Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
blacksockz

major ant infestation...please help!

blacksockz
13 years ago

Hi all,

My 3 year old woke me up this morning, rather frantically, and brought me to the laundry room where I discovered hundreds of teeny ants.

I killed whatever was there, but they seem to me ignoring all my efforts and keep coming back. I did some research and found there are a variety of ants, but I can't figure out which one is mine

Has anyone had any experience with in-house ants, are they Pharaoh or Carpenter and do you have some way (other than calling some pest control company) to deal with them myself?

Comments (12)

  • AliceHasLeftTheBuilding
    13 years ago

    If the ants are teeny, they are most likely sugar ants, which are fairly easy to control. Mix borax and sugar 50:50 and place in shallow containers where the ants are - they will take it back to the nest, ants die, problem solved. Also (and I know this sounds strange, but it works), for some reason, they don't like cinnamon. If you can find where they are entering your house, spread a line of cinnamon - they don't like to walk through it.

  • blacksockz
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you so much for that advice... where can you get borax? I'll try the cinnamon first...I know what that is :-)

  • AliceHasLeftTheBuilding
    13 years ago

    Borax is sodium borate, a salt of boric acid. I prefer it to boric acid because it is in powder form. It is readily available in most grocery stores with the laundry detergent, typically under the brand name "20 Mule Team."

  • larke
    13 years ago

    Or, you could just buy a squeeze bottle of Ant-Be-Gone, apply as directed and have them gone the first time out. (I'm not pushing the product otherwise, just trying to help here).

  • dilettante_gw
    13 years ago

    Alice, boric acid IS a powder - very easy to use, either dry or dissolved in water. I've read (but can't find the source right now) that borax can be used as an insecticide, but that boric acid is more effective. I haven't tried borax, so I can't say. But I find it interesting that the 20 Mule Team Borax site doesn't say anything about this use, even though it lists dozens of other uses. Maybe they're deliberating suppressing this info because they realize that people won't want to wash their clothes with an insecticide?

    Larke, Ant-Be-Gone and similar products such as Orange Guard are effective CONTACT killers and deterrents, but they won't wipe out the nest (unless you can find the nest and apply the product directly). The advantage of using boric acid is that the foraging ants carry it back to the nest and feed it to the colony, eradicating it. It does take longer because it's not a contact killer.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia article on Boric acid

  • suero
    13 years ago

    Many years ago we had an ant infestation. Our kids traced the ants back to their nest outside and poured boiling water into the nests. The ants never came back. Boiling water is as non-toxic a product as you can use.

  • frank1965
    13 years ago

    Instead of making up all the witch's brew- just go to the store and buy some ant baits. Pretty simple huh?! They are enclosed so kids and pets can't get to the bait. They work very well.

  • AliceHasLeftTheBuilding
    13 years ago

    The "witch's brew" is generally safer than the ant bait, not to mention cheaper. However, they are easy and effective.

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    I had a big black sweet eating ant infestation...none of the ant baits did a thing...but the Terro Borax ant killer got rid of them.

  • Mason Drawz
    6 years ago

    just spray with 409 came home today and i did that, killed em ded. dont breathe it though and tell ur kids to stay away

  • Anthony C
    6 years ago

    terro is pretty much borax with sugar water. More expensive per ounce, but how many ounces do you need? We used it to get rid of rasberry ants which are very tenacious. It took a long time as they would disappear for a few days and then more would come back. there were maybe 20 waves, but eventually they are now all gone.