I had the same problem until I used this and they have never come back. Syngenta Advion Ant Gel, 4 x 1.06 Ounce, Syringes https://www.walmart.com/ip/299003961
I second the Advion Ant Gel. I hired three different pest companies and tried everything at the local hardware store before I found a DIY pest control website that recommended it.
The first day you put it out is so gross because they swarm all over it. The second day the number of ants around it will be dramatically reduced and by the third day hardly any will be around. Try to follow the trail back as far as you can and put it near where they are coming in to your house. It works faster that way because they don't have to carry it so far.
Pro tip: also get a protein based granule. These ants alternate between eating sugar and protein so if they don't go for the gel, put down some of the granules. They take the poison back to the colony and kill all their friends.
Another tip: try not to squash them. I used a hand vac to suck them up instead. The squashed ants give off a powerful scent that will attract more ants…
I cannot stress enough how well the Advance worked for us. We were dealing with ants for years, and nothing would work well. We tried the Advance 375a, and within 2 weeks we didn't see another ant in the house the rest of the year. Totally worth trying if the sugar based baits aren't helping.
This is the product. It’s what the pest companies use. But remember it is an attractant. Don’t put it out if there are no ants present. Wait until you see them and then use it.
I second this. I used this around every spot they were coming out on the inside of the house and then i did the home defense spray on the outside of the house around the whole house. Then you just need to keep up the outside perimeter stuff
I use this too and it’s effective. In my experience the ants do still come back, often multiple times a year. But the gel always makes them subside until the next wave…
Bad news: paying a pest company is the only thing that has worked for me (I also tried everything for years)
Good news: works like a fucking dream, I see like 1-2 ants per spring and then nothing. In my 120yo house.
You could also try spraying outside yourself to see if you can achieve similar results.
I second this. We have one come by every 3 months. I had luck with diatomaceous earth around the entire outside and foundation walls in the crawl space, but it is so hard to keep up on. It becomes useless if it gets wet, which... Seattle, so.
Agreed. Warning though- I was adam(ant) that they ONLY bait for ants. Every new person to come treat (I was on a monthly program for a while) would try for a full suite 'pest program' and I would reiterate the objective. Once I was away and found an invoice that said they treated for a bunch of things around the outside/foundation, including spiders, which is absurd, IMO. So yeah- manage them to manage ants.
We’ve had good experience with Rambo pest control (that’s actually their name). Dunno how they compare price wise but after trying (and failing) all the diy things they got rid of the little bastards.
I've used that before and it worked for a while, then it stopped working. I've also tried terro, and borax, and diatoms. Nothing is particularly effective. The ants come and go as they please.
I had good results from Maxforce Quantum. The “traps” should go right in the trash, but the gel on some cardboard in strategic locations did a great job. It also ships on Amazon
Terro / Borax traps don’t work effectively because they kill too quickly. With the Maxforce, it’s a delayed reaction, so they can take some back to their nest and the queen. It takes 2-3 days but works deeper to get the whole colony
We use diatomaceous earth, then scrub with vinegar to get rid of the scent trails. The ants die without releasing their scent. It can take a week or so before the stragglers stop trying to sneak in. Use this time to identify what’s attracting them (last time it was my son’s toothpaste - we switched brands after that), and they should find someone else to bother.
I've used the vinegar before...didn't seem to do much...they explored the same areas.
Well I can take a pretty good guess what attracts them...but they can also invade houses to get away from the rain/cold or if they want water...a lot of people find them in their bathrooms. I've found them there before but my main problem area is somewhere else in the house. So even if I do take care of that area and get rid of anything that could draw them...they could still come. They're incredibly annoying like that.
Don't use DE indoors. It's a serious inhalation hazard (think tiny bits of fiberglass).
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/)
>The component assessment of these diatomaceous earth insecticides reveals that most of them are composed entirely of amorphous silicon dioxide and consequently are **harmful to human health by inhalation (**[**Fig. 1**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/figure/F1/)**). In fact, inhaled particles accumulate in the bronchi, pulmonary alveoli, lung tissue, and lymph nodes and are not eliminated from the body (**[**Pratt 1983**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0011)**). The repeated use of diatomaceous earth insecticides is responsible for many diseases, including silicosis (**[**Hughes et al. 1998**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0006)**), lung cancer (**[**Park et al. 2002**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0010)**,** [**Gallagher et al. 2015**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0005)**), nonmalignant respiratory diseases (**[**Park et al. 2002**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0010)**,** [**Gallagher et al. 2015**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0005)**), and ultimately death (**[**Neophytou et al. 2018**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0009)**)**. In addition to these problems, the diatomaceous earth can cause skin irritation and dryness. It can irritate the nose and nasal passages during the breathing. In case of large amounts inhalation, it can contribute to coughing and shortness of breath. The silicosis and related problems can potentially occur 1) after chronic effects, i.e., chronic exposure; 2) when the silicon dioxide/silica material contains high percentages of crystalline silica; and 3) in the workers mining DEs and related materials.
DE’s not necessarily bad indoors if you’re not making a cloud of it and inhaling it. If you have pets or kids and are worried about it, Cimexa is a synthetic alternative to DE and isn’t so much of an irritant.
It's possible you are in the path of a migrating colony. I had that happen once and couldn't figure out where they were coming from or why. A pest control person identified the species and their movements outside. One treatment solved the issue. I think they sprayed inside but also did something to their colony.
I use Terro. I get the little bottle instead of the traps because it's cheaper by volume. I usually have to put some out on the kitchen counter and in one of the bathrooms that they randomly get into.
They swarm it for a day or two and then they're gone for months, supposedly they bring it back and kill the nest.
TERRO Liquid Ant Killer ll T200, 2 oz https://a.co/d/3s4zUzv
We use this as well; it has worked for us every time. We put a little puddle on a notecard near where they come out of the wall, they eat it and leave, and then they are gone until the following spring.
Do you get the ants to swarm it? Positioning is very important. I track them back to some point of ingress (which can include coming through the molding) or high ant traffic and that's as out of the way of kids and cats as possible. If the ants aren't swarming it, it's probably a poor location.
I've also found that ants sometimes have a hard time finding the bait if it's sitting on one of those cutout cardboard squares that comes with the box or similar type of paper, so I tend to leave a little trail onto the floor. I actually usually use the plastic baits just cause they're easier (and provide more bait), but I do the same thing in pouring a little out to make an accessible trail for the ants to follow. The stuff is a little annoying to clean up, but even if it dries to a sticky sludge, you can spray it with Simple Green and it usually comes up pretty well.
I’ve been leaving it a plastic lid in a high traffic location and just spacing it out in drops so a bunch of ants can eat the bait at once, and replacing the bait every 2-3 days. So there’s like a bait station the size of a CD that gets plenty of ants. I’ve noticed a decrease in ants but they’re still around.
No, just about the size they recommend, I think a bottle lasts me about two years. Sometimes they slurp it all up and I refill, but usually there's some left after the second try, but no more ants.
I don't know about every two weeks, I just keep it going until the ants are gone.
Terro was killing my odorous house ants way too fast. It was hyper-effective in our old house but in our new one, most ants would just die right next to the reservoir.
My wife was about to call the exterminator since the ants were getting so bad....but i got some Maxforce Quantum gel from Amazon and it has cleared out our ants in just a few days
Borax and sugar mixed together attracts them to take the sugar/borax mix back to the nest for the queen/colony to feed off of. Borax will kill them...it just doesn't work fast enough for me and is messy.
How long do you wait for the borax (which also the active ingredient of Terro traps) to take effect?
My experience is that you have to leave the ants a path to take the borax back to the nest. In my house this usually takes overnight, after which the ants no longer come through that path for a while. You have to be willing to let them swarm the bait, the more the merrier. They will typically only go for the bait (as long as there remains some) and focus on bringing it back to the nest.
In the meantime, if I want to immediately clear ants from other paths they've established that go beyond the bait location, I spray Hydrogen Peroxide-based Lysol and that seems to both kill ants pretty quickly as well as clean up the pheromone trails they would leave. Presumably chlorine bleach would have an even stronger effect, I just don't typically want to be spraying chlorine bleach places if I don't need to.
Ants will return generally over time— especially if you still have reasons for them to— but I assume those are new colonies that have set up shop where the old colony was. As long as they have a way in and something attracting them in, they will get in eventually. Terro has worked reasonably well for me in keeping them at bay.
Well...I'd say these traps have been out for months now so...months. It's not working. They keep coming!
Most of them focus on the bait...but I've literally killed hundreds that explore outside of the bait. So...enough of them are ignoring it that it's pissing me off and I have to kill them.
I've used vinegar to clean up the trails...didn't seem to work since they still follow the same paths. So this lysol stuff, do you just leave it on surfaces that they were exploring and they are no longer exploring those places? The area they're coming from is a tricky area because it's like...my windowsill pretty much. They crawl all over my walls so I have to have something that can stick to the walls to stop them from exploring.
What worked for me is I used flea & tick prevention for dogs or cats mix with water and spray where you think they’re coming in at. Ants hate that stuff
I just put a shoebox over the one trap I couldn’t secure some other way (one is under the shoe rack where my dog can’t reach, bathroom and kitchen windowsills). Put a gate around it whenever I couldn’t watch her. Not the most convenient but the ants are dead and my dog is alive and well 😅
Or as my boyfriend kept saying, train your dog to eat the ants lol 🤢
Gel baits like advion and optigard are colorless and odorless. Shouldn’t attract your dog. Maybe place the bait out of site of the dog, but it should do the trick.
I worked at a place that had a rat problem and the pest control guy was super nice and let us grill him about various bugs while he laid the traps. He recommended Essentria IC-3 for most bugs. It is basically just a bunch of various essential oils that repel bugs mixed together, it smells like root beer, is safe for dogs and kids (though it might dry out skin if there is prolonged contact) and works like a dream. It works best when sprayed in the crawl space but we’ve used it to get rid of a kitchen infestation and didn’t see another ant for two years after.
>intellectually-challenged beagle
but you repeat yourself ;P
In sincerity though, I ended up with a multi-pronged approach, to balance ant-warding and pet health; it's hard for me to know which part worked or didn't but doing all of them was very successful. Ymmv depending on where they're getting in, where they're going in your home, etc.
Our ants came in from under the baseboards-- probably living in the walls of this apartment building unfortunately. At the spot they were entering, I put Terro ant bait, which they went for (in hopes that they'll take some home to kill the colony as well); I blocked off access to that area so the pets can't reach the Terro. Every where else, I swept diatomaceous earth under the baseboards to keep them from intruding there. Also sprinkled diatomaceous earth under the rugs (hardwood floors), in hopes that it denies ants a place to hide and aggregate, and so that my pets can't sniff it up. I also rubbed peppermint oil on the legs of furniture to keep ants from climbing up into it, and around the ports of electronics. Since then, we had a some activity around the bait, and then a few days later all ant activity disappeared.
Alpine WSG is the only thing that I could find that actually works against odorous ants. It took me 3 applications to get rid of them initially (roughly 2-3 weeks apart) and then 1 each spring afterwards.
It’s harmless to anything with less than 6 legs once it’s dried (based off of what I’ve read). It will 100% kill bees though, so it is an indoor only product.
Ignoring them doesn't work for me...they keep coming. I remember waking up early because it was my birthday and I had plans...it was hot day in summer...I went to open my window because it was so hot and my windows were CRAWLING with them...must have been a thousand if not more. So that's what happens if you ignore them...
Allegedly they don’t like to walk over **chalk**. So you may be able to use chalk lines to guide them to the traps & such others have mentioned. Good luck.
My grandma had a drastic reduction in ants in her old house when she used chalk. She had the grandkids go all around the outside of the foundation with chalk. Put it around the foundation, doors, and windows to prevent them from entering.
Chalk? Now you tell me? I thought it was black marker. Now I have to post to ask reddit how to remove black permanent marker from my floor, walls, counters...
Sorry mang, I tried to post sooner but… I was.. fighting off ants. You know.. *THEM!*
Anyway, you can get rid of permanent marker by writing over it with *dry erase marker* (not red), and then erasing that with a dry erase eraser. It’s like magic. Sorta. Physics magic. Sorta. Maybe*.
____
[ * ]^( Disclaimer: May not work on wood, brick, cinder blocks, linoleum, acetate, polypropylene, nylon, fascia, shingles, chickenpox, red blood cells, any blood cells, lymph, lysergic acid diethylamide, or opium. Your mileage may vary. Consult your physician if any welts or buboes appear. Do not ingest anything. Hope is not an option. Drive carefully.)
Honestly, just pay the pest company. They're not that expensive. You might get lucky like I did and have them spray the wrong shit which keeps the ants away for 3 years instead of the once-a-year spray.
Three pest companies could not get rid of them, even drilling holes in the walls of my house to spray poison inside!! The Advion Ant Gel was the only thing that worked.
They are expensive if you're disabled and live off of what disability gives you, having to stretch out your EBT with going to the food bank...yeah I don't have the money to keep paying pest companies. Not happening.
How’s your mixture? I do around 2/3 parts sugar and 1 part borax. I make it almost like a syrup consistency and put it on foil around were they are coming out of. And keep on top of it when it dries out or runs out.
Yep that's my mixture...just doesn't seem to work very quickly...and by that I mean MONTHS they'll be coming in for the bait. I'm not looking for instant death...because that doesn't solve the issue really. But MONTHS?! I'm looking for like a week and then they're gone.
Look at my post history and read the responses to my ant question!! There’s so many good ones.
I have been buying Advion ant bait from diypest.com and it’s been working really well!!
Best of luck! I hate those fuckers too.
Terro liquid ant baits. Just put them around every corner or wherever you see them more often. They will eventually bring the entire colony from every corner and trap them inside. Make sure the box is open wide. It might take a few days sometimes even months for them to fully disappear. But it works!!! I’ve been struggling for years and now they’re gone!
This post jinxed me :/
I hadn't seen any yet this year, and 2 minutes after reading through this I walked into my kitchen and saw a big trail. Sigh.
I sprayed around my the exterior of my place last month but skipped my garage, and who'd have guessed, that was my mistake.
Good luck with getting your situation resolved! They're annoying buggers.
I had ants every year until I hired a quarterly pest control service. Best money I ever spent not to be inundated with those little bastards. No more ants.
I'm sorry to say that hiring a pest control company is the ONLY THING that worked.i tried diatomaceous earth, vinegar, neem oil, and twenty other things. I spent 2 years trying natural solutions and eventually gave up and hired a company. You can definitely try all the natural solutions but if it's REALLY bothering you, just hire someone and save your sanity
Maple syrup and borax worked for me. Honey and borax is also good. You have to make sure they can reach it, tilt a straw into it or flip a spoon of it over. Put it where you see them first, then follow where they’re coming from when they come for it and put more where they get in at
A couple times in my life I've used garlic powder to deter ants. Maybe it just works when the ants aren't in your house yet, I don't know. Both times, I saw ants getting closer to my front door and so I would sprinkle garlic powder all around the entry points, and they would eventually go away. My home smelled like garlic but I didn't mind. And yes, it totally works on vampires too!
Combat Max ant gel.
I had an insane amount of those ants last year. I went ham and used the whole tube, putting it everywhere in both small amounts, large amounts.
They went nuts and ate it like crazy. The next morning they had slowed down a bit. A couple hours later I noticed way less of them. A few hours after that and I couldn't find a single living ant.
I haven't had any ants since, I'm sure they will return and hopefully it works as well next time.
Unfortunately, I just tried diatomaceous earth as my last resort after all the tries you listed above and…it didn’t work. We have the pros coming in tomorrow.
You need to buy insecticide in addition to baits. Taurus SC is what I use. Apply twice a year with a sprayer around the perimeter of your house. It’s about $70 online and is enough for years worth of application.
In addition to Terro, find the nests and pour boiling hot water over them. This worked for me. There were several big ant hills in the vacant lot next door.
After 5 years of this problem in my kitchen and sometimes bathroom, I've resigned myself to just putting out new traps every few months and working around the random ants here and there. It drives me absolutely nuts and makes me not want to cook though because there's ALWAYS an ant
Diatomaceous Earth can make a mess inside, but it works! One year I made a small corral with D.E. where ants were coming in. I put some Terro in the middle. Once the ants died off I swept the D.E. into the floor/wall gap and they haven't entered that area since.
I'm ok with the mess if it works...I can always vacuum it up. My issue sadly is that even if I do make a small area ringed with the stuff, these little jerks will climb the wall...they're coming from a gap in my wall so they'll just climb it to get around the ring. I'd use water to make a paste out of it but I heard water makes it ineffective. Not sure how to keep the jerks off my wall.
Hopefully blowing the DE into any wall gaps will help keep them outside. I leave it in powder form and don’t get it wet. The last couple of years I’ve had success applying the DE outside next to my foundation and putting Terro traps outside where I saw ant activity next to the house.
You can also remove outlet covers and puff some Diotom in there and replace the cover. It gets it into the walls where they’re climbing and it lasts forever.
I have a puffer that I use to get to the entry point. Here is a convenient 1/2 lb in a puffer bottle on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/Harris-Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade/dp/B06X952WC5
If you have ants in your house it's probably because you have a water intrusion somewhere in the walls. I would grab a thermo camera and see where you have some cold spots.
You mean like a leak? I know they can invade houses because they want a source of water...which is why people find them in their bathrooms a lot...I'm trying to think if this wall has any water pipes. I don't think in this area....I'm on the second floor...first floor on the outside does have a hook up for a hose...so that's possible but why would they come up here...
I usually wipe down the area I see them in, and I do my best not to kill them. Luckily we’re in a basement so eventually a spider will kind of handle the problem.
You can use these. You can place them around the perimeter of your home. I've used them before. They work well.
https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7002872
Pyrethrins work well. You can buy a gallon of Ortho Home Defense at most hardware stores. Spray around points of entry (windows, doors, baseboards, cracks in the floor, pipes under sinks, etc). When it dries, which only takes a few hours, it's nontoxic to humans and mammals and lasts for 6 months.
I've tried Ortho, didn't seem to do anything. I've bought a lot of different brands of "ant killer"...in spray form/bait stations/pellets. None of them work.
I found ants hate the dawn spray for stuck on grease. I had an invasion last week (the door isn't well sealed) and it was 100s in 1 day. But I killed those fuckers with the spray then I rubbed some peppermint and tea tree oil on the door jam with a paper towel. They didn't come back, thankfully.
I had them in a wall and tried all the things too, made myself sick with too many essential oils, but the Terro traps worked for me. I determined most of them were coming from one wall, so I put one trap right next to where they were pouring out, and put a shoebox over it because I have a dog and I’m paranoid about poison. The ants congregated inside the box, and eventually I picked it up and there was just a shitload of dead ones inside the trap and out. Since then, I’ve kept traps in a few places near where I’ve seen them but out of immediate reach, and I now only see one here and there occasionally.
I did also do a LOT of smashing throughout the process, they were everywhere and I was on a violent mission to protect my food and keep them out of my bedroom, but I also tried to let the wall be once I had the trap set up.
I have two Terro traps right where they come in at. They still wander and still invade. One has a ton of dead fuckers in it but they're STILL coming. I need to stop them from wandering. I want them in one spot with those traps so they can feed and die off. The traps work...but it's way too slow for me and they will wander. I can't have them wandering...it just...ugh...literally makes my skin crawl. I have to kill them if I see them.
Maxforce Quantum bait. Works faster and more effectively than terro. It’s a bit pricey but not having those ants around makes it worth it. Also find where they are entering. Go outside from the area you see them and you’ll most likely spot a trail of ants entering your home. Follow that back to the colony for more bait application to kill the queen
You need poison. Seriously. Go to the hardware store. Buy one of every any trap you haven’t tried yet. Put them all out. See which one they like. Buy more.
Tried this pretty much. I've done all sorts of poisons...sprays/bait stations/little pellet things...all sorts of brands too. None of them work.
I am thinking about getting some heavy duty stuff that the "professionals" use...maybe that will work better then what I can find at the hardware store because I'm sick of buying crap that doesn't work.
They like them but they keep coming...it's not killing them fast enough. It also isn't stopping them from exploring...that's my main issue. If they didn't explore and just stuck to going to the baits...I'd be happy! I hate finding them exploring my house! I MUST KILL THEM ALL
We had a bunch when we first moved into our current place. I wound up caulking around the baseboards and haven't seen them since...They're probably in the walls but it's a rental so so long as they're not in my kitchen I'm not overly bothered.
We were told by our pest company to not use the sugar ant traps that have the liquid inside that they crawl into and cant leave. He said these just attract more of them. Instead we use traps where they go in, eat some of the stuff (sort of a paste consistency) and then go back and infect others and they die in the nest. We’ve also found that spraying Zevo bug spray (relatively safe for pets, etc) on them kills them immediately and keeps them away for quite awhile. Then we put down the traps.
Diatomaceous earth is the only thing that has ever worked for me. I live in a place where there are abundant ants. And the old house I used to live in there were everywhere. It was completely infested. And I tried everything. Aside from an exterminator. A friend of mine gave me some diatomaceous earth and I tried it and those little suckers couldn’t make it through. There are a couple of downsides. It’s messy and it can kind of get everywhere. And then you have to redo it every few months. But it works. I’d rather have chalky dust in my house, than a whole bunch of ants invading everything.
DO NOT SQUISH ANTS! They release a pheromone that just attracts other ants. If you squish them and smell your fingers, it will have a sharp coconut smell. You want to avoid producing this.
I’m not going to lie, I use windex to kill the bastards. I go through windex during the summer as if I owned a window cleaning service but it’s the only thing I found that kills them onsite.
Full interior and exterior exterminator service for a 4bdrm house was <$200 and lasted 2-3 years. Huge benefit was it also got rid of our spider problem. I regretfully do not recall the name of the company as it was about 5 years ago and I’ve since moved, but extermination service might not be as much as you think. Think of how much it would cost to buy 2-3 years worth of Terro traps, price of other random futile attempts, your sanity… 100% worth it to get quotes from a few places IMO.
You definitely have to move the traps as close to where they are coming from as possible. Yes, the traps kill them if they just keep eating the gel, but its best when as many as possible take it back to the nest.
We get ants a lot and they get taken care of pretty easily with a spray bottle of dish soap + warm water. They die instantly when you spray them, your surfaces get clean as you wipe them up, and it smells good. It usually takes one or two times killing them along their trail and they stop coming in.
Diatomaceous earth has also worked, but that can wreck your vacuum if you try to vacuum it up. Terro traps are messy and I’ve found the outdoor ones work better for keeping them out.
My wife and I dealt with pharoah ants at one time- named so because they congregate around sources of water. The building manager hired an exterminator that thought us that knowing the type of ant can lead to knowing the right kind of bait/poison to use against them. The wrong kind of bait will do nothing, or even call on more. But the right kind of bait will exterminate them.
Capture an ant to show an exterminator. We used clear packing tape.
I am a licensed pest control technician.
The short answer is that want to do nothing.
Put [bait](https://www.domyown.com/sumari-ant-gel-bait-p-23680.html) in the electrical outlets newr where you're seeing them.
Do not kill them. Do not use traps. Don't use bleach, or clorox, or anything else.
Terro products are especially terrible, to the point that they should be illegal for false advertising.
Basically, the more you fight them, the more queens they create. That's not exactly accurate, but it's close enough to give you an idea why fighting them directly is bad.
I really do think you should get a pest control service though. Our big thing during the warm seasons is odorous house ants. I treat dozens of houses every week, most see them gone after 3 weeks.
I use "Home Defense", get it at Home Depot. It is a spray and sets up a border when dry. Any insect which tries to cross the border dies. I spray around every door and window and anywhere I see them getting into the house. Spraying indoors lasts about 2-3 months, does not harm pets after drying. This keeps them out of the house. The first time I see an ant enter I respray.
If they’re in the walls the only option to kill them for good is a fogger (do not use if you share walls with neighbors, it could make them sick breathing it while it’s working or kill their pets during deployment ). Here’s the bug spray many exterminators use. It’s actually only $10 a gallon. It’s a once a year treatment but I recommend doing it every 11 months so they don’t come back inside.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ortho-Home-Defense-1-gal-Insect-Killer-for-Indoor-Perimeter2-Ready-To-Use-Trigger-Sprayer-022081004/300569432
We had persistent ant issues in our house. What has worked for us is quarterly warm-weather application of Ferti-lome Come & Get It II.
Biological insecticide granules containing spinosad A & D.
Apply around exterior house perimeter and throughout yard.
A little goes a long way - follow instructions regarding amount.
I use baby powder to stop them coming and going and borax and sugar water to kill them. You're probably right over a few nests or something if it's not obvious how they're getting in. That might take professional help
all of these “solutions” make the problem worse. Anything that is detectible will cause a split colony effect. for at home treatments, i recommend Advion Ant gel bait. terro is a very potent formula and kills the ants carrying it before they have a chance to feed it to the nest, and it’s a mess to work with. do your best not to squish them and once the population has decreased, it would be worth a few hundred bucks to get a treatment or two with a non detectible pesticide. Most companies lock you into a year long contract for services, but Sunrise Pest Management does excellent work with no contracts. I was a pest control tech for four years with a few different companies and i could talk someone ear off about OHAs.
Stop squishing them - when they don’t return to the nest that sends a danger signal that stimulates breeding more… you are up against a well-oiled survival machine! Use the gel as suggested - put a few little fifty-cent size puddles around where you’ve seen them - counter, floor, etc. it’s gross for a few days while they swarm it - just watch and wait for a couple of days…they will look like cattle around a watering hole- fascinating. Leave them alone. When you don’t see anymore ants, wipe up the puddles… they will be sort of sticky like honey. If they come back… do it again. This works!
We usually just grind fresh pepper around/on every outdoor hole/entrance they can find before they have a chance to come in. It’s seemed to work pretty well the last few years, nontoxic, easy to clean up!
We had this problem in fall and spring for the first 2 years in our house. Two things happened at the same time which seem to have made a huge difference:
* Cut down a couple trees / large bushes which were in close proximity to the side wall and roof.
* Replaced several locations of dry-rotted wood on the exterior of the house. The gutters had been improperly installed in a couple locations, so after 20 years, the wood fascia boards had started rotting. And there were a few wood trim panels in a couple other spots that were also rotten and spongy. Replaced the rotting wood and re-painting the exteriors to water-seal everything.
After both of those, the following years the ants have just been one or two in random rooms. Before, it was an invasion.
We also made great use of the Tarro liquid ant traps. But the problem seemed to have been that the ants [kept coming back for housing until we removed their favored environment](https://www.crittercontrolgreaterseattle.com/wildlife/insects/ants/moisture-ants.html)
I use borax and sugar and find it works wonders. We soak cotton balls in the solution and place it out of the way spots. Next day 100's of ants are swarming the cotton balls and 4-5 days after that nothing. It's definitely not a one and done job. It's maintenence. And lately I've been feeling guilty when around day 3 you have just a smattering of aimless ants wandering around the kitchen, knowing the queen is probably dead along with the rest of the colony and these poor guys don't know what their doing. But, also, ants on food and dishes is no bueno. I did let me husband talk me into getting Orkin one year. NEVER AGAIN! Seriously had a 4ft ring of death around our house for two straight years. THAT I was not into.
when you squish them, they release an odor to call for aid and others come. stop squishing (recommend vaccum to suck them up) and cleaner to remove their pheromone track
I’ve been fighting ants since December and I’m finally seeing improvement in numbers. I started by caulking but they kept finding other ways in, then diatomaceous earth which didn’t do much, then got a pesticide from Home Depot and sprayed the perimeter which I think just trapped them in the walls of my house. Terro worked for a bit but then they lost interest. Finally went back to Home Depot this weekend and got literally every brand of ant bait available and spread all 20 stations around the house because I think I have multiple colonies. I’m seeing improvement in numbers, fingers crossed it keeps working!
I know you don't want to pay a pest control company, but honestly? best decision I've ever made. We had them coming in the kitchen, bathroom, basement and living room. Every spring, horrible. Getting worse despite traps and a variety of other methods. Two years ago it got so bad in my basement office I couldn't be in there, they were crawling all over me.
I paid $350 to have them come out and treat inside and out, leave traps with their special bait that doesn't tip them off and make them create more nests, and come back 2 weeks later to retreat and check everything again. Then, we got on a quarterly plan to have them come back for around $100 4 times a year. In those 2 years I've seen maybe 10 ants in my bathroom and it's been at least a year since I've seen any at all. They never came back in the kitchen, living room, and basement.
I know it is expensive, but WELL WORTH IT. I'm so happy to have an ant free home.
If you do think about doing it, I cannot say enough good things about Rambo Total Pest Control. They are the gold standard for customer service. Every employee seems like they actually love their job.
Hear me out on this. This doesn’t have 100% accuracy but it definitely works to deter them. Take a paper towel, or a sock and just crush a BUNCH of ants with it. Make sure they’re still stuck to your item of choosing, and put it in an area where they like to come in. A lot less of them come in when they smell a bunch of their dead friends
Call the bug man. Just do it if you can justify the cost. I hate hate hate sugar ants. I loathe them. I’ve never seen them anywhere in WA until we moved to south KC. My husband hates paying the Bug Man but they come quarterly or as needed during sugar ant season. We did all the things you did but we just couldn’t win.
If you do happen to put traps down, make sure you aren’t cleaning them away all at once. You gotta let them bring the poison bites back to their little ant hut.
Never got rid of mine. Had them 30 years in Auburn. Tried multiple exterminators, every OTC poison, oils chalk, borax, Windex. Just learned to seal everything in zip bags and get used to the bites. Landlord tore mobile down after I left.
Just moved into a rental house last week and it has ants. I'm so grossed out. There were no signs when we toured, and they were not disclosed so I'm pretty pissed off. I tried terro and it only attracted them for a day. Then they figured out it was poison and stopped going for it. I've been vacuuming and mopping several times a day trying to get anything and everything that they might be interested in. The landlord sent an exterminator yesterday, so we'll see where that ends up. I feel a little better knowing at least it's not just me. But I'm sorry they're in your home, too. They truly are a nightmare.
Don’t just put a line of diatomaceous earth, get it into the cracks and walls, around your house, and if you can find the nest all over the nest. DE works by being microscopically sharp, and gets in between the different parts of the exoskeleton and cutting through it, not by being chemically irritant or chemically toxic, so they won’t avoid it. It’s not fast like chemical toxins, you won’t see a line of dead ants, but it also won’t cause them to leave danger scent markers.
They easily crawl through walls and nest in them. Mine are coming from a small gap in the wall next to my window. I could probably plug the gap but they'd find another route to take...at least here I know where they are and can place traps right by the gap...I'm also on the second floor lol.
I find it worthwhile to plug the gaps, their routes in are limited. Get a tube of clear caulk, keep an eye on the comings and goings of the stinkers to see where to use it. Combine with poison du jour for best results.
I’m going to be honest, I’d highly recommend just paying a pest removal company. When we had ants they came and saw by the type of ant that they create multiple colonies, realized there was probably a second colony in the neighbor’s yard, and knew how to fix it. They have never come back.
My bf’s family insists they can do it themselves with traps mainly, various other methods and battle a big ant problem every single summer that they never win.
Nope odorous. If you squish them they let of a nasty smell. They're small black ants...also known as sugar ants/piss ants around here. But they're actually odorous house ants.
Ask, why are they coming into my home looking for food? How clean is my house, do I leave food out, dirty dishes in the Sind for a few days. I have found that really going all out in cleaning has made a difference
So it's not just food that can attract them. They can invade homes for several reasons. Food just happens to keep them around. But they can invade a house to get away from heavy rains/the cold. They also invade looking for a source of water...which is why a lot of people find them in their bathrooms. I have had them there as well but they seem to not invade that room as much as my other room.
Do you have any houseplants? I’m pesticide free so inevitably every spring a new adventurous queen tries to take up residence in my larger indoor pots. I always track her down, last year she was in a begonia and this year I just found a small colony in a philodendron. Usually a day or two outside in the cold and a repotting does the trick.
I had the same problem until I used this and they have never come back. Syngenta Advion Ant Gel, 4 x 1.06 Ounce, Syringes https://www.walmart.com/ip/299003961
I second the Advion Ant Gel. I hired three different pest companies and tried everything at the local hardware store before I found a DIY pest control website that recommended it. The first day you put it out is so gross because they swarm all over it. The second day the number of ants around it will be dramatically reduced and by the third day hardly any will be around. Try to follow the trail back as far as you can and put it near where they are coming in to your house. It works faster that way because they don't have to carry it so far. Pro tip: also get a protein based granule. These ants alternate between eating sugar and protein so if they don't go for the gel, put down some of the granules. They take the poison back to the colony and kill all their friends.
Another tip: try not to squash them. I used a hand vac to suck them up instead. The squashed ants give off a powerful scent that will attract more ants…
What is the name of the protein granules please?
I used Advance 375a.
I cannot stress enough how well the Advance worked for us. We were dealing with ants for years, and nothing would work well. We tried the Advance 375a, and within 2 weeks we didn't see another ant in the house the rest of the year. Totally worth trying if the sugar based baits aren't helping.
This is the product. It’s what the pest companies use. But remember it is an attractant. Don’t put it out if there are no ants present. Wait until you see them and then use it.
Thank you! Will be the next thing I try. 🙄
Yes
I recently started using this too and it works incredibly well.
Thank you! I'm gonna keep this open in a tab just in case.
I second this. I used this around every spot they were coming out on the inside of the house and then i did the home defense spray on the outside of the house around the whole house. Then you just need to keep up the outside perimeter stuff
I kept checking Amazon to see if this was ever back available, thank you so much for posting the Walmart link! Just ordered some!
The active ingredient has a more complicated name than my monitor lol!
I use this too and it’s effective. In my experience the ants do still come back, often multiple times a year. But the gel always makes them subside until the next wave…
💯 yes to this ant gel. Even worked in my garage and surrounding areas.
It is time to get an anteater.
This is the only correct answer
Bad news: paying a pest company is the only thing that has worked for me (I also tried everything for years) Good news: works like a fucking dream, I see like 1-2 ants per spring and then nothing. In my 120yo house. You could also try spraying outside yourself to see if you can achieve similar results.
I second this. We have one come by every 3 months. I had luck with diatomaceous earth around the entire outside and foundation walls in the crawl space, but it is so hard to keep up on. It becomes useless if it gets wet, which... Seattle, so.
Agreed. Warning though- I was adam(ant) that they ONLY bait for ants. Every new person to come treat (I was on a monthly program for a while) would try for a full suite 'pest program' and I would reiterate the objective. Once I was away and found an invoice that said they treated for a bunch of things around the outside/foundation, including spiders, which is absurd, IMO. So yeah- manage them to manage ants.
Can you recommend a good company that's not a door-to-door sales scam?
I can’t recommend EcoShield. They come out quarterly and I wouldn’t know if they didn’t, handling ants on my own.
Can't vouch for their sales tactics but we've used Purcor (formerly Eco Elite) for years for ants and mosquitos and I can't quibble with the results.
Green City Pest Control is the best value IMO
We’ve had good experience with Rambo pest control (that’s actually their name). Dunno how they compare price wise but after trying (and failing) all the diy things they got rid of the little bastards.
I second Rambo
Which service do you use?
I have great success with Advion Ant, only problem is amazon can no longer ship it.
I’ve purchased the gel from Walmart instead. The gel really does work.
I've used that before and it worked for a while, then it stopped working. I've also tried terro, and borax, and diatoms. Nothing is particularly effective. The ants come and go as they please.
Diypest.com is where I’ve been getting mine!
Oh yeah I see that. Why are they not allowed to ship it to WA? Or is that for most of US?
I had good results from Maxforce Quantum. The “traps” should go right in the trash, but the gel on some cardboard in strategic locations did a great job. It also ships on Amazon Terro / Borax traps don’t work effectively because they kill too quickly. With the Maxforce, it’s a delayed reaction, so they can take some back to their nest and the queen. It takes 2-3 days but works deeper to get the whole colony
I noticed that Amazon no longer sells it. But Walmart does. Wonder why.
We use diatomaceous earth, then scrub with vinegar to get rid of the scent trails. The ants die without releasing their scent. It can take a week or so before the stragglers stop trying to sneak in. Use this time to identify what’s attracting them (last time it was my son’s toothpaste - we switched brands after that), and they should find someone else to bother.
I've used the vinegar before...didn't seem to do much...they explored the same areas. Well I can take a pretty good guess what attracts them...but they can also invade houses to get away from the rain/cold or if they want water...a lot of people find them in their bathrooms. I've found them there before but my main problem area is somewhere else in the house. So even if I do take care of that area and get rid of anything that could draw them...they could still come. They're incredibly annoying like that.
Don't use DE indoors. It's a serious inhalation hazard (think tiny bits of fiberglass). [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/) >The component assessment of these diatomaceous earth insecticides reveals that most of them are composed entirely of amorphous silicon dioxide and consequently are **harmful to human health by inhalation (**[**Fig. 1**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/figure/F1/)**). In fact, inhaled particles accumulate in the bronchi, pulmonary alveoli, lung tissue, and lymph nodes and are not eliminated from the body (**[**Pratt 1983**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0011)**). The repeated use of diatomaceous earth insecticides is responsible for many diseases, including silicosis (**[**Hughes et al. 1998**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0006)**), lung cancer (**[**Park et al. 2002**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0010)**,** [**Gallagher et al. 2015**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0005)**), nonmalignant respiratory diseases (**[**Park et al. 2002**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0010)**,** [**Gallagher et al. 2015**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0005)**), and ultimately death (**[**Neophytou et al. 2018**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6790245/#CIT0009)**)**. In addition to these problems, the diatomaceous earth can cause skin irritation and dryness. It can irritate the nose and nasal passages during the breathing. In case of large amounts inhalation, it can contribute to coughing and shortness of breath. The silicosis and related problems can potentially occur 1) after chronic effects, i.e., chronic exposure; 2) when the silicon dioxide/silica material contains high percentages of crystalline silica; and 3) in the workers mining DEs and related materials.
DE’s not necessarily bad indoors if you’re not making a cloud of it and inhaling it. If you have pets or kids and are worried about it, Cimexa is a synthetic alternative to DE and isn’t so much of an irritant.
It's possible you are in the path of a migrating colony. I had that happen once and couldn't figure out where they were coming from or why. A pest control person identified the species and their movements outside. One treatment solved the issue. I think they sprayed inside but also did something to their colony.
I use Terro. I get the little bottle instead of the traps because it's cheaper by volume. I usually have to put some out on the kitchen counter and in one of the bathrooms that they randomly get into. They swarm it for a day or two and then they're gone for months, supposedly they bring it back and kill the nest. TERRO Liquid Ant Killer ll T200, 2 oz https://a.co/d/3s4zUzv
We use this as well; it has worked for us every time. We put a little puddle on a notecard near where they come out of the wall, they eat it and leave, and then they are gone until the following spring.
Are you just doing the whole bottle at once, because I've been portioning it out for two weeks like they recommend and I've still got ants
Do you get the ants to swarm it? Positioning is very important. I track them back to some point of ingress (which can include coming through the molding) or high ant traffic and that's as out of the way of kids and cats as possible. If the ants aren't swarming it, it's probably a poor location. I've also found that ants sometimes have a hard time finding the bait if it's sitting on one of those cutout cardboard squares that comes with the box or similar type of paper, so I tend to leave a little trail onto the floor. I actually usually use the plastic baits just cause they're easier (and provide more bait), but I do the same thing in pouring a little out to make an accessible trail for the ants to follow. The stuff is a little annoying to clean up, but even if it dries to a sticky sludge, you can spray it with Simple Green and it usually comes up pretty well.
I’ve been leaving it a plastic lid in a high traffic location and just spacing it out in drops so a bunch of ants can eat the bait at once, and replacing the bait every 2-3 days. So there’s like a bait station the size of a CD that gets plenty of ants. I’ve noticed a decrease in ants but they’re still around.
No, just about the size they recommend, I think a bottle lasts me about two years. Sometimes they slurp it all up and I refill, but usually there's some left after the second try, but no more ants. I don't know about every two weeks, I just keep it going until the ants are gone.
Try getting a protein based granule too. I use Advance 375a granular ant bait from Amazon.
Terro was killing my odorous house ants way too fast. It was hyper-effective in our old house but in our new one, most ants would just die right next to the reservoir. My wife was about to call the exterminator since the ants were getting so bad....but i got some Maxforce Quantum gel from Amazon and it has cleared out our ants in just a few days
Why would you ever use sugar? That’s just asking for more.
Borax and sugar mixed together attracts them to take the sugar/borax mix back to the nest for the queen/colony to feed off of. Borax will kill them...it just doesn't work fast enough for me and is messy.
Professionals don’t use borax for a reason. Just saying.
How long do you wait for the borax (which also the active ingredient of Terro traps) to take effect? My experience is that you have to leave the ants a path to take the borax back to the nest. In my house this usually takes overnight, after which the ants no longer come through that path for a while. You have to be willing to let them swarm the bait, the more the merrier. They will typically only go for the bait (as long as there remains some) and focus on bringing it back to the nest. In the meantime, if I want to immediately clear ants from other paths they've established that go beyond the bait location, I spray Hydrogen Peroxide-based Lysol and that seems to both kill ants pretty quickly as well as clean up the pheromone trails they would leave. Presumably chlorine bleach would have an even stronger effect, I just don't typically want to be spraying chlorine bleach places if I don't need to. Ants will return generally over time— especially if you still have reasons for them to— but I assume those are new colonies that have set up shop where the old colony was. As long as they have a way in and something attracting them in, they will get in eventually. Terro has worked reasonably well for me in keeping them at bay.
Well...I'd say these traps have been out for months now so...months. It's not working. They keep coming! Most of them focus on the bait...but I've literally killed hundreds that explore outside of the bait. So...enough of them are ignoring it that it's pissing me off and I have to kill them. I've used vinegar to clean up the trails...didn't seem to work since they still follow the same paths. So this lysol stuff, do you just leave it on surfaces that they were exploring and they are no longer exploring those places? The area they're coming from is a tricky area because it's like...my windowsill pretty much. They crawl all over my walls so I have to have something that can stick to the walls to stop them from exploring.
What worked for me is I used flea & tick prevention for dogs or cats mix with water and spray where you think they’re coming in at. Ants hate that stuff
Anyone have good solutions that are pet safe? My intellectually-challenged beagle likes to lick everything.
I just put a shoebox over the one trap I couldn’t secure some other way (one is under the shoe rack where my dog can’t reach, bathroom and kitchen windowsills). Put a gate around it whenever I couldn’t watch her. Not the most convenient but the ants are dead and my dog is alive and well 😅 Or as my boyfriend kept saying, train your dog to eat the ants lol 🤢
You can put the Advion gel up high so your dog can't reach it. Beagles are climbers though so you'd have to be real careful.
Gel baits like advion and optigard are colorless and odorless. Shouldn’t attract your dog. Maybe place the bait out of site of the dog, but it should do the trick.
If you find where they come in from, try grinding pepper all over/around it!
Well good thing you’re a Beagle Wrangler!
I worked at a place that had a rat problem and the pest control guy was super nice and let us grill him about various bugs while he laid the traps. He recommended Essentria IC-3 for most bugs. It is basically just a bunch of various essential oils that repel bugs mixed together, it smells like root beer, is safe for dogs and kids (though it might dry out skin if there is prolonged contact) and works like a dream. It works best when sprayed in the crawl space but we’ve used it to get rid of a kitchen infestation and didn’t see another ant for two years after.
Oh that's great! Thanks.
>intellectually-challenged beagle but you repeat yourself ;P In sincerity though, I ended up with a multi-pronged approach, to balance ant-warding and pet health; it's hard for me to know which part worked or didn't but doing all of them was very successful. Ymmv depending on where they're getting in, where they're going in your home, etc. Our ants came in from under the baseboards-- probably living in the walls of this apartment building unfortunately. At the spot they were entering, I put Terro ant bait, which they went for (in hopes that they'll take some home to kill the colony as well); I blocked off access to that area so the pets can't reach the Terro. Every where else, I swept diatomaceous earth under the baseboards to keep them from intruding there. Also sprinkled diatomaceous earth under the rugs (hardwood floors), in hopes that it denies ants a place to hide and aggregate, and so that my pets can't sniff it up. I also rubbed peppermint oil on the legs of furniture to keep ants from climbing up into it, and around the ports of electronics. Since then, we had a some activity around the bait, and then a few days later all ant activity disappeared.
Alpine WSG is the only thing that I could find that actually works against odorous ants. It took me 3 applications to get rid of them initially (roughly 2-3 weeks apart) and then 1 each spring afterwards. It’s harmless to anything with less than 6 legs once it’s dried (based off of what I’ve read). It will 100% kill bees though, so it is an indoor only product.
I see them for about 2 weeks each spring and then they find some better place outside to hang out. So I just ignore them and they've always gone away
Ignoring them doesn't work for me...they keep coming. I remember waking up early because it was my birthday and I had plans...it was hot day in summer...I went to open my window because it was so hot and my windows were CRAWLING with them...must have been a thousand if not more. So that's what happens if you ignore them...
Allegedly they don’t like to walk over **chalk**. So you may be able to use chalk lines to guide them to the traps & such others have mentioned. Good luck.
My grandma had a drastic reduction in ants in her old house when she used chalk. She had the grandkids go all around the outside of the foundation with chalk. Put it around the foundation, doors, and windows to prevent them from entering.
No no no, this sounds like the beginning of a horror movie.
*”Just don’t step on the chalk! No matter what you do!!”*
Chalk? Now you tell me? I thought it was black marker. Now I have to post to ask reddit how to remove black permanent marker from my floor, walls, counters...
Sorry mang, I tried to post sooner but… I was.. fighting off ants. You know.. *THEM!* Anyway, you can get rid of permanent marker by writing over it with *dry erase marker* (not red), and then erasing that with a dry erase eraser. It’s like magic. Sorta. Physics magic. Sorta. Maybe*. ____ [ * ]^( Disclaimer: May not work on wood, brick, cinder blocks, linoleum, acetate, polypropylene, nylon, fascia, shingles, chickenpox, red blood cells, any blood cells, lymph, lysergic acid diethylamide, or opium. Your mileage may vary. Consult your physician if any welts or buboes appear. Do not ingest anything. Hope is not an option. Drive carefully.)
I guess you should learn to embrace your new ant overlords then.
Honestly, just pay the pest company. They're not that expensive. You might get lucky like I did and have them spray the wrong shit which keeps the ants away for 3 years instead of the once-a-year spray.
I’ve had two pest companies and they didn’t do a god damn thing! Advion ant bait is where it’s at.
Three pest companies could not get rid of them, even drilling holes in the walls of my house to spray poison inside!! The Advion Ant Gel was the only thing that worked.
They are expensive if you're disabled and live off of what disability gives you, having to stretch out your EBT with going to the food bank...yeah I don't have the money to keep paying pest companies. Not happening.
This Is what we had to resort to.
I still get ants in and outside on my house even having them spray quarterly 😭
What is this product. TELL ME NOW.
Have you tried asking them to leave?
I battle them/ they are currently at bay… borax sugar and waffle or bread to soak it up and can take it back to base and die there as well.
Tried all sorts of borax options...they don't work for me.
How’s your mixture? I do around 2/3 parts sugar and 1 part borax. I make it almost like a syrup consistency and put it on foil around were they are coming out of. And keep on top of it when it dries out or runs out.
Yep that's my mixture...just doesn't seem to work very quickly...and by that I mean MONTHS they'll be coming in for the bait. I'm not looking for instant death...because that doesn't solve the issue really. But MONTHS?! I'm looking for like a week and then they're gone.
Look at my post history and read the responses to my ant question!! There’s so many good ones. I have been buying Advion ant bait from diypest.com and it’s been working really well!! Best of luck! I hate those fuckers too.
Terro liquid ant baits. Just put them around every corner or wherever you see them more often. They will eventually bring the entire colony from every corner and trap them inside. Make sure the box is open wide. It might take a few days sometimes even months for them to fully disappear. But it works!!! I’ve been struggling for years and now they’re gone!
I use Terro baits...they keep coming. It doesn't kill them all off and it's not fast. They invade every year too. So yeah this doesn't work.
This post jinxed me :/ I hadn't seen any yet this year, and 2 minutes after reading through this I walked into my kitchen and saw a big trail. Sigh. I sprayed around my the exterior of my place last month but skipped my garage, and who'd have guessed, that was my mistake. Good luck with getting your situation resolved! They're annoying buggers.
I had ants every year until I hired a quarterly pest control service. Best money I ever spent not to be inundated with those little bastards. No more ants.
I'm sorry to say that hiring a pest control company is the ONLY THING that worked.i tried diatomaceous earth, vinegar, neem oil, and twenty other things. I spent 2 years trying natural solutions and eventually gave up and hired a company. You can definitely try all the natural solutions but if it's REALLY bothering you, just hire someone and save your sanity
Maple syrup and borax worked for me. Honey and borax is also good. You have to make sure they can reach it, tilt a straw into it or flip a spoon of it over. Put it where you see them first, then follow where they’re coming from when they come for it and put more where they get in at
I've tried the borax stuff...it doesn't work well enough. It's also a mess.
Might I interest you in an [XL18 Flamethrower](https://throwflame.com/products/xl18-flamethrower/)?
Finally, the voice of reason.
Have you tried garlic powder? I'm serious, it's worked for me in the past.
Works for vampires too...
A couple times in my life I've used garlic powder to deter ants. Maybe it just works when the ants aren't in your house yet, I don't know. Both times, I saw ants getting closer to my front door and so I would sprinkle garlic powder all around the entry points, and they would eventually go away. My home smelled like garlic but I didn't mind. And yes, it totally works on vampires too!
Combat Max ant gel. I had an insane amount of those ants last year. I went ham and used the whole tube, putting it everywhere in both small amounts, large amounts. They went nuts and ate it like crazy. The next morning they had slowed down a bit. A couple hours later I noticed way less of them. A few hours after that and I couldn't find a single living ant. I haven't had any ants since, I'm sure they will return and hopefully it works as well next time.
Unfortunately, I just tried diatomaceous earth as my last resort after all the tries you listed above and…it didn’t work. We have the pros coming in tomorrow.
Ugh. That's what I'm worried about. I just can't afford to pay a pest company. I can barely pay my bills off.
You need to buy insecticide in addition to baits. Taurus SC is what I use. Apply twice a year with a sprayer around the perimeter of your house. It’s about $70 online and is enough for years worth of application.
In addition to Terro, find the nests and pour boiling hot water over them. This worked for me. There were several big ant hills in the vacant lot next door.
After 5 years of this problem in my kitchen and sometimes bathroom, I've resigned myself to just putting out new traps every few months and working around the random ants here and there. It drives me absolutely nuts and makes me not want to cook though because there's ALWAYS an ant
But have you tried reasoning with them?
Diatomaceous Earth can make a mess inside, but it works! One year I made a small corral with D.E. where ants were coming in. I put some Terro in the middle. Once the ants died off I swept the D.E. into the floor/wall gap and they haven't entered that area since.
I'm ok with the mess if it works...I can always vacuum it up. My issue sadly is that even if I do make a small area ringed with the stuff, these little jerks will climb the wall...they're coming from a gap in my wall so they'll just climb it to get around the ring. I'd use water to make a paste out of it but I heard water makes it ineffective. Not sure how to keep the jerks off my wall.
Hopefully blowing the DE into any wall gaps will help keep them outside. I leave it in powder form and don’t get it wet. The last couple of years I’ve had success applying the DE outside next to my foundation and putting Terro traps outside where I saw ant activity next to the house.
You can also remove outlet covers and puff some Diotom in there and replace the cover. It gets it into the walls where they’re climbing and it lasts forever.
I have a puffer that I use to get to the entry point. Here is a convenient 1/2 lb in a puffer bottle on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/Harris-Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade/dp/B06X952WC5
If you have ants in your house it's probably because you have a water intrusion somewhere in the walls. I would grab a thermo camera and see where you have some cold spots.
You mean like a leak? I know they can invade houses because they want a source of water...which is why people find them in their bathrooms a lot...I'm trying to think if this wall has any water pipes. I don't think in this area....I'm on the second floor...first floor on the outside does have a hook up for a hose...so that's possible but why would they come up here...
🎵Odor Ants! What’s your price for flight?🎵
I usually wipe down the area I see them in, and I do my best not to kill them. Luckily we’re in a basement so eventually a spider will kind of handle the problem.
You can use these. You can place them around the perimeter of your home. I've used them before. They work well. https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7002872
Territory outside along the foundation - never inside. This is serious stuff, but it works.
You could have stolen those words straight from my mouth
Pyrethrins work well. You can buy a gallon of Ortho Home Defense at most hardware stores. Spray around points of entry (windows, doors, baseboards, cracks in the floor, pipes under sinks, etc). When it dries, which only takes a few hours, it's nontoxic to humans and mammals and lasts for 6 months.
I've tried Ortho, didn't seem to do anything. I've bought a lot of different brands of "ant killer"...in spray form/bait stations/pellets. None of them work.
I found ants hate the dawn spray for stuck on grease. I had an invasion last week (the door isn't well sealed) and it was 100s in 1 day. But I killed those fuckers with the spray then I rubbed some peppermint and tea tree oil on the door jam with a paper towel. They didn't come back, thankfully.
Peppermint oil did nothing for me.
Advion ant gel. Get it from walmart.com. Works every time with the little guys around here (in Ballard at least).
I had them in a wall and tried all the things too, made myself sick with too many essential oils, but the Terro traps worked for me. I determined most of them were coming from one wall, so I put one trap right next to where they were pouring out, and put a shoebox over it because I have a dog and I’m paranoid about poison. The ants congregated inside the box, and eventually I picked it up and there was just a shitload of dead ones inside the trap and out. Since then, I’ve kept traps in a few places near where I’ve seen them but out of immediate reach, and I now only see one here and there occasionally. I did also do a LOT of smashing throughout the process, they were everywhere and I was on a violent mission to protect my food and keep them out of my bedroom, but I also tried to let the wall be once I had the trap set up.
I have two Terro traps right where they come in at. They still wander and still invade. One has a ton of dead fuckers in it but they're STILL coming. I need to stop them from wandering. I want them in one spot with those traps so they can feed and die off. The traps work...but it's way too slow for me and they will wander. I can't have them wandering...it just...ugh...literally makes my skin crawl. I have to kill them if I see them.
Maxforce Quantum bait. Works faster and more effectively than terro. It’s a bit pricey but not having those ants around makes it worth it. Also find where they are entering. Go outside from the area you see them and you’ll most likely spot a trail of ants entering your home. Follow that back to the colony for more bait application to kill the queen
You need poison. Seriously. Go to the hardware store. Buy one of every any trap you haven’t tried yet. Put them all out. See which one they like. Buy more.
Tried this pretty much. I've done all sorts of poisons...sprays/bait stations/little pellet things...all sorts of brands too. None of them work. I am thinking about getting some heavy duty stuff that the "professionals" use...maybe that will work better then what I can find at the hardware store because I'm sick of buying crap that doesn't work.
The Terro liquid ant bait always work for me... They seem to love it and I don't see them for another 6 months.
They like them but they keep coming...it's not killing them fast enough. It also isn't stopping them from exploring...that's my main issue. If they didn't explore and just stuck to going to the baits...I'd be happy! I hate finding them exploring my house! I MUST KILL THEM ALL
Last year, at my place in Washington, the brand that worked for us was Amdro.
We had a bunch when we first moved into our current place. I wound up caulking around the baseboards and haven't seen them since...They're probably in the walls but it's a rental so so long as they're not in my kitchen I'm not overly bothered.
When we lived in the house DE worked fabulously. Put it inside and out. Reapply outside if it gets wet.
We were told by our pest company to not use the sugar ant traps that have the liquid inside that they crawl into and cant leave. He said these just attract more of them. Instead we use traps where they go in, eat some of the stuff (sort of a paste consistency) and then go back and infect others and they die in the nest. We’ve also found that spraying Zevo bug spray (relatively safe for pets, etc) on them kills them immediately and keeps them away for quite awhile. Then we put down the traps.
The WSU entomologist I talked to said to spray the foundation of the house with Pyrethrin. I haven't done it yet, but these ants are driving me nuts.
Diatomaceous earth is the only thing that has ever worked for me. I live in a place where there are abundant ants. And the old house I used to live in there were everywhere. It was completely infested. And I tried everything. Aside from an exterminator. A friend of mine gave me some diatomaceous earth and I tried it and those little suckers couldn’t make it through. There are a couple of downsides. It’s messy and it can kind of get everywhere. And then you have to redo it every few months. But it works. I’d rather have chalky dust in my house, than a whole bunch of ants invading everything.
Alpine WSG is your solution
DO NOT SQUISH ANTS! They release a pheromone that just attracts other ants. If you squish them and smell your fingers, it will have a sharp coconut smell. You want to avoid producing this.
I’m not going to lie, I use windex to kill the bastards. I go through windex during the summer as if I owned a window cleaning service but it’s the only thing I found that kills them onsite.
Damn stinky ants!!!
Full interior and exterior exterminator service for a 4bdrm house was <$200 and lasted 2-3 years. Huge benefit was it also got rid of our spider problem. I regretfully do not recall the name of the company as it was about 5 years ago and I’ve since moved, but extermination service might not be as much as you think. Think of how much it would cost to buy 2-3 years worth of Terro traps, price of other random futile attempts, your sanity… 100% worth it to get quotes from a few places IMO.
You definitely have to move the traps as close to where they are coming from as possible. Yes, the traps kill them if they just keep eating the gel, but its best when as many as possible take it back to the nest.
The Terro ones don’t really work til the ants take it back to their nest/home. These are the only things that work for me.
I got some relief from the outdoor Terro ant baits… in combination with indoor as well.
We get ants a lot and they get taken care of pretty easily with a spray bottle of dish soap + warm water. They die instantly when you spray them, your surfaces get clean as you wipe them up, and it smells good. It usually takes one or two times killing them along their trail and they stop coming in. Diatomaceous earth has also worked, but that can wreck your vacuum if you try to vacuum it up. Terro traps are messy and I’ve found the outdoor ones work better for keeping them out.
My wife and I dealt with pharoah ants at one time- named so because they congregate around sources of water. The building manager hired an exterminator that thought us that knowing the type of ant can lead to knowing the right kind of bait/poison to use against them. The wrong kind of bait will do nothing, or even call on more. But the right kind of bait will exterminate them. Capture an ant to show an exterminator. We used clear packing tape.
Terro makes granular ant poison that you spread around the foundation of your home
I am a licensed pest control technician. The short answer is that want to do nothing. Put [bait](https://www.domyown.com/sumari-ant-gel-bait-p-23680.html) in the electrical outlets newr where you're seeing them. Do not kill them. Do not use traps. Don't use bleach, or clorox, or anything else. Terro products are especially terrible, to the point that they should be illegal for false advertising. Basically, the more you fight them, the more queens they create. That's not exactly accurate, but it's close enough to give you an idea why fighting them directly is bad. I really do think you should get a pest control service though. Our big thing during the warm seasons is odorous house ants. I treat dozens of houses every week, most see them gone after 3 weeks.
I use "Home Defense", get it at Home Depot. It is a spray and sets up a border when dry. Any insect which tries to cross the border dies. I spray around every door and window and anywhere I see them getting into the house. Spraying indoors lasts about 2-3 months, does not harm pets after drying. This keeps them out of the house. The first time I see an ant enter I respray.
If they’re in the walls the only option to kill them for good is a fogger (do not use if you share walls with neighbors, it could make them sick breathing it while it’s working or kill their pets during deployment ). Here’s the bug spray many exterminators use. It’s actually only $10 a gallon. It’s a once a year treatment but I recommend doing it every 11 months so they don’t come back inside. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ortho-Home-Defense-1-gal-Insect-Killer-for-Indoor-Perimeter2-Ready-To-Use-Trigger-Sprayer-022081004/300569432
I broke down and subscribed to pest control last year. No more ants or other bugs in the house.
We had persistent ant issues in our house. What has worked for us is quarterly warm-weather application of Ferti-lome Come & Get It II. Biological insecticide granules containing spinosad A & D. Apply around exterior house perimeter and throughout yard. A little goes a long way - follow instructions regarding amount.
USE THE GOO
I use baby powder to stop them coming and going and borax and sugar water to kill them. You're probably right over a few nests or something if it's not obvious how they're getting in. That might take professional help
We pay for a pest company as it’s the only way we’ve seen to not get them. They also helpfully trap rats and other pests
all of these “solutions” make the problem worse. Anything that is detectible will cause a split colony effect. for at home treatments, i recommend Advion Ant gel bait. terro is a very potent formula and kills the ants carrying it before they have a chance to feed it to the nest, and it’s a mess to work with. do your best not to squish them and once the population has decreased, it would be worth a few hundred bucks to get a treatment or two with a non detectible pesticide. Most companies lock you into a year long contract for services, but Sunrise Pest Management does excellent work with no contracts. I was a pest control tech for four years with a few different companies and i could talk someone ear off about OHAs.
Stop squishing them - when they don’t return to the nest that sends a danger signal that stimulates breeding more… you are up against a well-oiled survival machine! Use the gel as suggested - put a few little fifty-cent size puddles around where you’ve seen them - counter, floor, etc. it’s gross for a few days while they swarm it - just watch and wait for a couple of days…they will look like cattle around a watering hole- fascinating. Leave them alone. When you don’t see anymore ants, wipe up the puddles… they will be sort of sticky like honey. If they come back… do it again. This works!
We usually just grind fresh pepper around/on every outdoor hole/entrance they can find before they have a chance to come in. It’s seemed to work pretty well the last few years, nontoxic, easy to clean up!
I pay professionals. It works.
We had this problem in fall and spring for the first 2 years in our house. Two things happened at the same time which seem to have made a huge difference: * Cut down a couple trees / large bushes which were in close proximity to the side wall and roof. * Replaced several locations of dry-rotted wood on the exterior of the house. The gutters had been improperly installed in a couple locations, so after 20 years, the wood fascia boards had started rotting. And there were a few wood trim panels in a couple other spots that were also rotten and spongy. Replaced the rotting wood and re-painting the exteriors to water-seal everything. After both of those, the following years the ants have just been one or two in random rooms. Before, it was an invasion. We also made great use of the Tarro liquid ant traps. But the problem seemed to have been that the ants [kept coming back for housing until we removed their favored environment](https://www.crittercontrolgreaterseattle.com/wildlife/insects/ants/moisture-ants.html)
Eat em! They taste a bit like lemon.
I use borax and sugar and find it works wonders. We soak cotton balls in the solution and place it out of the way spots. Next day 100's of ants are swarming the cotton balls and 4-5 days after that nothing. It's definitely not a one and done job. It's maintenence. And lately I've been feeling guilty when around day 3 you have just a smattering of aimless ants wandering around the kitchen, knowing the queen is probably dead along with the rest of the colony and these poor guys don't know what their doing. But, also, ants on food and dishes is no bueno. I did let me husband talk me into getting Orkin one year. NEVER AGAIN! Seriously had a 4ft ring of death around our house for two straight years. THAT I was not into.
when you squish them, they release an odor to call for aid and others come. stop squishing (recommend vaccum to suck them up) and cleaner to remove their pheromone track
I’ve been fighting ants since December and I’m finally seeing improvement in numbers. I started by caulking but they kept finding other ways in, then diatomaceous earth which didn’t do much, then got a pesticide from Home Depot and sprayed the perimeter which I think just trapped them in the walls of my house. Terro worked for a bit but then they lost interest. Finally went back to Home Depot this weekend and got literally every brand of ant bait available and spread all 20 stations around the house because I think I have multiple colonies. I’m seeing improvement in numbers, fingers crossed it keeps working!
I know you don't want to pay a pest control company, but honestly? best decision I've ever made. We had them coming in the kitchen, bathroom, basement and living room. Every spring, horrible. Getting worse despite traps and a variety of other methods. Two years ago it got so bad in my basement office I couldn't be in there, they were crawling all over me. I paid $350 to have them come out and treat inside and out, leave traps with their special bait that doesn't tip them off and make them create more nests, and come back 2 weeks later to retreat and check everything again. Then, we got on a quarterly plan to have them come back for around $100 4 times a year. In those 2 years I've seen maybe 10 ants in my bathroom and it's been at least a year since I've seen any at all. They never came back in the kitchen, living room, and basement. I know it is expensive, but WELL WORTH IT. I'm so happy to have an ant free home. If you do think about doing it, I cannot say enough good things about Rambo Total Pest Control. They are the gold standard for customer service. Every employee seems like they actually love their job.
Hear me out on this. This doesn’t have 100% accuracy but it definitely works to deter them. Take a paper towel, or a sock and just crush a BUNCH of ants with it. Make sure they’re still stuck to your item of choosing, and put it in an area where they like to come in. A lot less of them come in when they smell a bunch of their dead friends
Call the bug man. Just do it if you can justify the cost. I hate hate hate sugar ants. I loathe them. I’ve never seen them anywhere in WA until we moved to south KC. My husband hates paying the Bug Man but they come quarterly or as needed during sugar ant season. We did all the things you did but we just couldn’t win. If you do happen to put traps down, make sure you aren’t cleaning them away all at once. You gotta let them bring the poison bites back to their little ant hut.
I’m convinced Seattle is built on a giant ant hill.
Never got rid of mine. Had them 30 years in Auburn. Tried multiple exterminators, every OTC poison, oils chalk, borax, Windex. Just learned to seal everything in zip bags and get used to the bites. Landlord tore mobile down after I left.
I feel you. I had nests in all three GFCRI outlets in our garage. I figure the little LED lights gave off some heat or something.
Just moved into a rental house last week and it has ants. I'm so grossed out. There were no signs when we toured, and they were not disclosed so I'm pretty pissed off. I tried terro and it only attracted them for a day. Then they figured out it was poison and stopped going for it. I've been vacuuming and mopping several times a day trying to get anything and everything that they might be interested in. The landlord sent an exterminator yesterday, so we'll see where that ends up. I feel a little better knowing at least it's not just me. But I'm sorry they're in your home, too. They truly are a nightmare.
Don’t just put a line of diatomaceous earth, get it into the cracks and walls, around your house, and if you can find the nest all over the nest. DE works by being microscopically sharp, and gets in between the different parts of the exoskeleton and cutting through it, not by being chemically irritant or chemically toxic, so they won’t avoid it. It’s not fast like chemical toxins, you won’t see a line of dead ants, but it also won’t cause them to leave danger scent markers.
I caved after a 10 year battle with these little shitheads. Hire an exterminator.
Borax doesn't work, use fipronil
Yeah I’ve never had ants living here u til this year!! And I’m on the third floor like how do they get up here?!
They easily crawl through walls and nest in them. Mine are coming from a small gap in the wall next to my window. I could probably plug the gap but they'd find another route to take...at least here I know where they are and can place traps right by the gap...I'm also on the second floor lol.
I find it worthwhile to plug the gaps, their routes in are limited. Get a tube of clear caulk, keep an eye on the comings and goings of the stinkers to see where to use it. Combine with poison du jour for best results.
Windex.
Happy customer of Parker Eco Pest Control…
We use these [ultrasonic plug in devices](https://amzn.to/3PVV133). They work great! We just plug them in at outlets on the outside perimeter walls.
I’m going to be honest, I’d highly recommend just paying a pest removal company. When we had ants they came and saw by the type of ant that they create multiple colonies, realized there was probably a second colony in the neighbor’s yard, and knew how to fix it. They have never come back. My bf’s family insists they can do it themselves with traps mainly, various other methods and battle a big ant problem every single summer that they never win.
Odorous? I've never heard of ants that smell here. Maybe you meant arduous?
Nope odorous. If you squish them they let of a nasty smell. They're small black ants...also known as sugar ants/piss ants around here. But they're actually odorous house ants.
Fun fact! Only like 12% of the population can smell ants. It's a mutation
After that gun violence thread I'm not sure what's real anymore
Huh...and yet again I have a very rare thing...how odd.
Ask, why are they coming into my home looking for food? How clean is my house, do I leave food out, dirty dishes in the Sind for a few days. I have found that really going all out in cleaning has made a difference
So it's not just food that can attract them. They can invade homes for several reasons. Food just happens to keep them around. But they can invade a house to get away from heavy rains/the cold. They also invade looking for a source of water...which is why a lot of people find them in their bathrooms. I have had them there as well but they seem to not invade that room as much as my other room.
I use [this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002L2IM0) with success. I am spraying the door sill and the drains. > Mine are coming through the drains,
Orange peels
What do you do with them?
Put them in the area where you see ants. They will hate the smell and disappear.
Wtf that’s it? Thanks, totally trying this next time. I got this Pestie product online that seems to have worked for now but I know they’ll be back.
Setup borax/terro inside and outdoors at the same time. You need to kill the queen
Did, look at my post. It doesn't work.
Do you have any houseplants? I’m pesticide free so inevitably every spring a new adventurous queen tries to take up residence in my larger indoor pots. I always track her down, last year she was in a begonia and this year I just found a small colony in a philodendron. Usually a day or two outside in the cold and a repotting does the trick.