i have moved into a new home 6 weeks ago, and until the past week,have only seen ants outside around the house.its semi detached so we have 3 outside walls.I was scared of ants coming in so i tried killing them by putting powder around the outer perimeter of the house.What i didn't count on was them coming inside to escape the powder,although thinking about it now it does make sense!!They are now on the higher part of my back door.Thousands of the beasties,some flying.Have washed all the powder away and put bait down but they dont seem to be going near it. I am hoping they will go back outside now the powders gone,Has any1 else got problems with ants, and any good tips on how to get rid of the horrid creatures!?????? HELP!!!!!!!
2006-07-19 08:47:16 · 9 answers · asked by Mich 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
TO BEETLE: The door is a wooden door, and a lot of the frame outside is rotton.The ants are quite big,some flying does this mean they are carpenter ants. I'm not prepared to look at the abdomen!!! (PS ive only recently moved in and its a council house, so im not a tramp with a rotton door!!!!)
2006-07-19 09:36:22 · update #1
The powder you laid down was probably diatomaceous earth, this product only really works well around window cills and door frames, you can continue to put this down.
The best way to eliminate ants from the house is to use Raid Ant Killer, it is a product that you can find in any hardware store, it is in a tiny red bottle. This product contains boric acid (borax). The best way to apply it is to get yourself a shallow plate ot tupperware lid, and mix this soltuion 1 to 1 with some sweet liquid substance. Honey, jam, or fruit juice work well. The ants will collect this poison mix and carry it back to the nest, they will feed it to the rest of the colony and wipe them all out. Trust me, it works really well, I work in an Urban Nature information office and I tell clients to try this all the time and it always works!
You should make sure that they are not carpenter ants. If they are about 1/2inch long, with a black body with golden colored lines on the abdomen, then they most likely are carpenter ants. This mix or boric acid will work just as good against them as well. If these carpenter ants are in your house, that is a good sign that there may be a water leak or condensation somewhere in the house. They are mostly attracted to moist wood, so have a look around.
Take care, Good Luck! you wont need luck with these fail proof techniques
hope that helps!
2006-07-19 09:23:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Put equal parts of borax and sugar in a shallow dish-near the ant hill-the ants will come and carry the sugar coated borax into the hill and will kill the queen and the other ants as well. You can also try drowning them with a garden hose or pouring boiling water down the hole. All of these methods start at the source-the ant hill...
2006-07-19 08:54:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get the brand "Terro" of antkiller. It works the best. In the meantime, get some cayenne pepper and put it on a small piece of paper and set it somewhere out of the way. It will help kill some of the ants for the time being.
2006-07-19 08:53:22 · answer #3 · answered by Cassie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put turmeric in your house.If u surround all the entrances by putting turmeric powder,u won;t get any ants e.g if u want to protect ur bed from ants ,surround ur bed with a boundary of turmeric powder. Ants won't be able to cross the turmeric line and get near ur bed that way. Good luck!
2006-07-19 10:39:07 · answer #4 · answered by Diya 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they're not fire ants, they're not going to bother you unless you have food out for them. Sugar ants are finicky and can detect most poisions. Only Terro works with them. As for fire ants, Amdro seems to work fairly well. The best thing to do is to make a compost pile away from the house and they will move their colony closer to the immense food source.
2006-07-19 08:53:58 · answer #5 · answered by TxVarmit 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put down Raid Ant Traps and wait a couple of days. I just had to do this and it will work, but not overnight.
2006-07-19 08:51:17 · answer #6 · answered by #1 Newman Fan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dunno what kind of ant you have problems with but to put your mind to rest about the flying beasties... Those are the fertile males and females from the outside-your-house ant nest having their honeymoon flight. The smaller (?) male ones will die shortly after copulation, the larger (?), fertilized females will dash off to found their own nest in their preferred habitat.
2006-07-19 12:30:02 · answer #7 · answered by Jan M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
make sure the doors seal, and lay down ant traps, and spray the outside of the door frame
2006-07-19 09:16:49 · answer #8 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Them buggers dont like vinegar and water. Cheap and easy on the pets till it rains, then re-apply.
2006-07-20 12:45:27 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋