I am battling ants!

by onSubie

Posted: 9 years ago 17 replies

OFF TOPIC

It is 30 below (celsius) here in Ottawa with snow up to the eyeballs (not really) and I am being overrun by ants in my kitchen (really).

I always see a few annoying ants in the summer because I live in a nice (old) place that is big and (a little) insect friendly. But I rarely see ants in the winter.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a few ants on the counter in the kitchen. So I killed them and thought nothing of it. The next day I killed a few more and then a few more the next day.

Just seeing more than a lone ant in the winter was weird but killing 3-4 is very unusual.

I cleaned my kitchen thoroughly, looked for any "misplaced" food (I'm a bachelor), and generally tried (without success) to see why ants would be around.

Now it is getting out of hand. I just went in the kitchen and swear there was a dozen or more of those damn critters scurrying away (they fear me now).

I have laid ant traps. The kind that is supposed to have them take the poison back to the colony and kill it. No help. Still getting worse and the traps have been out for a while in strategic locations.

It looks like I am going to have to go hard core on this and really track down where they are coming from.

And keep looking for misplaced food....

Just a rant because the ants aren't listening. Well, they might be. I worry about that too.

yukon

Banned 9 years ago

I'm battling ladybugs. I don't know how they get in the house but they breed like rabbits. I walk around once a day with a small shop-vac thinning the herd.

This started about 3-4 winters ago, now every time it gets cold outside, the ladybugs head indoors.

Originally Posted by onSubie

Just a rant because the ants aren't listening. Well, they might be. I worry about that too.

Lol.

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2 replies

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Karen Blundell

9 years ago

onSubie -

a natural pesticide for ants is cinnamon (nutmeg will work too)- sprinkle lots of it around where you think they're coming in

if you have apples on your counter - remove them and put them in your fridge - ( they are looking for food)

good luck!

Yukon, those ladybugs may not in fact be ladybugs - there is an Asian beetle that looks very similar to a ladybug - except it's more on the orange side - and it bites -

not sure how to get rid of them - we get them too - as soon as there is a mild spell, they come in -

Thanks
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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Karen Blundell

Yukon, those ladybugs may not in fact be ladybugs - there is an Asian beetle that looks very similar to a ladybug - except it's more on the orange side - and it bites -

not sure how to get rid of them - we get them too - as soon as there is a mild spell, they come in -

These don't bite but they sometimes smell like dirt.

I did some research last year, for some reason they like the color white (my house is white). The smell they put off can be smelled a mile away by other bugs which I believe because once they start coming in they're relentless.

I did learn that since they like bright colors they also like light, so I took the curtain off a window & sprayed bug spray all over the window, that thins them out & keeps the cleanup in one place (for the most part).

They're annoying more than anything else.

Thanks

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positivenegative 9 years ago

Why don't you introduce them to each other, then your problems are solved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCj31e9k1gs
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- yukon Banned 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by positivenegative
  
  Why don't you introduce them to each other, then your problems are solved.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCj31e9k1gs
  
  One down, 900 trillion to go...
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Karen Blundell 9 years ago
  
  yuck, I have a very good sense of smell, Yukon - so your smelly invaders would drive me crazy -
  
  You mentioned they are attracted to the color white - that makes sense - I have white French doors in my apartment leading to a Juliet balcony - so when the lady bugs come that's where they all are - so it's rather easy for me to open the French doors and shoo them outside -
  
  yes, they are annoying - but I've never had enough of them inside to notice the smell -
  
  good luck getting rid of them!
  
  Thanks
  
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  Kay King 9 years ago
  
  why ants would be around
  
  If I were an ant in the North in winter - I'd go inside, too.
  
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SteveJohnson

9 years ago

The only thing I've ever found that worked for any length of time was these:

Amazon.com : TERRO PreFilled Liquid Ant Killer II...
(not an aff link)

You have to find their highway, then lay 2 or 3 traps along it.

The little ones I had trouble with would/could get into just about anything - loose-fitting jar lids, thin paper packaging (they chew right through it).

Doubt that you'll ever kill the nest, no matter what the ads say. Some ant nests are MASSIVE.

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seasoned

9 years ago

Originally Posted by SteveJohnson

The only thing I've ever found that worked for any length of time was these:
Amazon.com : TERRO PreFilled Liquid Ant Killer II Baits 6 Pack T300 : Home Pest Lures : Patio, Lawn & Garden

(not an aff link)

You have to find their highway, then lay 2 or 3 traps along it.

The little ones I had trouble with would/could get into just about anything - loose-fitting jar lids, thin paper packaging (they chew right through it).

Doubt that you'll ever kill the nest, no matter what the ads say. Some ant nests are MASSIVE.

The only way to kill the nest is with a slow acting poison. If they live long enough to kill off enough of the nest, or get it to the queen, the nest WILL die, even if it were trillions of ants. Of course if things are diluted, or they are dissuaded from a source, they will live through it.

Steve

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sunoy14 9 years ago

Get them addicted to porn. You'll know where to find them in future. And they'll become lazy too
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sbucciarel Banned 9 years ago

We have stink bugs. They come in every winter.

Stink bug epidemic spreads as 33 U.S. states now report infiltrations of the smelly pest

They really do stink. Just before it gets cold, they converge on the house looking for cracks around windows and doors to get in.
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TLTheLiberator 9 years ago

I have to battle them every spring but Combat's ant killer goo works wonders on the ants in my neck of the woods.
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"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain
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Mike Anthony 9 years ago

killing 2-3 ants is a battle? Whats a moth on the loose? Armageddon?
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zeus136 9 years ago

Diatomaceous earth is a safe and non toxic ant killer.

Zeus
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- SilentBase14 9 years ago
  
  I'm a 10 year vet of the Maryland ant wars;
  
  Here's the thing; ants can go days without food, but they NEED to drink fluids every day. Buy liquid based bait and place it in a choke point. The Ants will SWARM all over it for a few days but they'll be dead soon after.
  
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TLTheLiberator 9 years ago

MD Vet Also:

Holy cow! Its the dead of winter and I've seen a ant or two in the basement bathroom. They've been all alone and I can't let them get back to brief the others - so I took a life or two.

I had to seal the topside drainhole in the sink basin last spring to fight them off.

For some reason they didn't venture up into the house last spring.

But we'll see this upcoming season...
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onSubie 9 years ago

I got rid of the ants.

The scariest point was picking up my dish rack and finding 100s of ants swarming underneath. Almost looked like a whole colony but it had only accumulated within 24 hours because I had been checking there for ants and previously only found a few.

Anyway, I sprayed them with a water/dish soap spray that killed them all pretty quickly.

After that I went to the hardware store down the street and got some 99% Boric Acid powder.

Home Hardware - 250g Ant, Roach and Crawling Insect Killer Dust

I put it in cracks and along the edges of walls and doors I saw ants around. In about 2 days most of the ants were gone without reapplying powder.

I now see hardly any ants except one or two on the floor that I just kill.

And none in my sinks, where I would regularly find 3-4 getting water.

Thanks for all the tips in the thread- it was an interesting, though unpleasant, learning experience
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I am battling ants!

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