Ants!

All winter I have had an ant issue in the kitchen. I would put out poison, they would go away for a while.. then come back. So far this spring they have been really bad... well, on our first hot day, I finally decided to open all the windows.. and one wall came alive with ants.

I just got finished ripping all the wall board off of that wall.. and found they were living in the wood that holds the bottom of the window in place... I now have a wall with no wallboard and millions of dead ants..

I am no fan of bugs.. but I can tolerate most of them, but seeing them cover that wall when I disturbed the colony really got me squeamish. Now I have to replace the rotted wood under the window, put in some insulation (there was practically none) and re-wallboard that wall..

Amdro.

Uncles!

When I first moved in to this house in '03 I saw a couple in the living room - so I went and got some Raid and laid down a perimeter outside - all the base boards - everything. When I came downstairs from sleeping the next day there were literally a trillion (possibly a gobajillion) black ants covering the living room carpet.

I shopvac'd them up, sprayed raid in to murderize them and called the exterminator 911 number. He comes 3x a year now and I haven't seen one since. I hate bugs.

Bengal inside around the baseboards. Insecticide around the outside perimeter a few times a year. And ant bait inside in the kitchen all the time to take out the Recon Scout Ants.

Also put some cayenne powder in there, ants hate spice. I had to chase the little bastards out of the raised beds last year and a concoction of crushed red pepper sent them packing.

I was battling them in my apartment for a month or so.. I've been using a 50/50 vinegar-water mix in a spray bottle. Once a week I spray every area I think they are using to get in and it seems to be working. Haven't seen one in weeks now.

The interwebs claimed the vinegar destroys their scent trails as well as acting as a deterrent for a while after that. White vinegar is super cheap and it seems to be working so I'm happy.

I wasn't battling thousands or millions, and I doubt they're living in my walls, so my experience might not be applicable.

So...if white vinegar works, and cayenne pepper works........double down and spray em with Tobasco!

coll9947 wrote: The interwebs claimed the vinegar destroys their scent trails as well as acting as a deterrent for a while after that. White vinegar is super cheap and it seems to be working so I'm happy.

Seems plausible....their trails are formic acid, and the vinegar is acetic acid. If they're following anything acidic, you might confuse them by turning everything into a "trail"

coll9947 wrote: I've been using a 50/50 vinegar-water mix in a spray bottle. Once a week I spray every area ... vinegar destroys their scent trails...

You douche!

Mitch Hedberg said: I got an ant farm; them fellas didn't grow E36 M3. I said “C’mon, what about some celery? You berkeleyers don’t farm.

You can blame the winter that wasn't actually winter for that, at least in part.

Undiluted Simple Green works for me.

Borax and powered sugar. Make a perimeter trail around the house. Dunno what it does, but it makes them go away. That's my MIL's home remedy.

Carpenter ants thrive in wet wood. You probably have a leak somewhere.

An internet meme claims cucumber skin will make them go away.

My wife just saw an ant... Time for chemicals.

My "allergic to everything that stings" ass got bit by a damned velvet ant while washing the car last week. Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm a berkeleying magnet.

spriteracer wrote: Carpenter ants thrive in wet wood. You probably have a leak somewhere.

I do not doubt it. While I have never had a leak at that window (I do have one that leaks and needs replacement) it is a northfacing window.. so any moisture that does get in there, never gets burnt off

We seem to have acquired a new ant in out area. Looks like a 2-3x size fire ant, but will nest insiide a wall. It will also excavate into wood, but not to the extent of a carpenter ant.

Get some of these

Reviving this thread:

Any ideas what's going on here?

I took the whole thing outside in a bag. We've had the bait traps out in the kitchen for a while since we had a flair up last year (found an open bag of chocolate chips in the cabinet that they were feasting on).

Recently they've been showing up in the bathroom; sink and shower specifically.

looks like they have a colony inside your wall

How many ants are behind the outlet cover?

I had good luck with Terro liquid ant baits in combating an outbreak of sugar ants last summer. They ignored everything else, but went straight for these and disappeared shortly thereafter.