Ants ants everywhere there are ants! (apartment, house, to buy)

[mricu]

ARGHHHHH! Anyone have a really good solution to getting rid of ants in an apartment? Non chemical methods are preferred, but if I need to use chemicals .. then I need to cause I'm going nuts!

We keep our place spotless but we still have ants everywhere. We find ourselves vacuuming 3 times a day to keep them at bay. I've tried the Raid ant baits but doesn't look like its working.

Are ants a common problem in SD, or am I not as clean as I think I am? What is the solution to keeping them out of our apartment? Not sure where they are coming from as there are many areas that they hang around and no noticeable points entry. I notice them around the edges of my carpet.

[NYSD1995]

Ahh the argentine ants. Yes they are a major problem. They are everywhere and come out with hot weather or rain. The traps do not work. The ONLY thing that has worked for me is a product called Home Defense Max. You spray it around the perimeter of your foundation and it will stop them. It is nasty stuff but it does work. I have tried non-chemical and nothing worked. We keep a very clean home.

[mricu]

Not sure if I would want to buy a whole crap load of that stuff to put around the foundation of my entire building as my building is quite big. Would that work on the inside of my apartment perhaps?

[cl723]

I was told that cornmeal and salt works.

[hortysir]

Cornmeal, or even grits (if you have them there )
The workers carry it back to the queen, she swells up and dies, end of problem

[Everest209]

Might want to check the House forum on the main page, I just had a few questions answered in there.

[cruitr]

I use this stuff once a year: Amazon.com: 2-PACK Combat Ant Killing Gel 27grams: Home & Garden

No more ants. You can buy it locally at Home Depot.

[TampaKaren]

You can try either Borax (it's cheap and available from super stores) or Diatomaceous Earth (the type at Lowes, not the pool chemical), but you'll still need to vacuum often as they're both in powder form. Good luck!

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by TampaKaren

You can try either Borax (it's cheap and available from super stores) or Diatomaceous Earth (the type at Lowes, not the pool chemical), but you'll still need to vacuum often as they're both in powder form. Good luck!

You shouldn't use either of those if you have animals, though, which is a drag because they both work quite well.

I've had pretty good success keeping them at bay using a combination of the ant bait traps you can buy at CVS (I'll put a couple of different kinds down) and by putting a dollop of dish soap over the places where they're coming in- they can't walk across it, and it's non-toxic. This'll stop them for a while until they find another point of ingress.

The only thing in my place that they really went for was the cat food. I swear, if there was ONE piece on the floor during the summer months it would trigger a whole invasion. Ugh.

[TampaKaren]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

You shouldn't use either of those if you have animals, though, which is a drag because they both work quite well.

I've had pretty good success keeping them at bay using a combination of the ant bait traps you can buy at CVS (I'll put a couple of different kinds down) and by putting a dollop of dish soap over the places where they're coming in- they can't walk across it, and it's non-toxic. This'll stop them for a while until they find another point of ingress.

The only thing in my place that they really went for was the cat food. I swear, if there was ONE piece on the floor during the summer months it would trigger a whole invasion. Ugh.

The food-grade of Diatomaceous Earth, which is what I recommended, has not been proven to be harmful to pets and is actually recommended. The pool grade is toxic. Two very different products with the same name.

Borax, aka Mule Team Laundry Detergent, (not Boric Acid) is also used as a powder dust to control fleas in pets. Of course, it shouldn't be injested, but it's not generally considered poisonous either. Again, common names, but different uses.