where they are coming out (outside) you can pour a kettle of boiling water on to the ant hole.

MaryAnnSailors · 09/04/2009 14:21

You could have a go rubbing affected areas with tea tree oil. On a previous thread, apparently they don't like baby powder... It might work.

I was thinking of posting this myself earlier this morning... instead i popped out and got myself some ant stop which takes poison back to the nest. Had enough of the critters.

Iklboo · 09/04/2009 14:23

They don't like vinegar. Or WD40.
If you' rehoovering them up they will be sending out 'distress' pheromones to their colony to send reinforcements

littlevic · 09/04/2009 14:23

ANTS!! Oh my God, the bane of my life! We live in in a warm humid climate so they have become part of the furniture, literally, if it's raining they come in to seek shelter, I've tried blocking up the holes but the crafty buggers must have a whole complex tunneling system behind the walls! My mum swears by pure vinegar, says the smell deters them for weeks. Deters everyone else too though. Chalk is another good one, they won't step over it... Chemically, Zum spray is sooooo strong, but not good if you're preggers...not sure if it's available in the UK?

dietstartstomorrow · 09/04/2009 14:24

I have Ants too. I got some Nippon today, as I know that works really well.

Original poster

JuwEggsm · 09/04/2009 15:21

I can't work out where they're getting in at the moment, but so pleased that vinegar has been suggested. I love my bottle of vinegar! I'll give that a go, and if not I'm fairly sure there's some WD40 lurking somewhere.

Thanks for those links Lucykate - this one has lots of suggestions, which I will work my way through if necessary!

Thanks all!

OP posts:

lucykate · 09/04/2009 15:24

i hate ants with a vengeance, our kitchen was infested last summer. we ended up having to take the floor up, concrete included. there were 2 ants nests down there, it was horrid.

algee · 09/04/2009 15:24

I use talc around the door cills which stops them coming further, but it looks awful. Nippon works well, but I hate sticky blobs about the place...thanks for hints, I shall now try vinegar (and WD40?!) Only wish I could find where mine come from...

stealthsquiggle · 09/04/2009 15:26

Ah - homemade I can't help with, but I have found the 'barrier' stuff the best - basically you spray a line of it across all doors/ other gaps and it lasts for months. The 'nest killer' stuff would have required a second mortgage as we had, literally, hundreds of nests in the garden.

Pruners · 09/04/2009 15:27

Message withdrawn

Original poster

JuwEggsm · 09/04/2009 15:30

I may give that a go Pruners, I think there's some borax somewhere. No need to worry about there being kids around as it appears DC1 is never coming out!!!

OP posts:

heather1980 · 09/04/2009 15:32

pruners i was just going to suggest borax!
you can get it in the household section of boots.
i get them coming into the livingroom so i put a line of it outside the whole front of the house and it kept them out till the rain washed it away.

Pruners · 09/04/2009 16:55

Message withdrawn

gardeningmum05 · 09/04/2009 17:05

pruners..where do you ger borax from?

cornsilk · 09/04/2009 17:08

pruners I shall try that this year.

Gorionine · 09/04/2009 17:14

We do have ants from March until end of May every year. I think they just stop comming when they can find enough food outside again!

I am weary of poison as my Dcs are very inquisitive but will have an "in depth" look at some of the homemade repellents.

For the anecdote, DS2 has lost a tooth and decided to experient with it. He did put it in a little container with water and sugar to observe the way it will decay (budding scientist, he then left the container on the kitchen window. the result of the experiement? about 20 drowned ants!

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