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by JP1967 on November 22nd, 2003

JP1967

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What is the best way to get rid of ants?

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Answers. 31 helpful answers below.

  • by Anonymous on February 25th, 2007

    Anonymous

    We've eliminated all of the nests around our house over a period of about a month and half with a product called Terro. It's a sweet syrup that is poisonous and it comes in little plastic traps that you set out around high ant traffic areas. The ants go in & out of the traps for several days taking the poison back to the nests and eventually killing off the entire nest. This is the only thing that has worked for us with 100% success, but it definitely takes patience.

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  • by Piso on May 16th, 2008

    Piso

    "Fire Ants" weakness is Water, "Water ants" would work fine

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  • by Sketchy Mess Jeoffory on February 25th, 2007

    Sketchy Mess Jeoffory

    If you are trying to get rid of those little black ants that can infest your house and be a real pain in your abs then I can help you. I am not particularly sure about other ants, such as fire ants.

    Ants are persistent little buggers and they are extremely resilient, so you have to fine tune your plan of attack according the type of ant you are at war with. Carpenter ants mostly look for simple sugars- leftover candy, spilled soda, and such- but they also change things up occasionally and look for protein based foods depending on the needs of the nest's eggs.

    To get rid of them you make a little death treat for them to carry back to their queen and you wipe out the entire colony with one fell swoop, hopefully. The thing with this tactic is that you have to resist the temptation to attack the beasts with a can of raid, because for it to work they must eat the poison, but live long enough to carry some back to the Queen Mother- otherwise she will just continue to pump out thousands and thousands of replacements to come after you.

    Here are the specifics of the recipe. Follow them closely, because if it's too strong then the scout ants will croak before they have a chance to deliver your goods to the mothership.

    2 tablespoons Sugar
    2 tablespoons Peanut Butter
    1 tablespoon Boric Acid

    (The Boric Acid is a white powder which you can find in any local Hardware store... it's nothing too powerful, but don't put it where pets and kids can easily reach it.)

    Mix the ingredients thoroughly with a disposable spoon or knife. Then cut up a couple of straws into about 3 pieces each. Pack them halfway with the mixture- this allows you to handle them easily and allows you to place them in areas where your child or pet is less likely to find them.

    Place the straws near where you see the ant trail- try to follow it until you get as close to their point of entry, because there's no reason to invite them further into your home. You will probably need to replace the straws after a day or two. By then you will probably not see many, if any, live ants showing up. If you notice that none of the ants are making it more than a foot away from your mixture, then you probably overdid it with the Boric Acid... just reduce the amount and try again.

    It can be frustrating to think of having to tolerate them for the 48-72 hours it takes for the queen to eat her poison, but the only way to effectively rid yourself of ants is to destroy the entire colony.

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  • by Buzays on May 16th, 2008

    Buzays

    Blue Death. It works at my house.

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  • by Shawn on May 16th, 2008

    Shawn

    Fight fire with fire. Just dont fire up the house!

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  • by sol on January 24th, 2008

    sol

    Mint. Instead of introducing chemicals into your world that you don't need. Use nature. Mint plants placed at the souce of entry & your doors will send them crawling. The smell is offensive to them & they will treck off to a new place. Plus you will have mint for salads & to ease your tummy aches if you have them. Good luck!

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  • by GBPackersfan on March 4th, 2007

    GBPackersfan

    safe way : stick the hose in the ant hole and wait about 5 minutes
    Dangerous way: dump oil in the ant hole and light it with a match (be careful with fire)

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  • by rod hedin on June 2nd, 2005

    rod hedin

    ants cannot cross any kind of fine powder such as baby powder or flour as ants breathe throgh their skin and cant go accross it> so if you find where they are coming just put a fine trail of baby powder

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  • by ZiggyStardust on June 21st, 2010

    ZiggyStardust

    Set a couple of ant-eaters loose in your house

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  • by gtravels loves her life penguin on June 21st, 2010

    gtravels loves her life penguin

    http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1636

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  • by Anonymous on May 16th, 2008

    Anonymous

    Buy an ant-eater. IF this isn't feasible you can also buy ant-bait traps.

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  • by Anonymous on October 24th, 2007

    Anonymous

    Terro liquid ant killer is the best. There was no ant activity in less than 24 hours. We had very small ants (Southern California) in and around our garage and some creeping up to our kitchen. POOF! Now we are ant-free. Thanks Terro!!!

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  • by pctech26 on July 7th, 2007

    pctech26

    OMG thank god a Pest Control Technician reads these, it really depends on what type of ants you have. Different ants like different baits, and have different habits. For Carpenter Ants the application of baits labeled for such around the trees outside your home will help. Spraying the exterior of your home works only if the chemical residual stays intact, you have a complete application, and there are no trees or overhead powerlines/telephone/cable lines leading onto your house. Acrobat ants are much the same, look on the outside and see if there is anywhere they are trailing in and treat that area, pavement ants yes terro works but buy alot of it and watch the grass grow its gonna take a while. For the first 2 id strongly suggest going to a website called www.doityourselfpestcontrol.com and purchasing 2 things an exterior spray called Termidor, and Advance Granular Carpenter Ant Bait. Spray the ext. of the house with termidor, and use the and bait around the trees near the home, and around the house. If you have pavement ants go to that website and purchase Drax Ant Gel bait, this comes in a sugar and protein base and apply it to areas where you can physically see them trailing. Do not spray any chemicals in this area. Just let the lil guys do their thing and within 2 weeks they will be gone.

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  • by jangobean on February 25th, 2007

    jangobean

    Don't try to kill them, try to misdirect them.
    Ants are only trying to find food when they appear to be invading you or your home.
    Put some sweet stuff outside like jam or something, and they won't come inside - until it runs out.

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  • by Thundercleese on February 25th, 2007

    Thundercleese

    Chemicals

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  • by E Normous on December 11th, 2005

    E Normous

    Obviously you need to stop feeding them, but to get them gone quickly the absolute best product is Terro Ant Killer. The stuff is phonominal, very poisonus and difficult to find because of that, but a dime sized drop on a piece of cardboard will draw them out of every nook and cranny. The ones it doesn't kill imediately doom the rest at the nest. I was amazed.

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  • by Anonymous on June 14th, 2005

    Anonymous

    We have ants coming in the bathroom from under the toilet. I used those round ant traps...didn't do a thing. I was told to get this other stuff. It's called Insectigone. A company called Chemfree makes it. It's in a plastic bottle with a spout and you shake it all over where you see ants. I used it on ant hills outside, along my door outside on the window sills outside and on the floor of the toilet and no more ants. This works great. I'm going to keep putting it on though so they don't come back. My dad uses it every spring through to the end of summer and he's never had an ant problem since the use of it.

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  • by Thommy on November 1st, 2004

    Thommy

    Read my answer on cockroach remedies to get some ideas of natural ways to effectively handle ants both inside and outside. Also read my answer about handling fire ants. It will give you an effective drench in order to kill the mound. If you are using chemicals outside (which includes most brand-name commercial fertilizers, weed control products, or pesticides) you are inviting continuous problems to your lawn area with pests along with slowly damaging the health of your pets and family and having physical ailments appear years later (even cancers). The microbes of the soil act as natural deterrents to pests and when they are poisoned by chemical additions to the soil, an imbalance occurs which leads towards pest problems. (See my answer on "regular soil") This will help in contolling ants.

    Cinnamon sprinkled around the pet's food bowl is a good deterrent for ants or other pests. I put it on the floor of my shed to keep critters out.

    I have heard of Basil leaves being a deterrent for some ants.

    There are more herbs and botanicals listed under my answer on mosquitoes and also in the area "Dieting and Nutrition". Click on my name or search...there is a lot of data on handling ants and bugs naturally and more effectively than chemicals.

    Tansy works very well on thwarting ants.

    There are different types of ants. Different approaches are needed for different ones. For example, sweet loving ants will take to a boric acid bait if it is mixed right.

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  • by JollyMommy on August 27th, 2004

    JollyMommy

    Make sure all of your food is sealed extra well, and your floors are kept well-swept, especially corners where crumbs hide when you sweep. If there is no food, they will go away and look elsewhere. If you keep it sealed and swept they'll never come back. That's all ants are interested in.

    As well, make sure counters are wiped after food preperation, and no food is left out longer than it is needed. Sugary messes are especially ant prone. If your children get candy from a parade do not store it in paper or plastic bags that dont close very well, or in bowls or other open containers. Some candy is lightly wrapped and ants can bite through other wrappers. I found that out personally when i found a whole infestation of ants around a bag of candy we had forgotten, and the jawbreakers had small holes in the packages and were missing the outershell with nothing but a rough white ball left. It's best to use heavy-duty freezer ziplock bags, or tupperware containers with lids.

    If you want to kill them (which won't permanently rid you of them but will short-term lessen the amount around) almost any store that carries bug-sprays will carry ant-foggers, ant-traps, and the like. But the only way to get rid of them for good is to get rid of what they come inside for.

    Also, it may be a good idea while they are still around to follow their trail to see how they came in the house. Then seal their entrance. It's usually windows or doors that arent tightly sealed.

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  • by AliasTJ on June 21st, 2010

    AliasTJ

    Sprinkle cornmeal on the ground all around the outside of your house. Then make a batch of deadly jelly bombs. Mix dry cat food, grape jelly, and boric acid together to make sticky little balls. Scatter the balls around areas of heavy ant activity. The ants will carry the deadly jelly back to the queen and kill her. Pour boiling water down any ant holes or hills that you find.

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  • by hong kong phooey on June 21st, 2010

    hong kong phooey

    hoover them up

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  • by Art_Of_Holographics_Heart_Mechanics on June 21st, 2010

    Art_Of_Holographics_Heart_Mechanics

    There is a type of poison that kills the queen ant. That is the best because killing one of the other ants won't stop them; the queen ant will just reproduce another ant, the one that you just finished killing. Check with a store in your area that specializes in pest and bug control.

    Another method is to put some honey or something similar in your house, a small but tempting puddle. Then spray the onrushing ants with soap water from a plastic spray bottle. Continue to do this, again and again everyday.

    I saw my Brother-in-law and Sister do this, and thought the whole thing was funny. The main virtues of this method is that it is cheap (pretty much cost free... the dish soap is a negligible expense), and that it works. Simple as that. But you have to be patient, and you have to be willing to have a long line of blood thirsty ants crawling around your house for a week or so.

    The reason that it works, is because at some point the ants collectively decide that it takes too much ant-deaths verses how much food that they get, so they go somewhere else (anywhere else) in order to avoid having so many casualties.

    Another thing you can do is to try to clean up all of your crumbs, as soon as possible. Don't feed the bears is a rule we all know to follow, perhaps don't feed the ants is an idea that we should adopt as well.




    Good luck. And God bless.

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  • by Forbidden Snowflake on June 21st, 2010

    Forbidden Snowflake

    My mum usually puts this liquid ant poison in the rim of a platic lid with some honey in the middle of the lid. They try to get to the honey, but don't get past the poison. Poor souls :(

    Must keep out of reach from pets though!

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  • by Fanny100 on June 21st, 2010

    Fanny100

    Boric-acid based ant control. i had the same problem because i live in Puerto rico.

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  • by Taking the Meat-Loaf on June 21st, 2010

    Taking the Meat-Loaf

    Spread sugar around the kitchen and bedroom. They are allergic to it.

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  • by blondie66720 on March 28th, 2007

    blondie66720

    I have found you that you can not really kills ants inside. You can move them around but I use pet flea powder it works great on any type of ants indoors.

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  • by Screwwithyou on September 19th, 2008

    Screwwithyou

    Maybe you should just read them a book or sing to them. They are a great creation. why would you want to get rid of them. They are very advanced creatures. they could take over humanity if they had the will to. my only expression on this matter is laughter. hahahahahaha. you got an infestation. heheheheheh.

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  • by DRLAURAHATER on January 24th, 2008

    DRLAURAHATER

    Here is something I made and it is safe to use around pets and children. In a spray bottle mix together

    1 pint water
    1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol
    1 teaspoon liquid dish soap

    Find where the ants are coming into your house and spray mixture around and into hole within a few days the ants will disapear.

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  • by ohthunderbelle doesnt dance she boogies on January 22nd, 2008

    ohthunderbelle doesnt dance she boogies

    Gigantic magnifying glass! :)

    Just kidding.

    We've had good luck in our house with small sticky traps for the little bugs.

    Once, when I was fairly young, my dad was replacing the frames around the windows in my bedroom and he pried the board off the wall...and a literal FLOOD of carpenter ants poured out. The big, nasty kind. I stood on my bed and screamed. He ran out of the room, got the shop-vac out of the garage and sucked 'em all up.

    Every once in a while, I still have nightmares about that.

    *shudders*

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  • by debfordpom on April 25th, 2007

    debfordpom

    They are almost always outside where they belong. To ensure they don't come in, I clean the kitchen well each night & dump the trash. I spray a little raid around the door entrances (repeat after mopping the floor). Outside we are lucky enough to have alligator lizards that slurp them up! You can't use chemicals in the yard if you have the lizards.

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  • by G Day Earthlings on June 20th, 2010

    G Day Earthlings

    You can either kill them or discourage them from your house. Therefore you have two options: find their nest and spray it with tons of chemicals, insecticide, etc OR make sure they can't eat your food and they should naturally leave.

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