[CorkyMax]

Do stalk the ants in your pantry! Seal off cracks where they're entering with putty or petroleum jelly. Try sprinkling red pepper on floors and countertops.

[Lunareclipse]

we started an ant farm.

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

we started an ant farm.

I do not know if you are kidding or not---Think you are kidding! Anyway I get this pic. of Buster covered in the ants and howling away. Just imagine how many ants in the house with those 3 Saints carrying them in! Lol, any profit in this 'farm?'

[Lunareclipse]

No, I am serious. We have an ant farm. We got it for the little person. All kids need to have an ant farm. It's great to watch ants in their little container.

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

No, I am serious. We have an ant farm. We got it for the little person. All kids need to have an ant farm. It's great to watch ants in their little container.

Lol, here I thought you were kidding--I know about the ant farms but knowing you, lol, Well you know! I think when I was a kid and lived on a 'regular' farm that 'us kids' tried making one from an ant hill we found----Long time ago--Can't remember what happened.

[Lara's mom]

Way back during the first spring I lived in my house, I opened the kitchen cupboard and it was literally "running alive" with little red ants. I was absolutely appalled!!! I slammed the door shut and started looking around, figuring there would probably be more. Sure enough, the laundry room was covered with the little demons and so was my back deck. I was convinced that the house was built on some kind of ant hellmound!

I was on the phone to a pest control company in no time flat and they got rid of them very quickly although it took me ages to take everything out of the cupboards and wash every dish. I tried sealing the cracks and it did no good at all. Next year, they were back again. By this time, I'd had enough and I signed a contract with the company to come every spring and stop the little monsters before they got in. It was money well spent!!! Those ants were one aspect of living in a house that I definitely didn't miss when I moved to an apartment.

[bpwriter47]

I have the perfect answer for ants. And you won't have to pay someone to come to your home.

It's a small product with a huge impact. I used it for a friend when their home became over run with ants.I use it every year before the ants get to my house.

You can find it at hardware stores and sometimes at Walmart. It's called Terro.

It is a sticky substance (KEEP AWAY FROM PETS AND CHILDREN, CAN MAKE THEM SICK).

The ants are attracted to it's sweet smell, you put a few drops on these little squares of cardboard they provide and within minutes you'll see all the ants going for it. But it doesn't kill them right away, they carry it back on them to the nest and then when they give it to the Queen, it kills her and them. The ants are gone in 1 or 2 days.

I also have ants who walk along our wooden fence and get through at the corners of our windows, so I just squirt it right on the wood on the fence and they go right to it. I squirt it in the cracks of the window where they try to come in at. We haven't had ants now in 3 yrs. I usually watch for them on the fence and stop it there. It doesn't seem to affect our birds.

Just make sure to keep it away from children and pets. Even if you have to put it up higher, the ants will find it. Yep, Terro!! (they have spray also if you need to get rid of some right away, but I would use both so they carry it back to the nest).

[Todd]

If anyone's looking for a natural remedy for keeping ants away here are some I dug up online;

Try vinegar! Fill a squirt bottle with plain old cheap white vinegar, and squirt it anyplace you've seen ants (kitchen counters, windowsills, etc) and let it dry. It's non-toxic, won't harm anything, and the smell will go away in just a couple of minutes.

Plain old cinnamon. I put in or at the site of the ant invasion, they back off quick!

Black pepper is a nonlethal, poison free, cheap, and safe way to get rid of ants - sprinkle the black pepper where you see them congregating and watch 'them scatter. Follow them to where they're exiting - which is the same spot they're entering in at - and sprinkle the pepper at that spot to keep them from coming back in. It's safe to use in your cabinets, on windowsills, near your pets and kids, around food, etc.

Equal parts Windex and Ivory Soap. Simply mix, and spray problem areas.

Shakley's Basic H. It is a non-toxic soap made from soybeans. I take a pint spray bottle, fill it 1/3 with Basic H and 2/3 with water, mixing gently. Follow your trail of ants to try to discover where they are entering. Spray a thin stream of the mix around where they are coming in.

Place Bay Leaves on your counters and preferably along the trail where they are coming in (if you can find it).

We use plain white chalk drawn in a line at the place they come in they wont cross for some reason.

Ants will crawl away from mint. I did this as a science experiment and it worked. Just plant mint all around your house. Especially near doorways. (Avoid Peppermint Spirits because they are very dangerous for pets, especially cats)

Try putting some whole cloves around. I put them on the window sills and door jams and also sprinkled a few around in my bottom cabinets.

Outdoor Ant Control
Supplies: 1 to 2 gallons water
Stove or barbecue grill
Instructions: Heat water to 160 to 170 degrees. Quietly sneak up to the mounds of ants and pour the boiling water down the hole.
Note: I normally try to do this between 11am and 2 pm.

Indoor Ant Control
Supplies: 1 tbsp. boric acid
1 tbsp. mint jelly or peanut butter
1 cracker
Small cardboard box

Instructions: Mix the boric acid and mint jelly; spread mixture on a cracker. Punch pinholes in a cardboard box; place cracker inside. Place box in an area where ants cause problems, but away from children and pets.
Note: The mint jelly or peanut butter lures the ants in and the boric acid kills them.

Indoor and Outdoor Ant Control
Supplies: Diatomaceous earth
Instructions: Dust food-grade diatomaceous earth along the ant’s pathways.
Note: The white powder will cut through their exoskeleton and they will dehydrate and die.

Indoor and Outdoor Ant Control Supplies:
1 1/2 cup Cream of Wheat
Instructions: Place a dish of Cream of Wheat where the ants can access it.
Note: After they eat it, the cereal expands and the ants will explode.

Red chili powder!! I've been using it to repel ants for years. Make a paste using a little water, find where the little black pests are coming in and going out and paste the area. you can sprinkle the powder too, but I find adding water makes it more potent. The ants hate the stuff.

[Lara's mom]

I wish I'd known that when those miserable little demons invaded my house every spring!!!

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Lara's mom

I wish I'd known that when those miserable little demons invaded my house every spring!!!

Well, at least you know now. Just in time for this year's spring too!

[Lara's mom]

Unfortunately, I no longer live in that house...sigh...

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Lara's mom

Unfortunately, I no longer live in that house...sigh...

Oh that's a bummer lol

[SaraSpiel]

Wahoo! Thanks for the tips, I'm going to kill the little a-holes!

Someone also told me cucumber skins help deter ants--- we'll see!

[PitShepherd]

They can come on in...I am gonna catch some tree frogs and then wrangle me some ants :P

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by PitShepherd

They can come on in...I am gonna catch some tree frogs and then wrangle me some ants :P

I love frogs. I am cross stitching tree frogs right now.

[dogma1066]

We use the diatomaceous earth (from the garden store) - it works pretty well but you have to reapply it if it gets wet. You can use it on your lawn to kill ticks, too.

The peepers have been out in full force since the weather's been so warm. I love listening to peepers.

[CorkyMax]

I don't know what peepers are--Are you referring to crickets?

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by CorkyMax

I don't know what peepers are--Are you referring to crickets?

Spring peepers are tiny frogs. they are adorable. They are the frogs that make the knee-deep, knee-deep, knee-deep sound you hear every spring.

[piratekitty]

Originally Posted by dogma1066

We use the diatomaceous earth (from the garden store) - it works pretty well but you have to reapply it if it gets wet. You can use it on your lawn to kill ticks, too.

The peepers have been out in full force since the weather's been so warm. I love listening to peepers.

Its also good for keeping slugs at bay with all the new tender starts growing. Diatomaceous earth get in to the breathing aperatus of many best and they cant breathe and die
I dont have a ant problem yet, lol not enough sun, just rain and more rain, ugh!

[dogma1066]

Originally Posted by CorkyMax

I don't know what peepers are--Are you referring to crickets?

I'm pretty sure this is one... sitting next to a twig.