wahh. I'm working on three two tiered cakes for this weekend and I had to stop to kill a million ants. I think I killed most of them but I had to stop and rest and vent to somebody.

I really feel for you... I hate ants and they are bad this season...

I can sympathize (and empathize with you). My entire city was built on a huge ant hill. Or at least it seems that way.

I have found that vigilance about not leaving crumbs (or kitty kibbles) on the floor helps, except when the infestations get bad, like this year. Then, a combination of ant traps and judiciously sprayed ant spray seem to get rid of the problem in 2-3 days. (but it's a horrible 2-3 days!)

I use a "food-safe" ant spray, so I can even use it on countertops and near pet food bowls.

RP

red panda, do you mind if I ask what is the name of your food safe ant spray as we have problems with ants here too and with the weather warming up it will get worse.

I had that same problem a while back go to hardware store and get Torro ant things they work wonderful it might take a couple of days to get them all but havent seen any since.

Thank you. I am a little calmer now. I feel silly but I never expected a million ants to just come marching into my house so I didn't know what to do. I started spraying with windex. After I deliver my cakes tomorrow I'm going to the hardware store and get some of that Toro. Thank heaven they didn't get to my cakes.

Jsmith,

I am in Lake Charles, and I know this sounds funny, but go outside and see if there is a large ant hill somewhere near your pantry . These boogers can travel! Anyway, kill all ant piles outside then call a pest control company. I pay $28 a month for McKenzie to come out and spray inside and outside my house eliminating all problems with ants.

OMG, you guys, I just hate ant infestations. When we were in So. Cal. we had them more than I could handle. Amagingly (or maybe not so) when we loved in Fl, dh was ok to spring for pest control and we have it here in LV, but in So Cal he just said no - and it was such an issue there. Men - can't live with them - can't shoot them (or so I'm told)

Ok We have ants every year but I seem to have conquered them from coming into the kitchen. Ants are smart little buggers-As they walk they sit and leave a trail for other ants to follow. I have found that nothing gets rid of this?? I start from where they are coming in. For sure the sugar ants all come in the same place. I find that place and spray outside. I have baited them with terro which works great. Draw back is if you have pets and children you need to keep them far away. I also treated around the foundation this year probably three times. We live a few miles from the river and the soil is sand ideal for ants to live. Sorry to hear your troubles!

kellylowe
Thanks. $28 a month is so worth it. I am going to check with some places around here. I looked outside and there is a huge line of ants marching from my neighbors yard near the pantry. I didn't see an ant hill but it might be next door. I am so paranoid now. I usually feel comfortable making cakes for people because I keep my house clean but now I keep checking everything before I put it near my cakes.

a tip my instructor gave me is to put ur cake on a piece of tin foil and sprinkle some baby powder around the cake as well. Ants wont get to ur cake!

i got an email the other day that said you could sprinkle a packet of aspertame sweetener and the ants will eat it like crazy because it is sweet but the it kills them. i haven't tried it yet but thought i would share

I have problems in the Spring with ants. One thing I have found that helps is sprinkling boric acid under my kitchen sink and on my window sill over my sink. I also had them this year coming out of my bathtub drain. Strange...........

Diane

Thanks for the info Red Panda

boric acid kills them and is safe to use around foo and people

i had a really bad ant problem a few mos ago and went online and did some researching. i have 2 small children (both under 2yrs) and the ants where comming in near the area they play, i read that cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkled where they come in would stop them. IT TOTALLY WORKED! i mean the biggest plus side is that just about EVERYONE should have these in their cabinets! now a few weeks after that they came in other places, and since they were no where near the kids i put some ant traps but also used the cinn. and nutmeg, so not many ants came in and then the ones that did ate the trap and haven't seen them since!

Try to find out where they are comming into your house. I was told by an exterminator friend to put cinnamon in the path of the ants. It will somehow get on their underside and kill them. I don't know why this is suppose to work, but when I did it they all died. They were comming in though a window so I sealed the leak in the window after they were all dead. Hope this helps.

I went to home depot after I delivered my cakes and got some stuff. They didn't have the torro stuff but I got the Ortho spray stuff to spray outside. My husband wanted to get the cheaper off brand and I told him heck no. Some generic stuff is ok but this is important to me. I also called and left a message for an exterminator so they should call me on monday. So it's been one day and I dont see too many ants. A few that were already in the house. I also sealed up some tiny holes with a caulk gun. I don't think they were fire ants beacause I wasn't bitten so I guess thats good. Just from reading these posts I see it could have been worse. Ants in the freezer? Yikes!

Hedge apples and the wrigley's gum in the green wrapper will work, too. Just place sticks of the gum or the hedge apples around where the ants are. The cinnamon and nutmeg are great ideas...and it will make the kitchen smell nice, too!

i use borax, it works and is pretty safe. i add some sugar that draws the ants and then the borax kills them. i put it around the house in the spring. also bushes or certain kinds can bring them. i use to have these piney things and i took them out in the summer andput in burning bushes and now we don't have them. they were terrible. all over my daughters window. drove me craxy. also if you have kids and take i think its 2 tblsp borax 1/2 c cold water and 1/2 cup of glue it makes this slime stuff that kids love. my kids use to get such a thrill out of it. you might have to test the amount of the borax, because i am not sure if it should be more.

If you have the very tiny ants my husband calls them pi$$ ants. He says that they pi$$ him off. I thought he had made up that name, but where I teach there are quite a few people that call them the same thing.

I use the Ziplock bags to seal anything that is sweet. It seems to help.

I HATE ants...i have done everything thing that i could think of to get rid of them and just like yall they have been the worst this year...i thought once we got out first frost they would be gone...nope...its crazy...so i am so glad that this post was started cause now i have some ideas of what to do to get rid of the flippin things.

Thanks Yall

I was having a terrible problem with ants in the pet food, even the water bowls. I placed some milk bottle caps with Amdro in some strategic places and they disappeared. Amdro is a bait poison used for fire ants - luckily it works for other kinds of ants too. The cats aren't attracted to it, even my one who seems to get into everything, ignores them.

You're short changing yourself buying Borax because its cheaper to buy boric acid at any hardware/garden area. (I used to own a pest control company in Florida). Don't buy Borid because you're paying for a label. Buy generic.

Borax has soap and other crud in it. You want plain boric acid powder. Insects have an exoskelton (outer shell), and the boric acid eats through it so they dehydrate.