How can I get rid of ants?

[Angiel]

I've got them all over the house. I've tried spraying some nippon around but it doesn't seem to have worked. Also, I don't like using it when the kids are around. Any ideas how I can get rid of them, they are driving me mad.

you can get ant powder - I used it in the garden and it worked - not sure about in the house with small children around. Maybe pest control?

I got so fed up of the blighter i used the cat's flea spray around the skirting boards - but you do need to keep kids and pets away for something like 24 hours, so its is pretty nasty stuff.

We had them in the kitchen and playroom and after some investigation I found the nests outside the house and "powdered" them.

You can get some syrupy stuff called Nippon which they take back to the nest, and it polishes them off! Or if you are feeling vindictive, follow them back to the nest, and do the job with some boiling water. All depends on how you feel about 'ant's rights' I suppose

We bought some little plastic containers to go with the Nippon syrupy stuff. You put the syrup inside the container and put the lid on. The ants can get inside through little holes in the side. Hopefully they should be relatively child-proof though. The stuff works within a day or 2.

Ant & crawling insect gun from Homebase works best, and its safe so long as children not there when you spray. I go all round outside of house with it.

Find out where they are getting in and spray this FAB stuff called "Deathlac" all around the area. It forms an invisible weatherproof barrier to all creepy crawlis like ants and woodlice. Safe for kids once it's dry. I got it from a small local hardware store. Just LOVED the name!!

You can buy 'ant traps' from Tesco. They're not instant, but they work really well over a few days.

We use ant powder (also Tescos) to deter them from coming in and, the ones that do get in the traps get them. The ants go into the trap, eat whatevers in there (some horrible toxic chemical that tastes really nice to them)... they go back to the nest and somehow this kills the colony. They must release a chemical or something. But we noticed a huge drop in the number of ants outside in our garden as well as in the house. HTH

If you want to try a natural deterrent, use peppermint essential oil (undiluted) on all areas where you know they are getting in. They hate the stuff and rarely will walk over it. Unfortunately doesn?t stop the flying sort though.

I've heard that talcum powder can act as a natural deterrent aswell, it's ideal when you don't want chemicals etc where children are.

I go with the boiling water solution - safe with kids around (after it has cooled off) and a bit satisfying in a sadistic way.

I'm glad you brought up this topic Angiel, as we have got an ant problem at the moment. The problem is I can't find out where they are coming from outside, as I only see them in our hall and playroom. I am going to try your idea Chiccadum, with the talc, as I am really wary of anything else with two children about, particularly dd who is 15 months and will eat anything!

Thanks for all your suggestions. I bought some Raid ant traps at Tesco's but it didn't seem to be working. So I went out again yesterday and bought some Nippon with traps. I set them up earlier and its unbelievable, they are queuing up to get into the trap.

I really hope that this will sort them out because everytime I look at something now, I'm sure its moving. Its giving me the creeps!! Yuck!!

Another top tip is apparantly toothpast, put a line of it accross the door, just remenber to step over it yourself!