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Hey, all.

I've got a question. How do you get rid of ants? You know those black ants? We get those every year when it starts to get warm (just one reason why I like the Winter). They're annoying. How can we get rid of them?

Yes, the house is clean.

No, we don't leave food out all over the place.

Yes, we've sprayed.

Yes, we have trees, but the leaves haven't grown back yet, and besides, none of them touch the house.

But nothing seems to work. I'm going to look for an exterminator for Mom to call, but do any of you have any tips for getting rid of ants?

I'm going through the SAME thing right now. My sister swears by some spray, but I can't remember the name. She used to work for an exterminator's, so I think she might be right, I'm just too cheap to buy it.

I think we've won our war, since I haven't seen an ant in two days, but that might not mean anything. Basically we just soap/water and Windex'd them whenever we saw them crawling around. Kept the counters spotless, didn't leave a single dish or crumb in the sink, and covered the drain when we weren't using it. The trash was moved out of the room, and we tied it closed every night, spraying some Febreeze on the top in an attempt to mask the scent.

I'm going to find out the name of that spray though, just in case.

Oh, and we have roaches in this building, but not the apartment. They're in any large building, the trick is to make sure they don't get into your space. I keep them out by making sure there is NO water left in the kitchen or the bathroom. That means drying every dish thoroughly, sealing all opened foods in plastic ziplock bags, or putting it in the fridge, and running a dehumidifier in the bathroom after every shower. They can survive for a while without food, but not very long without water.

I've read a lot of methods of "extermination" via chemicals and pastes, but I've also never seen them work. Some of them can be harmful to both people and pets, so be careful what you try.

One thing I've noticed is that they were harder to keep out when I only had one cat. He doesn't hunt bugs at all. I got another cat, one who is a born hunter, and I haven't seen a roach since. That probably helps, but I wouldn't suggest getting a cat just to eat bugs.

Like I said, they're in every big building, even if it's just the basement. Roach baits will draw them to you, so if you must use them, give them to your neighbors. (It's terrible, but hey, this is war.) Basically just try to caulk up any holes behind cabinets and leave no water for them to drink.

Do you have any idea how the ants are getting into your house? If you don’t have any animals in your house, perhaps you can try one of the ant products that tricks the ant into thinking it’s food so they bring it back to feed to other ants. I forget what it’s called.

I remember when I was in high school for about a week I woke up each day to find a single black ant in our kitchen each day, in the same spot. I began to think it was the same ant just coming back to haunt me.

Well, I think they get in through the cracks. You know how some houses on the outside are layered? Ours is like that. I think that's how they get in. But I'm not entirely sure. Mom did buy some of that ant poison, though. smile

Ghost ants. lol

Thanks for the advice on the roach problem/solutions. I'll look into that right after class today. 3nodding

ok, so here's a cool one, and I swear it actually does work.
Chalk.
Yep- just draw a line with chalk on the floor, windowsills, whereever you see ants, between the ants and the rest of the house. Ants can't go over chalk. I HAVE NO IDEA why that is. I just know it works.

I just have fire ants outside. Powder works on the mounds, but it takes a few days for the bait to work. I am not sure that would work in the house, though. Black ants are a different type.

Borax and sugar mix .This is the magic item