ARGH! Ants!

[GeorginaA]

Well, it's about time for my weekly hormonal panic...

Dh has just informed me that he found four ants by the sofa this morning. He duly removed them, but I'm now rather worried. How likely are we to suddenly get a horde of them running through?

It's really bizarre - the sofa is nowhere near the door and I didn't really think it was ant season - still quite cold outside. Thought this was really a summer problem.

If we do get a load, what's the safest way to remove them? I have a 2 year old and I'm 26 weeks pregnant so I'm reluctant to have any chemicals in the house. Previously when we've had ants we've only had them outside so we could pour kettles of hot water down... not really as easy inside on the carpet!

well - today we have been swarmed....we;ll - i found 10 in the space of one hour
then nippon is down as id the talc type stuff
hmmmm
may be calling pest control

I don't have any ants thank god, but keep being drawn to this thread like a rubbernecker at an RTA! Can't believe it Popsycal, were the little bastards waiting for you to think they'd gone?

Haven't got time to read the whole thread,so apologies if you have already had these suggestions.

I live in a town that is infested by ants every summmer & have successfully tried the following.

Pots or mint or tansy outside the doors -ants don't like the smell.Pennyroyal works too,but as you are pregnant,don't use it.They don't like baking soda/bircarbonate of soda either & I use that inside & it stops them in their little tracks.

I'm sure that we'll get even more than usual this year,as dd is at the 'food throwing' stage & has a great range.I never manage to find all her missiles.

DS decided to make an ant farm yesterday! Luckily it's in the garden. They've all got names, ANTony, Sarah, Nick and I forget the rest. Don't ask how he tells them apart!

oooooooooooooohhhhhhhnooooooooooo

just found 7 ants in the kitchen after a lull of weeks

calling the council tomorrow!!
grrr

yes the warm weather and dampness

will try bicarb.....
they are coming from the back garden i now realise but have NO idea where they are getting in

popsy.

We're still getting the odd one or two, so have the traps back out... but nothing of number. Have loads outside in the patio and near the rose bush at the front though. Ought to try getting rid of those then we might stop them getting in, I suppose.

that is where ours are georgina - on the patio outside...
think i will ring the council today
I am worried about my brand new carpets though - but i suppose most ants are in the kitchen

lol at me worrying about carpets!!

We have just had ants come in throught the porch way, there waas hundreds of them, made my skin crawl. I boiled watered them, hovered them up and found the hole where they were coming in, and stuck a big ball of bluetak over it so they couldn't come up again, think this has worked because i haven't had anymore, but it is horrible and know exactly how you feel georgina.

ummm, hesitate to mention this but just heard on radio that ants' eggs are delicious: 'nutty and tasty' was the verdict.

We have some ants too.

Will I be sampling their products?

No.

A little worried that MN had orchistrated the end of the Ant world.... but looks like alls well in the zee old hill!
Have to say its a bit like watching an old pathe news battle report on this thread....quite addictive in a nutty tasty sort of way
As an undergrad in Brighton Ants were a major problem, boiling water satisfied attack pangs but in 3 years we never found a lasting solution...

We were overrun a few weeks ago and now > I think we are winning. Dh went to a local hardware shop and asked their advice, and bought two fantastic products. One is a spray called Dethlac which is an ant killer spray that dries to an invisible lacquer (smells like polyurethane varnish). It is waterproof so you can clean without it losing its efficacy, and you can use it inside and outside. The other excellent product is Ant Stop! which, as this link shows, you can get from Lakeland! We put a couple down in the kitchen and within hours a column of ants was marching in and out of them, carrying the poison back to the nest. The next day we didn't see a single ant. I have bought various types of thsi "igloo" type poison before and never seen one work so well.

Hope that helps!

This thread has worried me

I discovered a nest i the garden last week and thought at the time that this was the earliest in the year I have seen them. Put down Nippon powder (no gel at B & Q) Then a few days ago I discovered a trail of the buggers marching across the boat cover to a tree where i presume they were attracted to the sap (?)Nippon powder again. Today I discovered loads of the cretins around a clematis and honeysuckle. Have Nipponed around the large terracotta pots but am thinking it is only a matter of time before they find there way indoors
Oh christ, really having nightmares about discovering them at the back of litchen cupboards and the like.

We've been getting rogue ants too - but not every day (or even every week) and not enough to try and find a nest so I haven't looked at this thread until now.

Just decided to nip into the kitchen and there were two happily ambling round the top! Have now boiled the kettle and am holding all of you responsible - kidding!!!

Major ant crisis...
Went into the garden to play on ds' slidey cube thing which has been in the garden a week and it is heaving with ants. I've kettled them and am about to power wash the scunners, but that won't stop them coming back. What can I put on the cube that a) won't wash off and b) won't poison ds (or the cats)?
Please help. Thanks.

Nome - best thing to do is try and work out where the nest is, then pour a weak bleach/boiling water solution down there. That shouldn't poison anything. You may have to repeat several times over a few days until they're all gone.

I had to call pest control out to mine they were in the kids beds!!!! Pest comtrol fficer said that in future, get Nippon liquid. You put it in the supplied tubes. What happens is they take is back to the queen and it kills her. Then 5 days after you put the liquid down, put the powder down to kill the workers. If you only put powder down or use hot water, you are not killing the queen, so she just breeds more workers and it all starts again. You can call the council out to spray them as well. Costs £30 here. (£11 if you get tax credits) Hope this helps.

That's the problem, GeorginaA, there're dozens of nests. Everywhere I look the little scunners are tunnelling through another part of the garden.

nome

Just finished blasting them all to kingdom come with the pressure washer...I give it 24 hours before they've all moved back in Is there a faintly queasy, very itchy smiley? Even though it's all in my head... Not a happy Nome.

I've just noticed after a bit of gardening that the little buggers think they're setting up a summer home here. Not bloody likely. Have been out with the boiling water and raid spray. Will go to shops later to get gloopy stuff and bleach. We got some last year and DS had hours of fun sucking them up with the Dyson

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ARGH! The little bastards are back. Months without them, and now they've returned, somehow getting inside the back patio doors and worse.... FLYING!

This is not a "take two weeks to destroy the nest" scenario, this is a "get rid of the little buggers NOW!" scenario. So, dh picked up some "Ant Stop!" spray from Homebase on the way back from work last night. It's supposed to be safe near pets and children, but lethal to fish (and hopefully... ants!) This morning there's a whole trail of little corpses (some still wriggling, bwahahaha) so it appears to be doing something... will keep you posted.

OH NO!!!
PLEASE DON'T SEND THEM TO ME AGAIN!!!!