I am having a terrrible time with ants, I know its mostly my fault as I can't help but coat everything in the house in a fine layer of icing sugar! They have been into every cupboard in my kitchen, I am driving myself crazy cleaning everything and trying to keep it spotless. I have bought every antkiller on the market and still they keep coming! The only safe place in the kitchen is my fridge, they have been in the dishwasher, the microwave and now the oven . Unfortunately I had thought that was safe but boy was I wrong, I left a couple of cakes in there last night when I went to bed thinking they would be ok. They were crawling with ants this morning. The birds are happy, they will be eating cake for days but I could have cried, I rebaked them and left them to cool on racks in the shower stall! Couldn't think where else to put them! Has anyone else had problems with ants. In NZ we have a black variety about 3mm long. Yuck! I am going out of my mind over this and seriously considering turning down any requests for the next few months!

Sounds like it's time to call in the professionals sister! My goodness you poor dear. There is a new product out now that you can spray the entire perimiter(spelling) of the house, like a barrier, that is suppose to last for about a month or so. It's said to keep them out of the house, but I don't know...sounds to me like you need some extra help. I'd call an exterminator and see if that does it for you. And yeah, tell folks you aren't taking any orders until you solve your problem.

Poor thing, I can't imagine what you must be going through!

I had the same problem not so long ago - though not as bad as you! I tried all the non-poison remedies, but none of those worked (grinding up pepper where they were coming in, drawing a chalk line, putting down dry polenta for them to eat (it swells in their stomachs and kills them), painting a line of peppermint oil etc, etc). Finally I went to the store and bought those little ant boxes that have a gel inside that they eat and it kills them and the nest when they take it back for the others to eat. Within seconds of me putting the boxes down they swarmed into the boxes, and within a few hours I didn't see another (live!) ant. Now I keep one at all times by the crack in the wall where they were coming in and I haven't had a problem since. Hope that helps, I feel for you!

Treat the inside of the house with a spray specifically for that purpose and then treat the outside of the house with either a spray or granular ant killer. They should both work for about a month. The results are usually within a day. Good luck!

I too had the same problem for a while. We have a wood stove in our basement to heat our house in the winter and well we have be cutting wooding and storing it in the basement and well one day we came home from work and there we ants ALL OVER! One of the logs that was in the basement had an ant nest in it .....my soon to be MIL gave us some ant killer stuff thats like a gel you put on a piece of cardboard, the ants lick it off, take some back to the nest and its supposed to kill the whole nest and well it actually work! the log that had the nest in it was outside away from our house and when we went to look in it to see if there were still ants they were all dead

Amber, I have a friend through another forum who also lives in NZ. He passed this on to me. Hope you have as much luck with it as he has.

ANT Killer Recipe from New Zealand

2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Borax (Purchase from you local chemist)
1 Tablespoon Boric Acid (Purchase from you local chemist)

Boil VERY carefully for 3mins. (I wouldn't inhale the fumes either)

Mum boils up her 'mixture' in a stainless-steel saucepan, which she cleans THOROUGHLY afterwards. If you can dedicate an old saucepan/table spoon to the task, even better. Store away with the mixture, LABELED as 'Boric Acid ONLY'.

NOTE: This is a POISON and should labeled clearly and stored out of the reach of children.

We cut down margarine/yogurt containers into shallow trays, place around exterior house foundations, weighted with a rock so they wont blow away, and spoon in a table spoon full of the mixture.

Birds and neighborhood cats never appear to touch the mixture.

I'd appreciate any comment/feedback on this last issue.

I'm currently using this Permethrin based product, with some success.

http://www.kiwicare.co.nz/product.asp?Cat=1&SubCat=3&ID=4

(Am applying wearing safety goggles/facemask-garden spray rated/ plastic gardening gloves)

Two other boric acid recipe sites are:

http://www.healthandcertainty.com/controllingAntsAndCockroaches.asp

http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/IPM/Household/F1/homeantbait.htm

I just got an email yesterday on how to kill them.. The email stated if you put cornmeal in little piles everywhere you have seen ants it will get rid of them. They take it back to the colony where they eat it and cannot digest it and then die. It is a safe allternative to poisons. Escpically if you have kids. Hope it helps.

I don't know if they have this where you live but they did here and just recently took it off the market and I'm mad, Diazanon Crystals, I apply once and whammo they are gone, this year I used Ant Be Gone by Ortho.

I would try an exterminator. We had to hire one when we moved into our new house because the lady that lived here prior to us had roaches and ants really REALLY bad. He sprayed around the baseboards and cupboards and along the corners or the walls, under the sinks and etc. He also put down mouse bait just incase we get a problem with mice since we live directly across from a grave yard that is often left unattended to get over grown sometimes....

Anyway he didn't charge very much just over $100.~ for a two story house inside and outside. I'd suggest you call one because they are in your microwave and your oven. Just like roaches ants can cause major damage to appliances and will end up costing you more in the end if you don't take care of it now

WAIT.... Last week I saw a few in the shower stall, no place is safe!

I get ants periodically and had a bad case earlier this spring. I used little bait trays of Amdro (fire ant bait), but these were grease ants, not sugar ants. I used the same bait in the bathroom for the shower ants.

My only question is if they are in the oven and microwave how would you go about getting rid of them without buying new appliances? That's where I would need the exterminator lol he could tell me if I had to purchase new merchandise and he'd be honest because he would be losing money if I chose to just buy all new stuff then to have him kill em all lol. Also unless he secretly works for GE or Maytag or whomever he wouldn't be getting anything out of telling me to buy new stuff so no fear of getting scammed outta money lol

I have had them pouring out of my electrical outlets, coffee maker, etc. They are awful. If you have tried everything on the market, call the exterminator. He/she will be able to help you out...maybe even do a one-time treatment, identify the ants for you and advise you as to what type of poison you can but that would work the best.

We had an ant problem like that once, and it wasn't until we were ripping the old cedar siding off of our house to put new siding on, that we discovered the colony in the outer wall. OMG It was seriously the grossest thing I've ever seen. I agree with everyone else, if you've done all you can, call in the big guns. Good luck.

Tara

Thanks guys, wierd, I didn't get an email telling me I had any responses?!?? Anyway I called in the big guns yesterday and got some quotes on having the house sprayed. It looks like it will be a round $220NZ but I must have spent close to that on stuff that hasn't worked!! I have finally admitted defeat, I think when I saw the cakes in the oven that was it. It has got to the point I am having to get up earlier in the morning to allow time to clean down whatever they got into during the night! I have a cake to do today and my hearts just not in it now, its a paid order and I would be devastated if I heard they found an ant in it.

Thanks for letting me vent anyway. I think I just needed to hear that I'm not the only one who has gone through this! You know how it is, I can't help feeling like other people will think I must have a dirty house.

This is all so weird...do you know we fought ants for the past 13 years in our house, then 2 years ago my husband installed sprinklers in the front and backyard and we have not had one ant in our house since.

My husband says it's because the ground is kept so moist that the ants underground tunnels collapse. I don't know how true that is, but it's worked for us, two ant free years and counting!

i live in Florida and also had a time with ants, off and on. Same as you, kept a very clean house, but every once in a while they would show up and nothing would get rid of them, even the exterminator that came. He called them "sugar ants" (very tiny) and said it was almost impossible to get rid of them. Well, I found a new bug company (we have tons of them here in Florida) and thank goodness, they are history. The house is treated once a year and no ants since then! So find a good exterminator and good luck!

I have had problems all last winter and this summer with ants. I finally found something that works. I got it at Walmart, its called Anteater and it is safe in cabinets and around food. Its in a kinda round container with a goosneck shaped tip, It kills ants instanly! Ants send out a sort of scout ant to see what they can find, they lay down a scent trail as they travel, when they find a food source they follow that same trail back and make it a solid line of scent so they others can follow it. If you can kill that first ant the others can't find you. Ants always seem to find where my cat eats, I watched them and found where they were coming in at and put this stuff down, its a fine powder, it killed the ones that were there instantly and none came back because I left a thin line of it. Give this stuff a try, it really does work. Good luck,,, I hate Ants!
Jeanne

Dont worry you are not alone, we dont think you just have a dirty house. I live in a farming area, and there are just bugs everywhere, and dust, yea it sucks. We get the little black sugar ants, I have to make sure everything is in plastic containers, and I try to keep no dishes in the sink since they seem to love those. We did buy terro also, they seem to love it, but i havent knowticed them going away competely. They are so dang annoying. Ive heard that just mixing boric acid with sugar helps a ton. I think I may try that next.
Not so sure about cooking up that mixture though, I have kids in the house and cooking a poison on the cooktop sounds a little iffy to me.

yea I have been having a lot of trouble lately as well. I put those ant baits and it worked for some but not all. I will look into the other stuff you guys posted to see if my who problem can be gone too

The peppermint oil option worked wonders for us- our kitchen sink was infested when we bought our home- and I didn't want to use the "sprays" because it actually killed a relative (the fumes).
Infact, we keep a spray bottle of peppermint & water to ward off mice as well.

Another option that works really well is cucumber peels. If you place them around the perameter of your home the ants lose the scent trail and get confused, or baby powder.

Good luck with whatever you try.

I have also been battling ants lately. I was even considering burning the house down to get rid of them, I was so crazed. I had an exterminator spray the house but they were still coming in. I finally saw that they were traveling on a tree branch from my neighbors yard onto my roof and into the house. I cut those off so now there are only a few lost ants wandering around. I think I won! So check all around your house and make sure no vegetation is touching the house. Also, they like to hide under mulch too. I hope you get this resolved. I definately feel your pain.

good luck everyone!

We lived in a town house that had lots and lots of ants. Terro worked wonders, but, we had to keep putting down the little trap thingies. My sister found a spike that you put in the ground and it was supposed to keep the ants outside. Well, a dog found it, ate it, and died from the poison, atleast it wasn't a child that found it. So, if you do this, make sure the spike is burried really well.

Gertie

While I do not have them in my house, they are along my front walkway & my 2 yr old dd screams as she runs over them to get in the house. I put out an ant trap last week & guess what - I now have a slug colony eating from it! They love it & it doesn't seem to be hurting them.

My 2 yr old hates the slugs more than the ants! Lose-lose situation for me!