OT: i've got ants in my kitchen!

[HedyL]

i came home from work an hour ago and found a bunch of ants in my kitchen! what do I do? they are tiny ants, coming out from between the kitchen cabinets and the floor. i've delt w/ other bugs (especially certain creepy ones while living in NYC), but this is my first experience w/ ants. should i spray and/or call the exterminator? any info appreciated!

[luv2cook]

OH, GAWD THEY'RE SUGAR ANTS! I HATE THOSE LITTLE BAS*ARDS!

They are very hard to get rid of. You can call an exterminator. What they're going to do is put boric acid behind the face plates of every socket in your kitchen AND they'll give you bates to use.

BUT BUT BUT you MUST absolutely without hesitation immediately seal everything - that means flour, sugar, brown sugar, molasses HONEY IN PARTICULAR- put in bags until you get rid of them. They are a huge pain.

you also MUST keep your counter pristine. Those little bas*ards have a nose, too. They can find a crumb! All crumbs, food, do not leave anything out period. I had them all over my house at one point - they love cat and dog food. I remember cooking dinner and within ten minutes there the ants were heading right for the chicken.

I'D RATHER HAVE ROACHES THAN ANTS! At least my cats will kill the roaches. Fortunately, we have neither now. We get sprayed quarterly, too.

Hope my advice helps. I am an ant expert http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Chef Cindy]

I had an attack like you discribed. It was a very hot day. I have two indoor cats so I try not use pestisides as much as possible. A friend told me about something she uses. First you get rid of all the ants that you can see and clean the counters or where ever they are very well with hot water and soap to get rid of the ant trails. Then watch to see where the ants are comming from. Kill the ones that appear and wipe up again. When you see where they are comming from stick a whole clove in the hole. Keep doing this until you see no more ants comming in. This may take a few days to find every place they are comming in from. Ants are not stupid, once they see their guys aren't comming back they will stop comming in. It really does work. If you don't believe try dropping cloves in a middle of a group of ants and watch them scatter. Plus the cloves gives your kitchen a grandma's been cooking smell. Gook luck!

[This message has been edited by Chef Cindy (edited 06-21-2001).]

[luv2cook]

interesting. Never heard of that. I'd try her way but still keep all food off the counters and wrap up all sweet stuff until they're gone...

[KarenW]

I can second the clove advice. My grandmother told me this once. I had a problem with ants coming in though a window & thought what the heck, give it a try. I sprinkled a few whole cloves on the window and never had another problem with the ants. Ever since then, I keep a jar of cloves around just in case.

[mommywannabe]

My Mom has had the sugar ants before...the tiny black ones. I agree with sealing up all of your foodstuffs...I've heard that paper or plastic bags aren't good enough...you need to use sealed plastic or, preferably, glass containters. You also have to be very careful of spills on the counter or leaving food out.
We just found tiny red ants in our kitchen. My husband looked under our sink and found that one of our outgoing pipes is not properly hooked up, so there is water drainng somewhere behind our cabinet...the water & the recent warm weather we've had is an ideal environment for the little pests.
Good luck to you!

[Beth]

I think a few folks also mentioned a line of cinnamon to block the area where the ants are coming from. I hadn't heard the cloves one before though, so thanks for that tip. Boric acid powder definitely works, but you want to put it under your sink and places that don't have food (yours or pets). Another tip was bay leaves. They seem to help keep ants, roaches, weavils, moths, etc. looking for better stomping grounds.

The reason you want to wipe up/wash over the trails is to eliminate the scent trail the ants follow.

[heatherfeather]

Well, I just moved to CA, but I used to live in what must be THE bug capitol of the United States - Louisiana. Everyone told me you just have to live with the bugs. Well, I bought a Riddex system for my house and had almost no bugs. The Riddex is a plug in thing that sends some kind of signal through your wiring which drives bugs, rodents, and reptiles crazy and they will stop living in your house. I have asthma, as well as a young child and was worried about having pesticides in the house. The Riddex doesn't harm big household pets like cats & dogs but if you have mice, hamsters, snakes etc. as pets then this wouldn't be good for you. I recommend it to everyone I know who complains of bugs. I got mine from QVC, but I'm sure they must also be available at hardware stores or something.

[This message has been edited by heatherfeather (edited 06-22-2001).]

[Christina64]

I have battled sugar ants over and over! I found the TERRO ANT KILLER is the best solution to this problem. Pour some of this on a small piece of cardboard and set in the path of the ants. They will swarm like crazy. Don't kill them though. They take this back to their home and they die. YEAHHH!!

We also buy insect granules for our yard, paying special attention to the foundation of the house. My aunt uses Avon's Skin So Soft and sprays it all around the foundation of her home and swears by it!

Good Luck!

[JennieL]

I have ants every spring. Now I put down a line of liquid dish soap wherever they are coming in and the ants won't cross it! No need to use harsh chemicals. I use clear liquid, so it doesn't show up.

jennie

[BlueMoose]

I'll second the Terro Ant Killer. You should be able to buy it in your grocery store for only a couple $. I just had ants and got rid of them with that. I seem to get one or two rounds of ants every summer as do my mom and grandma. We always use Terro and it gets rid of them in a couple of days.

[heeter]

I've gotten these before as well. They're not called sugar ants for nothing. I mix sugar and borax (mule team borax in the TIDE section of the grocery store) and a little water to make a THICK syrup. I set the bowl outside my sliding glass door of the kitchen and it FILLS with tiny ants. After one day they are COMPLETELY gone. They go back from whence they came and die. My dogs and cats don't touch the syrup and it all just seems safer than pesticides.

[KimKelly]

We've had the ants too. They were terrible! I had never had the problem before and was packing up plates of Christmas cookies (which by the way I had spent DAYS making) to take to my mom's for the holidays. I went to work, got home by noon to find every plate totally invaded! I have never been so frustrated, I had to throw everything away. Anyway, we did not want to use chemicals either so we tried many things to try to get rid of them to no avail. After about 2 months of emptying my cupboards over and over to clean out the trails (I did enclose everything in ziplock bags - sugary things double bagged) I finally called Terminex. They found that the ant had built nests in our walls... argh! They put some sort of treatment in all of the electrical outlets - I know that it was a chemical but I'm not sure what. The ants moved to other areas of the house, got into the medicine closet and into all the kids liquid meds, etc. They came out of our bathtub, across the ceramic entry way - no food anywhere near there. But after a second treatment they never came back. We have the bug guy come every 2 months to spray outside, I don't have him in the house anymore, but we have also not had any more problems. Now my neighbors have ants! Looks like we drove them south!
Good luck to you....
Kim

[HedyL]

thanks for all the great advice. i found some Ortho insect spray in my garage, left by the former owners of the house. I really hate bug spray due to the odor, but this stuff had no smell. i locked up my cat for a while last night and sprayed all around the floor near the edges of the cabinets/stove/dishwasher, etc., and haven't seen any ants since. I was really nervouse that the cat would have problems, but she's ok. i might try the cloves next time, but this Ortho stuff worked great.