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RE: attack of the ants - 12/26/2008 7:32:04 PM

dlyoung123

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If your going the insecticide rout. He sure to use a slow acting bait. Sprays are next to useless aganst ants. Since it only kills the workers. And not the queen. By using a bait. The forraging workers will carry the poison into the nest. And spread it to the queen and brood. Hence killing the entire colony. If the problem is realy series? This is realy a job best left to a professional extermenater. Also note that ants do have a benifical side. In that they prey on cockroaches, spiders and the like. Also make sure all food is in closed containers. Espely greasy and sweet foodstuffs.

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RE: attack of the ants - 12/26/2008 9:26:06 PM

PanthersMom

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how long have you lived in this apartment? there could be a colony that lives somewhere in the building and someone sprayed, causing them to look for new digs. talk to the landlord and find out if anyone else has had a problem, talk with the neighbors and see if they're having trouble too. my parents deal with ants every spring, their house is very close to the woods and there's a very large population of ant colonies back there. just a fact of life unfortunately.
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RE: attack of the ants - 12/27/2008 3:14:44 PM

monywildcat

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Steel got to it before I did, I second the cinammon idea. Follow the trail back to where it leads outside, and stuff their opening with it. I am also going to try the baby powder trick, if I get inundated by ants.

Good luck with talking to the landlord, the ones I always had just suggested that I get ant spray. One even offered a century old rusty can of the stuff. Then, I have had some really crappy landlords.

"The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah"

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RE: attack of the ants - 12/27/2008 5:18:59 PM

glanstat

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I have had great success using Ambro (sp). It is a granular bait, put it out around ant activity and eventually they disappear.

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RE: attack of the ants - 12/28/2008 4:34:18 PM

PatienceForHer

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Joined: 3/20/2008
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i have used talc and it definitely works. If you do find the nest outside, pour several kettles of boiling water over it. It gets rid of the nest in a non-toxic way.

best,
lyz

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RE: attack of the ants - 12/30/2008 12:47:29 AM

LittleMissModern

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I managed to get rid of the ants that were here...

then my roomate left out some sweet stuff and created the problem all over again, conveniently right before they went on vacation for a week

anyway... the landlord came to spray and said that he'd be back with the pest man tomorrow to take care of it professionally.

they're dead and gone for the moment, but who knows what will happen in the morning...

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/12/2009 1:53:26 AM

jakehail

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squirt some soapy water on the ants,it works great.ants have a waxt coating on their bodies that comman dish soap will disolve.I know,I did'nt beilive simple dish soap would kill ants.Give it a try,you'll be amazed at the results..

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/12/2009 5:59:56 AM

Missokyst

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Really? A long time ago I read that chili, cayenne or other like irritants keeps ants away. We used to do a bit of gardening so we grew a variety of chili plants. LOL and what started out as tiny small black and red ants soon became hairy, slightly bulkier red and black ants. It was almost like they were on steroids. Pretty soon there were so many out there you couldn't even see the stems.
I have some ants in my kitchen right now because of the rain. Windex works well, as does formula 409.
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RE: attack of the ants - 2/16/2009 8:10:41 AM

Sweeticing

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ive always cleaned with a bleach product to kill there trail and they never came back

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/17/2009 9:23:19 PM

NYLass

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quote:

ORIGINAL: janigrey

If you don't have a dog or a cat - sprinkle Borax powder ( Its a detergent) around the borders of your house - either inside or out... wait a few days and if you sprinkled on the inside -vac it up.

I don't know why it works - other than it does...

Borax is safe with pets. Out vet recommended it when we had a flea infestation from a previous tenant.

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/18/2009 5:35:49 AM

DesFIP

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When you find where they are entering from, as in follow the trail, then caulk the opening.

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/18/2009 12:58:32 PM

ShiftedJewel

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I had issues with ants once. There could be absolutely nothing on the counter but every morning I would get up to it being covered with ants. Nothing I tried worked. So I went out and found a praying mantis, put it on the door in the kitchen and I never had ants again. I even named the little guy... moocher.

Worked in a basement apartment I lived in once as well... had a major spider problem in the kitchen. Found a praying mantis and that solved the problem.

Amazing little critters.

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RE: attack of the ants - 2/27/2009 5:04:41 AM

RainydayNE

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my current apartment was found to have a MASSIVE colony underneath. and the ants moved up into our apartments because of tons and tons of rain. it was so bad, you could see masses of them on the walls, like this moveing little mud swatches. they'd be crawling on everything; it was terrible.
and this colony was attempting to move because soldiers were coming with them. i was looking at the big winged ones going "holy cripes why did they bring soldiers?!" well the exterminator chick said that it was more than likely because their colony under the building was flooded/damaged and they were bringing the soldiers to help them move upstairs. =p yagh
we battled with those things for AEONS. i called the management, flipping out because there were skillions of ants everywhere and they just said "well, you coudl just go buy some spray," and that is not our responsibility, especially since they were all over the building.
they finally got off their butts and sent maintenance and an exterminator. they tried stupid ant hotels, and this bait that smelled like fish food (it made my apartment smell like a zoo for a week or so and did absolutely NOTHING about the ants)
part of the problem, too, i imagine was that i have a dog who has food and water in a bowl sitting in the open, so that was probably a proverbial oasis to the ants. the dogfood was relocated and we started putting down some of the aforementioned home remedies. they worked for a while but the ants found all sorts of weird places to come in.
FINALLY the exterminator brought some kind of gel and put it down all along the edges of the carpet and a little ways UNDER the carpet.
perimeter sprays would not have worked in this case because the ants were literally UNDER the buildign and were coming up from under it.
the gel under the carpet worked really well, and the ants went away after i dunno how many months. i'm dreading a possible return, but luckily i'm moving out of here :)

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RE: attack of the ants - 3/5/2009 8:23:25 PM

DreamyLadySnow

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Joined: 1/23/2005
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it's not so much that they hate chalk, they won't cross a white line. I have no idea why. You can draw a chalk circle around your house to keep them out (AFTER they've gone, don't scare them into staying inside). At least that's what my gardening group tells me.

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Post #: 34