How do I get rid of ants?

[victorbron5]

I've seen lines of tiny black ants that don't bite crawling in trough t
crack in one of my windows. I see a few of them crawling on my
computers. I also see them eating bits of food. Once I left a zebra cake
wrapped in plastic (It wasn't sealed though) the next day I put it in my
lunch box with out thinking and I found a ton of these ants eating my
lunch. This has been going on for like, 3 months. How do I get them out
of my house without getting a pest control specialist?? Also will they
hurt my computer?? Please Help.




--
victorbron5

[Ed Pawlowski]

Ant traps would be one of my first lines of defense. There are
various spray insecticides and powders if you know where the nests
are.

This time of year, insects are in full bloom. I mix a liquid
insecticide in a garden sparer and go around the house spraying all
joints in siding, foundation, window frames, door frames, etc. Makes
a difference.

[Stormin Mormon]

Try liquid ant bait, from gardens alive (dot com).

Yes, they will gang up and carry your computer away, on their backs.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...

[Stormin Mormon]

Try liquid ant bait, from gardens alive (dot com).

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8695
I use bottle caps from soda bottles, instead of their fancy bait holders.
But, their units may work better.

[Doug Miller]

victorbron5 <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in news:victorbron5.a4d7708
@diybanter.com:

1. Stop leaving food out for them.
2. Stop leaving food out for them.
3. Stop leaving food out for them.
4. Use Amdro Ant-block to kill the nest.

[AngryOldWhiteGuy]

"Doug Miller" <doug_at_mil...@example.com> wrote in message
news:XnsA095557AAFC...@88.198.244.100...

I've had very good results using Terro.

[k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz]

That's a good plan but it doesn't work. They got into an unopened bottle of
molasses, a few years back. I nuked the lawn with bug killer a couple of
times and sprayed around the foundation and that seems to have stopped them.

>4. Use Amdro Ant-block to kill the nest.

That works. The first three don't, at least in the real world.

[Notat Home]

Equal parts of Boric acid (powder available at drug stores), sugar, and
water. Put some in a small plate or bottle cap where the ants are.
They take it back to their colony where it kills them.

Next spring, apply a barrier around your foundation and near doors and
windows to keep them out. I've had good results with ortho defender.

[Don Phillipson]

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...

> I've seen lines of tiny black ants that don't bite crawling in . .. How

> do I get them out
> of my house without getting a pest control specialist??

Boric acid seems the safest and cheapest method. This is
sold at drugstores or hardware stores in powder form. The
usual method of use is to make a syrup with boric acid,
sugar and water, and paint the syrup across known ant
routes. The aim is that the ants should discover this as
food, then take the syrup back to the home nest and
share it. When ants eat boric acid, it blocks their interior
plumbing and they die. This material does not hurt
mammals e.g. infants or pets.

The main harm done by ants is Carpenter Ants' hollowing
out of wood house beams (e.g. under a dripping water fixture.)
But Carpenter Ants are 1 cm. long i.e. not "tiny ."

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[dadiOH]

Don Phillipson wrote:
> "victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
> news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...
>
>> I've seen lines of tiny black ants that don't bite crawling in . ..
>> How do I get them out
>> of my house without getting a pest control specialist??
>
> Boric acid seems the safest and cheapest method. This is
> sold at drugstores or hardware stores in powder form. The
> usual method of use is to make a syrup with boric acid,
> sugar and water, and paint the syrup across known ant
> routes. The aim is that the ants should discover this as
> food, then take the syrup back to the home nest and
> share it. When ants eat boric acid, it blocks their interior
> plumbing and they die.

> This material does not hurt
> mammals e.g. infants or pets.

More or less true; however, it depends upon the amount and should still be
respected.

"However, while boric acid has become one of the chemicals of choice for
many urban pest control programs, it can be toxic. EPA considers boric acid
as a moderately acutely toxic due to acute effects including oral and dermal
toxicity, and eye and skin irritation. EPA�s reregistration document states
that a subchronic borax feeding study using dogs resulted in blood and
metabolism disorders as well as effects to the testes, endocrine system,
brain weight, and size ratios among various organs and glands. In chronic
oncogenicity studies using mice, rats and beagle dogs, boric acid and borax
were found not to be carcinogenic; however, testicular effects and decreases
in body weight resulted at high dose levels. EPA has classified boric acid
as a �Group E� carcinogen, indicating that it shows �evidence of
noncarcinogenicity� for humans. In reproductive and developmental toxicity
studies using rats, mice and rabbits, maternal liver and kidney effects and
decreased weight gain as well as decreased fetal body weights were observed.
In two studies, at the highest dose levels, no litters were produced.
Prenatal mortality occurred at the highest dose levels in the rabbit study.
Boric acid does not cause mutagenicity (U.S. EPA 1993).

Applicators and others in treatment areas may be exposed to boric acid and
its sodium salts during or after application. However, there is no
reasonable expectation that these pesticide uses may constitute a hazard or
risk to people involved in, or near to, handling or application activities.
Proper care and adhering to label directions and precautions should reduce
exposure and any associated risk (U.S. EPA 1993). "


--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

[dpb]

On 7/19/2012 8:50 AM, gfre...@aol.com wrote:
...

> Take some of that cake and mix it up, 12 parts cake, one part boric
> acid and set it out for them in bottle caps
...
> That is basically what terro and amdro are, except they are for ants
> that like sugar. I haven't seen a sugar eating ant here in years.

Nonsense...

Amdro Fire Ant Bait MSDS

> 3. Composition/Information on Ingredients
>
> CAS Number Content (W/W) Chemical name
> 67485-29-4 0.73 % hydramethylnon
> 99.27 % Proprietary (inert) ingredients

I've yet to find any ant it hasn't been successful against from tiny
black to the target fire ant...there may well (and probably are) some
that won't take the bait but so far I've never found it.

It is relatively non-acute for single exposure--while not willy-nilly,
in stubborn cases I've spread it on countertops or in cabinets
temporarily in small quantities and then cleaned up afterwards...

I've frankly never had much luck w/ the boric acid--the wife thinks it's
the solution but after her trying I'll wait 'til sometime when she's in
town and "salt" her mixture w/ a little "real" bait and the problem will
be gone and she never seems the wiser and I don't have to hear about how
she doesn't want that stuff around... :)

--

[Robert Macy]

Not familiar with Ortho Defender. But, highly recommend Raid's Bug
Barrier.

Here in AZ it stops/takes out every crawling/flying thing that gets on
it.

Ant Infestation in entertainment room where sugary cola was spilled
[actually two 2 liter bottles exploded]. lightly surrounded the area
with Raid's BB and never have seen another ant.

Also, kills scorpions, BIG centipedes, and every type of spider that
tries to come across the barrier. Flying critters die from contact on
window ledges, too.

[h]

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...
>

Terro.

[Robert Macy]

On Jul 18, 7:36 pm, victorbron5 <victorbron5.a4d7...@diybanter.com>
wrote:

if you're into 'environmentally friendly stuff';simply peel a bunch of
fresh oranges in that room. There's some kind of natural form of
insecticide in the rind spritz, lasts for a year. We used to peel our
orange crop once a year in our kitchen and NEVER had an ant in the
kitchen, even the rest of the house. Although plentiful ants
outside.Except the one year Med Fruit Fly caused the removal of orange
fruit and there was NO crop - then you wouldn't believe the influx of
ants! Raid House and Garden barely kept up against them. So many
carcasses everywhere clogged the vacuum cleaner.

[Norminn]

You will be way ahead to give the kitchen (and eating areas) a very good
cleaning....just a few crumbs or a smudge of something sticky (syrup
bottle, honey, jelly) in a cupboard sounds the alarm for ants to come to
dinner :o) Ants and mice LOVE dog chows! Sweets and fatty food, if not
in the fridge, should be in airtight containers. End of problem. Plain
old Terro ant bait, mixture of boric acid and sugar syrup, is a great
bait which kills ants after they take it back to the nest. It is put
down, a drop here and there along their trails and soon they gather to
get the bait. Same stuff is available by other brand names.

I've seen ants come after the toothpaste dribble in bathrooms. Lots of
bugs come indoors during drought conditions to find water.

[Steve B]

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...
>

> victorbron5

I buy the little three or four packs of sealed and poison. They are 1/4"
thick, and usually square or hexagon shape with little access holes for the
ants. The ants seem to eat off some of the poison, and take it back to the
nest. Another thing I use with great success is Amdro, although for the
little "sugar ants", they might have trouble carrying the pellets back to
the nest. It works by killing the queen. The little square plastic ones
seem safe, as you can put them up where animals and (most) kids can't get to
them. Just toss them after three months or so. Four for a buck at the
dollar store.

Steve

[Stormin Mormon]

Amdro. Terro. Why do ant killers names end in a vowel?

"Say hello to my little friend. We break your leg, leg, leg, leg, leg, leg,
leg."

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote in message
news:ju95fq$8bv$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

Terro.

[MLD]

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message
news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...
>

Found this as one method

1 cp warm water
1/2 cp Sugar
2 Tablespoons Borax
Soak mixture with cotton balls
Leave for the critters to eat and carry back some of the goodies to the
queen.
Kill the queen and you wipe out the nest

[gregz]

Mix equal parts 20 mule team borax and sugar. Use long life sprays around
outside house and around windows. Spray trails. You can get that mixture in
around cracks and trails.

Greg

[Doug Miller]

"k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in
news:5e1g08hnsrvrpeb5p...@4ax.com:

> On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:25:14 +0000 (UTC), Doug Miller
> <doug_at_mil...@example.com> wrote:
>
>>victorbron5 <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in news:victorbron5.a4d7708
>>@diybanter.com:
>>
>>> I've seen lines of tiny black ants that don't bite crawling in trough t
>>> crack in one of my windows. I see a few of them crawling on my
>>> computers. I also see them eating bits of food. Once I left a zebra cake
>>> wrapped in plastic (It wasn't sealed though) the next day I put it in my
>>> lunch box with out thinking and I found a ton of these ants eating my
>>> lunch. This has been going on for like, 3 months. How do I get them out
>>> of my house without getting a pest control specialist?? Also will they
>>> hurt my computer?? Please Help.
>>
>>1. Stop leaving food out for them.
>>2. Stop leaving food out for them.
>>3. Stop leaving food out for them.
>
> That's a good plan but it doesn't work.

That just means you didn't find *all* of the food you left out for them.

>They got into an unopened bottle of
> molasses, a few years back.

Sure they did. What'd they do, unscrew the lid?

> I nuked the lawn with bug killer a couple of
> times and sprayed around the foundation and that seems to have stopped them.
>
>>4. Use Amdro Ant-block to kill the nest.
>
> That works. The first three don't, at least in the real world.

Actually, they work just fine -- if you try them.

[k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz]

On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:57:32 +0000 (UTC), Doug Miller

<doug_at_mil...@example.com> wrote:

>"k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in
>news:5e1g08hnsrvrpeb5p...@4ax.com:
>
>> On Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:25:14 +0000 (UTC), Doug Miller
>> <doug_at_mil...@example.com> wrote:
>>
>>>victorbron5 <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in news:victorbron5.a4d7708
>>>@diybanter.com:
>>>
>>>> I've seen lines of tiny black ants that don't bite crawling in trough t
>>>> crack in one of my windows. I see a few of them crawling on my
>>>> computers. I also see them eating bits of food. Once I left a zebra cake
>>>> wrapped in plastic (It wasn't sealed though) the next day I put it in my
>>>> lunch box with out thinking and I found a ton of these ants eating my
>>>> lunch. This has been going on for like, 3 months. How do I get them out
>>>> of my house without getting a pest control specialist?? Also will they
>>>> hurt my computer?? Please Help.
>>>
>>>1. Stop leaving food out for them.
>>>2. Stop leaving food out for them.
>>>3. Stop leaving food out for them.
>>
>> That's a good plan but it doesn't work.
>
>That just means you didn't find *all* of the food you left out for them.

Nope.

>>They got into an unopened bottle of
>> molasses, a few years back.
>
>Sure they did. What'd they do, unscrew the lid?

They were inside, drowned, when we broke the seal. They weren't there when
the bottle was purchased.

>> I nuked the lawn with bug killer a couple of
>> times and sprayed around the foundation and that seems to have stopped them.
>>
>>>4. Use Amdro Ant-block to kill the nest.
>>
>> That works. The first three don't, at least in the real world.
>
>Actually, they work just fine -- if you try them.

Wrong. They'll get into any packaging. Plastic is no match for a million
ants.

[Jim Yanik]

gregz <ze...@comcast.net> wrote in
news:439152220364409405.78...@news.eternal-september.or
g:

you want to use BORIC ACID,not borax.
you can buy bottles of powdered boric acid,it's roach powder.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

[gregz]

No I don't want to. Borax works fine. I use the rest for my wash.

Greg

[Guv Bob]

Terro (boric acid based) works every time for me and ants are gone within a day or two. There are powdered products containing boric acid but I have never had much success with them. Terro has something (glycerin probably) that attracts ants, where ants will just go around the power.

http://www.terro.com/products.php?product=liquid_ant_killer

"victorbron5" <victorbro...@diybanter.com> wrote in message news:victorbro...@diybanter.com...
>

[Guv Bob]

Here's a photo of what it looks like when they are eating. We had regular ant problems until using Terro in 2009. Hardly a sign of them.

http://imageshack.us/f/341/terrox.jpg/


"Guv Bob" <guvbo...@yahooooooooooooooo.com> wrote in message news:KpOdndWaDLuL5JDN...@earthlink.com...

[Norminn]

On 7/23/2012 12:33 PM, Guv Bob wrote:
> Here's a photo of what it looks like when they are eating. We had regular ant problems until using Terro in 2009. Hardly a sign of them.
>
> http://imageshack.us/f/341/terrox.jpg/

Looks like the last roundup :o) Many years ago, when there was some
rather sloppy snacking going on in my kitchen, we had a pretty nasty ant
invasion. When I put down a little Terro along the exterior baseboard,
it was like someone blew the bugles and the cavalry turned around and
galloped away. Awesome how ants communicate about food :o)

[Norminn]

On 7/23/2012 1:33 PM, gfre...@aol.com wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:17:17 -0700, "Guv Bob"
> <guvbo...@yahooooooooooooooo.com> wrote:
>
>> Terro (boric acid based) works every time for me and ants are gone within a day or two. There are powdered products containing boric acid but I have never had much success with them. Terro has something (glycerin probably) that attracts ants,
>

> Terro is a sugar based product. It works great if your ants eat sugar.
> I haven't seen a sugar eating ant in years because that is what we
> have baited them with for years. (Terro, Amdro and most ant traps)
> If your ants get in the sugar jar, Terro will get them.
>

Amdro has several products, I believe. The fire ant bait was a corn
meal base, so had a little fat/oil. I've put Terro on rich bread or
crackers when ants seemed slow to take the bait...has always worked for
me. Even had ants going after whatever residue remained in the kitchen
sink disposal.

[gregz]

<gfre...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:17:17 -0700, "Guv Bob"
> <guvbo...@yahooooooooooooooo.com> wrote:
>
>> Terro (boric acid based) works every time for me and ants are gone
>> within a day or two. There are powdered products containing boric acid
>> but I have never had much success with them. Terro has something
>> (glycerin probably) that attracts ants,
>
> Terro is a sugar based product. It works great if your ants eat sugar.
> I haven't seen a sugar eating ant in years because that is what we
> have baited them with for years. (Terro, Amdro and most ant traps)
> If your ants get in the sugar jar, Terro will get them.

If you got grease eating ants, mix fats with borax. Borax has boric acid in
it. And you can wash your clothes.

Greg

[Guv Bob]

"Norminn" <nor...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:5bWdnfKf7cXwb5DN...@earthlink.com...

Yep, I hate to kill them because they're so interesting to watch. But if it's either them or me, it's time for them to git outta Dodge. LOL!!

[Norminn]

Carpenter ants in Florida: out at dusk, follow their invisible trails,
bait along the trails. We had some dead limbs in hedges, with a few
hollowed out and inhabited by carpenter ants. I mixed up some Dawn and
water, poured into the hollowed spots. Ants came pouring out carrying
their eggs or larvae, looking like refugees in a war. My grandson
liked to pick them up and squash them (age two), but if they bite they
can hang on; doesn't hurt like fire ants, which are sneaky bastards :o)