Ant problem! Help!

[PennStateCutie]

We have lived in our house for 3 years now & we've never had an ant problem until today. Hundreds of tiny ants were found all over my kitty's food bowl & food tray...I was smashing them by the dozen, but every time I go back, there they are again. Is there a home remedy for ants that I could make with household items or is an ant trap my only solution?

Thanks!

[dealdaddy]

i did an internet search and came up with aspetame (sp?)

otherwise all i saw was insecticide in which case i'd suugest leave it to a proffessional because of the dangerous chemicals and inhaltion dangers.

good luck and let us know how it worked out.

[tlspiegel]

I found these site links for you:

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[PennStateCutie]

thanks! I tried the cinnamon & putting the cat's food dish on a tiny plate of water (the ants can't climb through the water, so they can't get into the food) - unfortunately, it doesn't solve the entire issue of the ants...because my kitty is messy & even if she leaves a single crumb of food on the floor, it's overtaken by ants in minutes! I think I'll just have to get the ant traps

[ILUV2SHOP]

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Here is a recipe for homeade ant killer from that post

This is really cheap to make and really does the job.

Ant Killer Recipe
1 teaspoon boric Acid (you can get this at Wal Mart)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 cups hot water (this water must be really hot)
Mix ingredients and pour over cotton balls (cotton out of med's bottles works too)
Put mixture in cottage cheese containers with lids and poke holes about 1/8 inch up from the bottom.
Don't worry if you have more ants the first couple of days after third day ant problem should be gone.

BE SURE TO PUT THIS WHERE CHILDREN OR PETS CANNOT GET INTO IT.

this stuff really does work.

[amiah26]

Its at Home Depot and it is called Terro- Its in an orange box. WORKS MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ants will return but some where else. I have it all over my house. The ants love it and so do i. Once you put it down, with in 12 hours they are gone.

[amiah26]

They are called theif ants. usually they are looking for water and they LOVE sweet stuff. When it rains I get them and in my cats tuna once a week. the terro keeps them away.

[I'lltakeit!]

Well I think it may be time to call the exterminator. That happened to my housemates and all, we lived in an older house, and the ants found their way into our cereals!! They were in everything, around the lid of our peanut butter jars, I mean it was ridiculous. But they went away once the exterminator came.Good luck.

[emb90]

no not that extreme, you dont need an exterminator, all you need are those ant traps that have poisonous food, because the worker ants bring that back to the queen, who then eats it and dies. and once the queen dies, all the ants go crazy and basically die one by one

[charles ingalls]

call the orkin man

[amandaroyer2007]

Wow, try sprinkling pepper in the ant trail that they follow (follow it back and see where they are getting in at) they HATE pepper. That's what I did when we first bought our house and within ONE season they were gone. (Yes, it took about three months to completely exterminate them, myself, but it was difficult to find where exactly they were coming in the house at) I would recommend using ant traps because like emb90 said they will carry the bait back to the queen and kill the whole colony!!! Good luck!

[misothere]

May be an old wives tale.......but my grandmother said plant MINT around your house foundation.

For the inside.....try MINT ESSENTIAL OIL mixed with water which won't hurt pets or kids when sprayed on the floors.

[Innovativemom]

Make a line of salt around the border. They will not cross it. I've used this for years. I leave it down about a week then vacum it up. That usually does it. It can be a bit messy if it's in a place where you walk, but what's a little grit under the feet compared to ants?

[Carolm1958]

First thing is to temporarily move the cat's bowl to a different location until you get the ant problem under control. I have found that there is a clear gel that hard ware stores carry that you squirt onto a piece of cardboard or even the metal lid from a jar that the ants eat and take back to their colony and it kills the entire bunch. Just make sure your cat can't get to it.

I once got those ants by my sink and that gel did the trick. I just can't remember what it is called. but perhaps you can describe what it does and the store clerk might be able to know what it is if they carry it. God bless you.