Are there any do-it-yourself treatments for Red Ant Infestation?

Question

My poor neighbor who her house is under a bunch of trees, has extreme red ant infestation. They are in her mobil home, on their beds, in the cars. You name it, they are there. Her landlord told her to call pest control and have them fix it, and he would reimburse, but they want a 1 yr contract and she can't afford..(is a single mom)

Is there any less inexpensive solutions? She is ready to move out.

Answer 1

There s a product that is a plant-based enzyme cleaner that is non-toxic and great on ants. It's called eco-H by Ecoquest and a quart (for about$7.00) will do the job. That's all I use because my wife has multiple chemical sensitivity.

Because of your friend's situation, and the potential lethality of red ants, I will have a quart drop-shipped free of charge.

(No, I'm not looking for business. No strings attached)

Answer 2

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This technique doesn't always work , but it is worth a try if you don't want to kill any ants. I had a small black ant infestation, and this actually did work, quite to my surprise! It takes a lot of time, though. Everytime you see find an ant, catch it in two cups and shake it vigorously for about a minute. Then let it go exactly where you found it. Somehow, it will get the chemical message across to a few other ants that it had a bad experience. Dead ants can't do this. After doing this to many more ants, the ants may get the idea that danger lurks in your apartment and avoid it, and move on to more friendly environments. If this doesn't work, I'm afraid you might have to resort to killing the little guys (actually, they are all girls, these worker ants). Best of luck! I hope your ants get the message!

Answer 3

I just posted this answer to another ant problem. It may help you and your friend as well. Good Luck, they can really be a problem.

We had some Fire Ants in our front yard in Austin, Texas. We had just move in and I had virtually nothing to work with but I did have a can of "Crack & Crevice" not sure of the brand name, it may have been Raid. It is an aerosol can with a long slender tube on the nozzle. It is designed to be used in homes in the cracks and other tiny places where you can't get conventional bug spray. When you spray it in a crack it foams up to completely fill the area, then the foam dissapates and it leaves a residue all over the inside of the crack. That residue is hard on bugs.

Well I kicked the mound to enfuriate the Fire Ants. Then while they were trying to figure out what was happening I stuck that tube down the hole I exposed when I kicked the mound. When I started spraying I filled the place up as well as I could with that foam and even sprayed a area of about a meter in diameter around the hole.

We lived there for about 18 months and I never saw another Fire Ant in that area. All of the plants stayed healthy and I never found a dead animal in the yard. Based on the results and the lack of colatreal damage I am sold on the product.

Answer 4

I used to live in Charleston, SC, which is plagued with fire ants. My neighbor, who was native to the area, shared a great, cheap and safe way to get rid of not only ants, but just about any small insect. Instant Grits! As crazy as that sounds, the ants recognize the grits as a food source. As they carry and eat it, the digested grit will expand and swell inside the ant. After just a few days, the entire colony will be dead. I've used this trick to get rid of spiders, crickets and other types of ants. At first, you'll see a lot of ant activity as they think you've given them an ant buffet.

Another home remedy that also works is Borax. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral that acts as a drying agent. By sprinkling the borax around the ant hills, the ants will pick it up with their feet on their daily journey for food. Borax is easy to find in the laundry detergent area in a product called Borateam soap. I sprinkle borax around all my baseboards and windows to keep the bugs away. It is harmless to pets and kids.

I hope this works. Another option is to contact one of the larger insect exterminators. I know that Orkin and Terminix offer single dose applications that aren't too pricey.

Answer 5

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RE:
Are there any do-it-yourself treatments for Red Ant Infestation?
My poor neighbor who her house is under a bunch of trees, has extreme red ant infestation. They are in her mobil home, on their beds, in the cars. You name it, they are there. Her landlord told her to call pest control and have them fix it, and he would reimburse, but they want a 1 yr contract...

Answer 6

This will be a cheap fix for her, tell her to go to Walmart and buy a box of 20 Mule Team Borax laundry soap and go to the dollar store and buy one of the cheap ketchup squeeze bottles and put the dry laundry soap in it and apply around the baseboards along the wall area inside the mobile home and also around the drain pipes under bathroom vanities and kitchen sink, and in the car just sprinkle it on the carpet and leave it lay for a few days until she no longer sees any signs of the ants, vacuum up any excess when there are no visiable signs of the ants. The ants carry it back to their nest and it will kill them.....this should cost five bucks or less I have used this method both in Indiana and where we live now in Tennessee.

Answer 7

Fire Ant Infestation

Answer 8

RED ANTS

Sprinkle flour around area you are trying to keep ants out,
door seals, kitchen sinks or windows. Ants will not cross white line.

Answer 9

we have had all kinds of ant problems this summer......my husband went to the hardware store and found a product about a week ago that is starting to do the job....very nicely.....

GRANT'S KILLS ANTS

seriously that is what is says on the box.....

there are like 10 little trap things in the box....set them out...the ants crawl thru them and take the poison back to the nest.....

GOOD LUCK....ants are a pain in the A$$!

Answer 10

another Borax option:

mix the borax with powdered sugar and sprinkle it around the baseboards.

instant potatoes i've heard of, never heard of instant grits, but i imagine that grits would work on the same principle as the potatoes.
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the ants also have a natural enemy in south america. some farmers and scientists have been working with it here in arizona area, with good success. it's a type of fly that lays it's eggs inside the ants -- kills them and reduces the ant colony. i can't remember the exact name of the fly, but it was on one of those science/discovery channels.