help! Ants

[meysey]

We have just got ants in our house. They are wandering around rather than marching in columns so I have not been able to find the nest yet. But there are some under the table and the odd one on the kitchen surface. Yeuch! I thinkthey are coming in from the garden.

How do I get rid of them? I have heard that ant powder is too dangerous to use near children.

We used the powder, we put it down when kids were in bed or out and then hooverd it up before the kids were about, it seemed to work, we had them evrywher, i found where they were comming in and put the powder down.

and also the ants liquid . put it in a plastic flat bowl (lid) and put it where the kids cant get to it and before you know it, its covered with ants

also we have to put powder down outside around the air vents as ants comes in thru that way too

borax! Get it from the chemist very cheap and safer than the bought ant killer. I mix it with a little icing sugar then they carry it back to the nest and die!

Message withdrawn

thanks for the great ideas so quickly, especially the borax

someone on here told me about Nippon ant poison (it's a sort of gel that comes in a very small tube)

you only have to put a little down on one of their trails (preferably outside, in the evening) and they eat it all and take it back (it seems!). You have to put it down every day but you'll see the results very quickly (and you only need to put down a small patch).

Also, see if you can find where they are coming in and try and block the hole (otherwise, new ants may move in after you kill the old lot off!).

Nippons main ingredient is Borax, but costs 10 times the price!

We put a jar of jam outside near where they are coming in - as they only come in to look for food they don't bother if you leave it ona plate for them - works too!!!

I got ant bait. Two discs in a package. You place them near the ant exit if you can find it or where you see them. It's harmless for kids because they can't get at the poison. The discs have little gaps in the sides and the ants go in, take away some poison and carry it back to the nest.

What also helps I found is to line where they come out of the woodwork with chalk. They don't like it. You can also put down bicarbonate of soda, black or cayenne pepper but the important thing is to get rid of the queen and larvae so it's good to have poison they carry back to their nest.