I have carpenter ants invading my kitchen. They have been coming and going at a slow pace, 1-10 a day for over a month now. My landlord is not interested in doing the work to investigate and take care of this home. I want to get rid of these critters in a low cost - little time way. I don't want to use a poison, especially in the kitchen. Got any ideas?

Thanks

-- Tracy Becker (btracy13@qwest.net), May 07, 2001

Answers

Response to Ants

I had big black ants invading my home. My cats loved to play with and eat them, as well as my dog. The ants also drowned in glasses of water tainted with sugar, juice or cool-aid. They don't show up much anymore. I'm sure someone has a more efficient way to be rid of them, however I thought I'd share my unintentional ant ridding technique:)

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.

Response to Ants

I have a wonderful Mexican housekeeper that has the solution to lots of problems so I give her credit for this one. Spray Pine-Sol around baseboards, window openings, around plumbing pipes that penetrate the house, such as under the sink or anywhere else you think they may be entering. That got rid of my ants immediately. Good luck.

-- Carole Hall (carle@earthlink.net), May 08, 2001.

I'm rather surprised at your landlord's lack of interest since carpenter ants can destroy wood just as effectively as termites. Likely there is a large nest of them somewhere in the building and you are just seeing strays.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), May 08, 2001.

I have the same problem every spring. Although I can't completely get rid of them, a good thing to do, if you can find where they're getting in, is to spread diatomaceous earth around the entry ways.

-- Christina (introibo2000@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.

Try sprinkling "Borax" around (under cabinets, along the edges of the wall, etc.) Like Ken says, you're just seeing the worker ants...and the main family, including the Queen, are within the walls somewhere!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), May 08, 2001.

Folks the cure for ants is to use Diatomaceous Earth Sprinkled on the paper that the ants crawl over in the path of their coming and going DE is safe for children and not chemical Also for any of those ants that have mounds like fire ants take a plastic squirt bottle and fill with DE and then go to the mound and dig the hole out quickly and take the DE and sprinkle it heavily and fast and grt back. The De gets in the ant and nicks the gut with the diatoms and the ant dies of dehydration. Also any ant larve will be killed as they feed them. Email Gladys Miller glglmiller@aol.com or Bill Worrell showpoultry@valink.com These folks are dealers and honest. Give it a try. Good to sprinkle on the garden in the morning when wet and will kill all bugs etc. It is used in all beans, wheat,corn, flour and the like to kill all bugs, naturally. If you need information put into your search engine the words Diatomaceous Earth and read all about it. Glenda

-- Glenda l. heywood (frizzlebird@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.

I agree with the DE but I circled my house with it so no matter how they got in, they walked through it. It killed the whole nest where pesticides didn't.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), May 08, 2001.

My wife says FEED THEM. brewers yeast works well. She put a packet down a fire ant hill. several hundred of the little buggers blew up. They moved there mound down to the neighbors pasture.

At about.com there is a thread some 6 pages long on the virtues of vinegar and baking soda. Both have been used to get rid of ants.

If interested go to about.com and type in getting rid of ants in the search window.

Just my .02 cents worth

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), May 10, 2001.

I use to sprinkle mint by the back door to deter the ants. They were not carpenter ants but BIG ones!

I also used to keep some mint sprigs in the cabinets.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), May 10, 2001.

The Florida cracker method of ridding your home of ants is simple safe and cheap. Just sprinkle grits (the real ones that come in the brown bag) over the nest as long as the ants consume them.Usually takes up to five days for the ants to eat them who then swell up and die.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), May 11, 2001.

Can offer a sure and proven method of gitting rid of a mound which persists. Realize that doesn't solve your particular situation. But to any listening, if you have a mound of Fire Ants, first wet the mound with water. Wait a few minutes (Grandma's recipe) then sprinkle Baking Soda on the mound. Wait at least 10 or 15 minutes. For the Warriors to carry the baking soda to the Queen, to ingest. Then saturate the mound with vinegar. I did it, and it worked, though I wondered why I went to this extreme, since not one of those creatures had led to my earthly demise. They bit me, to wake me up. It was not pleasant, but it worked,

-- After All (itisonly@rockandroll.com), May 14, 2001.

I've tried this and it really works! Put a teaspoon of jelly (I used grape) on a jar lid and sprinkle Borax laundry conditioner over it, stirring a little into the jelly, and set it where the ants are traveling. They will eat the jelly--you may have to add more-- and track the Borax back to the nest. When I had carpenter ants, I watched a line march down a chimney wall, eat the jelly I had placed on the floor, and march back up the wall. I was tempted to smash the ants but didn't. After about three days no more ants showed up--ever! If you need to put the Borax/jelly out where no other critter can get it, you could put it in a jar, lay the jar on its side, and put a lid on the jar that has a hole cut in it for the ants to enter.

-- Eleanor Shulman (ekshulman@webtv.net), May 14, 2001.

Dishwashing soap and Water. Just pour the above solution over the ants, or splash it on a wasp nest.

-- P.Rockwood (circle5r@aol.com), July 25, 2001.

sudsy ammonia. I use straight ammonia for general purpose bug killer but the sudsy type or mixed with dishsoap will obliterate the scent trails ants make. kills on contact and usually keeps them from coming back. One of the best preventions is being careful to not have anything lure them. It only takes a tiny bit of sugary substance or other food sitting out to bring them marching. I recently parked my truck for a few days and left one mostly empty soda can in it. Within 2 days I had a 20 foot long trail of ants marching to a tire and up into my truck.

-- somebody (something@somewhere.com), July 25, 2001.