James Nipper wrote:
Recently we have had a rash of ants in our house. We have a two story
house, about 2400 sq feet. The ants are in the kitchen and laundry room
at one end of the 1st floor, and in the bathroom at the other end of the
house , on the 2nd floor. So, I am not sure if some sort of "spot"
treatment will help.

Do I need perimeter spraying , on the outside of the house , or should I be
thinking more of spot , inside spraying just in the areas where we see the
ants ??

Any ideas would be appreciated !!

--james--


They are probably sugar ants (toothpaste). Mop floors well, get crumbs
and open food out of the kitchen. Clean cupboards if they are into
cupboards. Get an ant bait, put in locale where they are attracted, in
their path.

I have fought ants since I moved to Florida. Sprays are a waste of time.
Perimeter protection only tests their ability to find another path. You have 2
choices, you can bait them with what you see them eating (12 food to 1 part
boric acid) or you can find the home nest and kill them with extreme
predjudice.

Greg wrote:
I have fought ants since I moved to Florida. Sprays are a waste of time.
Perimeter protection only tests their ability to find another path. You have 2
choices, you can bait them with what you see them eating (12 food to 1 part
boric acid) or you can find the home nest and kill them with extreme
predjudice.

Ants shouldn't be a continuing problem inside a residence - too easy to
get rid of. Only time I've had trouble inside the house was when we got
in the habit of leaving sweet, sugary food out on the counter. Then
they came from all directions. Cleaned up, put out bait, they are
history. Have dealt with carpenter ants and fire ants outdoors; easy,
again, with the right approach. Dumping a load of poison into the
environment is not the answer and most critters have some beneficial
purpose if the stay out of the house. This link has a lot of info about
Florida critters:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/

Ants shouldn't be a continuing problem inside a residence - too easy to
get rid of.

I have ant problems because I am not willing to pump a truckload of poison on
my yard every month like my neighbors. (Chemlawn, Trugreen etc)
This isn't a continuing problem, just a series of separate problems that has
gone on for 2 decades. It involved at least 6 different kind of ants. Sandy
soil that never freezes and native plants that drop a lot of ant food pretty
much makes an ant rich environment. Eventually they all seem to find their way
into the house. Once they find something they like to eat or a comfortable
place to set up housekeeping they are a problem.

clipped

Once I had everything sealed up, the constantly recurring problem went away
and stayed away for many years. Eventually, I did get some ants again --
through the one molding I did not want to caulk. I felt that I could not do
it neatly enough that I would not have messed up the appearance where that
wooden molding met the wall. It did not have the type of edge that lent
itself to that. When that invasion happened, I sprayed through the seam,
and waited a day. Then I sealed that one too. It turned out to look neater
than I expected, and the problem never came back.

I try to remember to spread something outside every few months, but I'm not
as diligent as I should be. If they can't get in, they won't get it.

You've sealed up the house, which is great. Why would you work on
exterminating what is outdoors? "Spreading something" every few months
will help assure that our kids or grandkids will never be free of
insecticides, our water never clean, and nature will continue to be
malformed because of what we dump in the environment. If every anthill
must be exterminated, it is past unfortunate. Even fire ants have a
positive impact, but a far more negative and painful impact. I harp on
this issue, but getting familiar with critters and keeping them from
being pests is sometimes easier than one would care to believe. I
recall during a bad drought when yellow jackets and other bugs were on
the move to find water - anything with moisture, including my eyes, was
an attractive target. I found a yellow jacket once in an open jar of
jam left by one of the children. Easy solution ) My ant troubles
have always been related, to some degree, to how clean the kitchen was.

My ant troubles
have always been related, to some degree, to how clean the kitchen was.


That is an oversimplification. I had a carpenter ant infestation and I never
saw them eat anything in particular. Before you start telling me about "wet
wood" they were setting up satellite nests (eggs and such) in everything from
plastic diskette boxes to under our pillow in bed (pretty good yuck factor
there). The bedroom that had the worst infestation was renovated a few years
later and stripped down to the concrete block. I never found any indication
that there was ever any water infiltration anywhere. I did find the home nest
in a flower bed outside and killed it with a surgical application of dursban.
The carpenter ants stopped.

clipped


Get ant bait and set it out where you've seen the ants. Watch out! You may
see more than you want. A couple of years ago we had a black ant problem in
the house. Black ants are attracted to sugary stuff and they had gotten into
the kitchen. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I got ant
bait at the hardware store and put it out. It wasn't long before I saw
HUNDREDS of ants in the house. They'd formed a line from a small hole at a
window to the ant bait in the laundry room. They worked furiously getting
the bait and taking it back out. It was kind of spooky to see all those

One infestation in our house, in early spring, reminded me of a movie
about army ants - a whole regiment marching across the kitchen. It was
in the days of kids who ate often and left food out ) When I put down
bait - sugar and boric something - it was like the commander called
retreat, as within a few minutes they were all marching the other way.
They were gone the next day.

They are fascinating creatures to watch - disturb carpenter ant nests
and they evacuate in force, carrying their babies to high ground.

Fire ants swarm and don't bite until they are all in place, then all
bite at once. I knelt on top of a fire ant mound once, while puttering
in garden. Had over 100 bites on one thigh. Ouch.

I've never found ants in the house where there wasn't food. Crumbs of
dog food are a feast, and a couple of splatters of toothpaste a snack )

ants. It was a two-way line. They followed the same path in and out,
passing eachother along the way. It took a few hours but they cleaned out
the ant bait. I couldn't believe how many ants there were. The bait/poison
worked. I never saw them again.

I had ants that were in love with Purina dog food. I made a bait from 1 part
boric acid and 12 parts Purina. It didn't kill all the ants but it killed the
ones that liked Purina. They are still walking around in the house. Ants may
have separate food streams in the same nest. A bait will only affect that food
stream. In most cases that is all you need but if you really have a lot of ants
it may not really mean that much.
I see the same thing with fire ants and baits like Amdro. You can move them
around and disrupt them but they don't go away. The only people here who don't
complain about ants have a service come in once a month and spray a ton of
chemicals around the house and yard. I can still point out ants to them.

Greg wrote:
I had ants that were in love with Purina dog food. I made a bait from 1 part
boric acid and 12 parts Purina. It didn't kill all the ants but it killed the
ones that liked Purina. They are still walking around in the house. Ants may
have separate food streams in the same nest. A bait will only affect that food
stream. In most cases that is all you need but if you really have a lot of ants
it may not really mean that much.
Something I read said that the boric acid should be in solution, not
granular, for ants. Our little bottle of bait says to mix a few drops
with a drop or two of salad oil for grease ants. The dog chow trick
would probably work well, too, with liquid boric acid.

I see the same thing with fire ants and baits like Amdro. You can move them
around and disrupt them but they don't go away. The only people here who don't

One application of Amdro made amazing difference in our condo yard. We
couldn't stand still without being attacked, and working on irrigation
system was tough. Have to take care not to disturb nests, use
sparingly, and don't water or let it rain for a couple of days. Fire
ants, here, like paved area borders, so we didn't need to use all over
the yard. That was about 5 years ago, and still have very few without
the condo chiefs doing anything more. Wish I had done a scientific
study - I think we got more of other bugs, like carpenter ants and
termites, in our trees with fewer fire ants prowling )

complain about ants have a service come in once a month and spray a ton of
chemicals around the house and yard. I can still point out ants to them.

Have a service come in once a month and spray a ton and your
grandchildren will look like ants )

boric acid and 12 parts Purina
Something I read said that the boric acid should be in solution, not
granular, for ants.
It was in a solution, then when the slurry dried I crumbled it up again.

Stephen M. Henning wrote:
Daniel Prince wrote:

"Stephen M. Henning" wrote:

If they are sugar seeking ants, a mixture of boric acid and sugar will
clear them up. It is a dry powder mixture that is not toxic to humans.

What should we use for grease eating ants? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

I have heard of people mixing boric acid with animal fat-paste and using
it for a bait for the grease eating ants.


Boric acid, sugar, and peanut butter.

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

Animal fat kills humans, but doesn't do a thing to ants. We have to add
boric acid to it.
Rather ironic, eh?
hehe

"jamie" wrote in message
...
Stephen M. Henning wrote:
Daniel Prince wrote:

"Stephen M. Henning" wrote:

If they are sugar seeking ants, a mixture of boric acid and sugar will
clear them up. It is a dry powder mixture that is not toxic to humans.

What should we use for grease eating ants? Thank you in advance for all
replies.

I have heard of people mixing boric acid with animal fat-paste and using
it for a bait for the grease eating ants.


Boric acid, sugar, and peanut butter.

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."