Cheap method of ant control?
 

The situation: There have been ants coming out of my wall all morning.
Can anyone suggest a quick and dirty solution, other than just stomping on them? This is getting disgusting.

I know just what you mean about the ants - every once in awhile, we used to get about a thousand "surprises" in our morning cereal.

Against my better (I thought) judgement, my wife bought a few of those high-frequency sound emitters that just plug into the wall - and I haven't had to spray around the house for over 2 years. Sure, something crawls in under the doors every now and then, but the damn things work. Or it might be coincidental. Who knows? When they break I'll buy more, though.

Those little Combat Ant controllers worked for me. Also, I've left out bread with French's Yellow Mustard on it (on accident) and returned to find it surrounded with dead ants.

Flamethrower or Napalm........................i'm pretty sure that will kill them. :D

An old girlfirend of mine insisted that putting bay leaves (which you can buy in the spices section in the grocery store) where the ants came in got rid of them. I'm not really sure if it worked or not, the ants seemed to go away I guess. Only thing is you are stuck with leaves on your floor.

Put a line of cinnamon where they are coming in at. It sounds odd, but it works, the ants wont cross the cinnamon.

Bicarbonate of soda works the same too

My mother did the bay leaf thing too. She also put one or two in the flour to keep insects out if it. It didn't seem to flavour the flour though so that is a good thing.

Napalm

This thread is a classic example of "overlooking the obvious" --

RAID BUG SPRAY

Come on, guys ;)

The stuff works, in one of my old dorm rooms I had a couple of ant entry points where hundreds would march through on a daily basis. The spray stays there and the ants will die just from stepping on the stuff, so they just stopped coming in my room.

Exactly what I was thinking!! Just go find and ant eater and be done with all your ant problems!!

don't leave your food out.

No Food == no Ants.

Take out the trash like a madman as well.

Mix boric acid with powdered sugar and generously distribute in target areas. Makes a delicious but deadly mix that ants bring back to their cubbies. Do this only if you have no kids or pets you like.

While that's good advice, it's not exactly true - we had ants get into cereal boxes, bags of rice - even into peanut butter jars that had the lids screwed on pretty damn tight. The only sure-fire way to protect your food is to put it all in the fridge, or get a sealer thingee and seal all your food in plastic bags.

Yeah, I don't know why I missed the obvious with the Raid spray idea, guess I was just too lazy to drive to the store. I tried the cinnamon idea just for kicks, and the ants have all but disapeared. That doesn't prove it worked, but who knows, it could have.
I'll grab some Raid though, for if they do return.

use chemicals and lots of em'

Start imposing all kinds of sanctions upon them. Raise their rent, stomp on their anthills, and take 30% of their food earnings. If that doesn't work then call the exterminator. We've had the same problem over the past couple years and I think we've finally won by using the exterminator. The next few weeks will let us know for certain.

But now they have that fresh potpourri scent...granted it smells like someone poured raid into a bowl of potpourri....

Hahaha, yes!

Economic sanctions should always be the first step!

It's simple - like the tide example. Pour laundry detergent or (even better) clorox along the walk line. Puts those little fuckers out every time (and it's cheap).

I' ve been told that eggshells make them lose their path, too...

this has to be one of the most useful threads I've found so far....Im already puting out the Tide.

Baby powder.

Put it where they are coming in. Surround your food with it. Whatever. They will not cross it.

PLUS its a lot less toxic that many other alternatives.

Take itty-bitty little hats, and place one snugly on the head of each ant. then put a mirror out by the entrance that they come into your house through. They will see the hats, realise how silly they are, and proceed to cry. If it is scarring enough, they will either commit suicide or seriously rethink their lives. If they do the latter, you may hope that their new, re-thought lives will fit them as born-again christians who do not care a thing for anything except jesus --- including invading your home!

It's simple really. Here’s what you do;

You initially accuse the ants of gathering weapons of mass destruction.

You decide that the only course of action is to invade the ant colony, and oust its leadership. This will also have the added benefit of providing your wife with the perfect distraction, keeping her from paying attention to your performance problems in bed.

You go to the Neighbourhood Block meeting looking for support. The Neighbourhood Block disagrees with your plans of invasion, and instead decides they want to send in weapons inspectors first.

For weeks, the Queen ant acts defiantly, and refuses to allow weapons inspectors. You don’t mind, as this gives you the perfect reason to invade. At the last minute, the colony gives in, and allows weapons inspectors to come in. You curse in the wind, as your invasion plans have been stalled.

When the inspectors turn up nothing, you call them filthy liars, and return to the Neighbourhood Block to present piss-poor evidence that the ants are harbouring weapons of mass destruction. Amongst your proof, that book report on ants you stole from Jimmy in the sixth grade.

In the end, after certain key members of the Neighbourhood Block threaten to veto your proposal for invasion, you supersede the Neighbourhood Block, and invade the colony anyway. You hold a family meeting, and announce that the Queen has 48 hours to step down, otherwise you will invade the colony.

48 hours later, you enter the colony with your new best friend from next door, because he’s the only one who will support you. The entire campaign takes 2 weeks, during which time you accidentally; elbow your wife in the mouth, drop a heavy brick on your neighbour's foot, and give the dog a nasty burn. It doesn’t help that the kids are constantly whining “Are you done yet?”

When the invasion is finally over, and you yourself cannot find any weapons of mass destruction, you again turn around and tell the world you were only in there to liberate all the ants from their brutal dictator. The ants celebrate their newfound freedom by looting the winter food supply.

After successfully toppling the ant colony, you begin eyeing the wasps' nest because you believe they may be harbouring the Queen ant. You initially accuse the wasps of gathering weapons of mass destruction….

Wow Quad... new name... Same Crap.

Anyways... be romantic... tell your wife you're going dancing and buy her some new shoes... Take her to the point of entry, turn on the music... and do the casper slide...

ONE TIME NOW STOMP!

NOW STOMP TWO TIMES!

now Cha Cha!

Meaning....????

Quad that was hillarious!!!!

my wife used cucumber rines all over the place. This made it so the ants went to places where we didn't see them. This worked till we could afford the orkin man. We haven't seen an ant since.

I've used those little Raid Ant Baits for a couple of years with much success. Just a few of them around the house have stopped the Ant problem where I live.

LMAO Quad!

i've found that a spray bottle with dilute dr. bronners peppermint soap will kill the small kitchen ants almost instantly. you can also spray mint extract around to help keep them away.

Pour a honey trail to you neighbours house.

If you see an anthill outside that they seem to be coming from,(also works with underground bee nests) get some model airplane fuel (the more nitromethane the better) , squirt some down into the hole, give it 30 seconds to evaporate, tehn strike a match (you remembered the matches, right?) and shove it into the hole while the tip is still flaring up. You'll know how to adjust the timing for the next time. If your yard suddenly explodes, wait less next time. If they come back, wait longer and use more fuel. If everything goes right, the anthill and any others nearby should emit a jet of flame resembling a miniature version of the exhaust plume from a top-fuel dragster.

Note: this method is not reccomended for the removal of termites or other indoor insects.

I too have had ant problems, what I did was at suggenstion of my sister since she is a DVM, and I have a cat...... I put Borax around where they wer seen and under my washer and basicly anywhere that no one goes or would see... it worked and it was cheap.... i haven't seen ants for a while....... and my cat is still alive

neighbor you dont like? hansel and gretel method, make a trail of honey to their house with a big pile of food at the end, the ants will move right in

Go to Home Depot, there is a granular "Ant Killer" formula for broadcast Spreaders. I had ants all over my yard 2 years ago. I bought the Bayer version of the ant killer and put it all over my yard. About 2 months later my neighbor comes over complaining about the ant hills that sprang up all over her yard. Asks if I am having a problem with ants this year. I honestly tell her "No!"

Magnifying glass.

SO obvious.