ants in home during winter?

Question

Up until recently, the begining of january 2007 I had not had an ant problem in my home. Then I started noticing some ants coming from the baseboards near my back door. I sprayed them, cleaned up any mess there may have been there (I keep my home very clean), and sprinkled some ant killer stuff I bought at the store down. About 4 days later the ants popped up in my bathroom, once again coming from the baseboards. I repeated the process, spray them, clean up and spinkle the killer down. Now its been a week since I've done that and now this morning I have a few in the kitchen that I have saw. Whats up with that? I've not had any ant problems before, why all of a sudden, esp. in the winter?

They do not look like carpenter ants, they are small, they very much resemble your standard pinic ant that you think of and see in cartoons and movies. But i am no expert, I to my knowledge carpenter ants tend to be larger in size than standard ants.

Any ideas? Time to call in the pros??

Answer 1

it's the kind that lives inside the house. It's warm inside, plenty of food (crumbs and so on), so they thrive!
I found some recipes for you as to how get rid of them, you can try. And hide all the food, and clean the kitchen constantly.
1. Sprinkle the baby powder on the ants and wherever they are coming in from.
2. Fill a squirt bottle with plain old cheap white vinegar, and squirt it anyplace you've seen ants (kitchen counters, windowsills, etc) and let it dry.
3. Cinnamon. Put in or at the site of the ant invasion, they back off
quick!
4. Black pepper. Sprinkle it where you see them
congregating and watch them scatter. Follow them to where they're exiting - which is the same spot they're entering in at - and sprinkle the pepper at that spot to keep them from coming back in.
5. Equal parts Windex and Ivory Soap. Mix, and spray problem areas.
6. Shakley's Basic H. It is a non-toxic soap made from soybeans. Take a pint spray bottle, fill it 1/3 with Basic H and 2/3 with water, mixing gently. Follow your trail of ants to try to discover where they are entering. Spray a thin stream of the mix around where they are coming in.
7. Place Bay Leaves on your counters and preferably along the trail where they are coming in.
8. Use plain white chalk drawn in a line at the place they come in they wont cross for some reason.
9. Use straight Simple Green.
10. Ants will crawl away from mint. Just plant mint all around your
house. Especially near doorways.
11. A line of cayenne pepper usually stops them from crossing over it.
12. Try putting some whole cloves around. Put them on the window sills and door jams and also sprinkled a few around in my bottom cabinets.
13. Indoor Ant Control
Supplies: 1 tbsp. boric acid
1 tbsp. mint jelly or peanut butter
1 cracker
Small cardboard box
Instructions: Mix the boric acid and mint jelly; spread mixture on a
cracker. Punch pinholes in a cardboard box; place cracker inside.
Place box in an area where ants cause problems, but away from children
and pets.
Note: The mint jelly or peanut butter lures the ants in and the boric
acid kills them.
14. Indoor and Outdoor Ant Control
Supplies: Diatomaceous earth
Instructions: Dust food-grade diatomaceous earth along the ant’s
pathways.
Note: The white powder will cut through their exoskeleton and they will dehydrate and die.

15. Indoor and Outdoor Ant Control Supplies:
1 1/2 cup Cream of Wheat
Instructions: Place a dish of Cream of Wheat where the ants can access it.
Note: After they eat it, the cereal expands and the ants will explode.
16. Sprinkling Comet or Ajax powder around the area the ants are
invading works wonders.
17. Red chili powder. Make a paste using a little water, find where the little black pests are coming in and going out and paste the area.
18. To trap ants leave an open bottle of maple syrup (cheap stuff is ok) the ants love it and they drown happy.
19. Mix borax with sugar water. Place it on the ant trails and where the ants are coming in. It kills any ant that eats the mixture.
20. Some mint oil and mint chewing gum help repel ants in a house. Place a stick or open pack of chewing gum on a shelf. Outside you can plant mint around the foundation.
21. Orangeguard. It uses orange oil to eradicate ants. Their website: http://www.orangeguard.com/
22. Buy several bottles of Terro and especially whenever the seasons change, squirt some Terro around the outside of your home to feed them OUTSIDE (as opposed to inside) your home.
Hope one of these will help.

Answer 2

Ants In House In Winter

Answer 3

Ants In Winter

Answer 4

I have worked for Orkin in many states on the east coast and now operate my own pest control company here in Chicago. First of all, you probably don't have carpenter ants. However, there are several different types of ants, and they may or may not cause damage. Just from your explanation I would guess they are either an argentine ant, pavement ant, or odorous house ant. Those are fairly common ants. Hopefully you don't have carpenter, pharaoh, or acrobat ants.

One reason ants are difficult to eliminate is because some of their eggs take several months to hatch and even the best pesticides don't kill eggs. You need to: 1. eliminate the queen directly 2. kill the ants little by little til they either move or die. 3. create a barrier so that you don't see them

my suggestions are as follows:

1. identify the type of ant and search how to kill it using the internet

2. purchase terro from a home garden store and see if they take that back to the nest.

3. keep using the sprays that you are using, but repeat the process every couple of weeks for the next 3-5 months. remember, even if you stop seeing them they could have simply moved colonies and remained inactive for a short period of time.

4. try different safe pesticides from home depot or lowes. I would try some sprays with straw tips to get under the baseboards. Maybe even place Diazonon around the perimeter of the house and ortho home defense.

5. if money isn't a big issue or you don't want to spend a couple hours each month to guarantee pest elimination, call a certified professional. You can see positive results with persistence, time, money, and research. I wish you good luck.

Answer 5

They've probably built a nest very near by. They appear searching for something - anything. Sugar, Grease, Pet Food. Their normal supply of food is not available, so they're having to forage further and further into your home. You probably should spray under the house (if possible).

Keeping things clean is very important - I've experienced the same thing in my California home. Different bug problem here in Utah, got something that looks like a cockroach, but it's not. The wife doesn't like them here, and neither do I.

Every year I have to spray aggressively around the foundation. Spiders are also a problem here. And we have Black Widows and other poisonous variety.

Just keep the bug spray handy and look for the places they are entering. Seal them up with caulking will be the best defense against home intrusions. However, remember they are nesting near by, so find the nest and have a good talking with them. Make them GO AWAY.

Answer 6

Do you live in an area that hasn't had moisture or has had an extreme amount of moisture this year? Very unusual this time of year to see ants. I would say put ant powder down all along the baseboards (it works because they carry it back to their homes). It's still going to take awhile, short of that, call an exterminator.

Answer 7

They are just looking for moisture and warmth. It sounds strange, but put some liquid dish washing soap in the cracks where they are coming in. Then wipe up the excess you can see. The soap will go into the crack and create a barrier that they won't be able to come in through. Plus, they get stuck and its a tragedy for their little ant mound.
If you happen to find any ant mounds in your yard, poison them so they wont wanna make it in your house. If you're a little more cynical, find two ant mounds and mix the ants piles together. . . They fight until the death!

Answer 8

Ants become a nuisance when they enter homes. Instead of spending money on costly pest control, you can get rid of ants by removing the food source and using soap water.
I found the information at http://www.pests.in useful.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

I think they are wintering in your home, the way people do in FLA.