My house has an ant problem. These aren't just 3 or 4 ants we're talking about, there are dozens and dozens. I had to put my cat's food outside because they were all over it. Spraying is only half-effective; I think they might be developing an immunity to it.

Do any of you have any idea on how to get rid of them, at least for more than a few days? In a couple of weeks we are probably going to have someone from the pest control spray in the yard. They're driving me nutzoid. :crazy:

Any advice would be appreciated. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

My house has an ant problem. These aren't just 3 or 4 ants we're talking about, there are dozens and dozens. I had to put my cat's food outside because they were all over it. Spraying is only half-effective; I think they might be developing an immunity to it.

Do any of you have any idea on how to get rid of them, at least for more than a few days? In a couple of weeks we are probably going to have someone from the pest control spray in the yard. They're driving me nutzoid. :crazy:

Any advice would be appreciated. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

The best way I deal with them is to spray first with a chemical. The house and the yard. This will kill them on the spot or soon there after. Make sure you spray into weep holes in the house and around faucets where it comes out of the house. Next is to spread around granulates around the yard and next to the house. This more for a time release kill. Ants take the grandulate in as food and die later. You can get the ready mixes spray and grandulates at any Home Depot. It's alot cheaper than hiring an outside company.

I'm not too crazy about ants either.

Our house is always full of centipedes, and a few occasional spiders.

It's the warm weather.

Insects are evil! But I have a remedy that really works! This may sound silly but place Osage oranges in or around the foundation of your house.
In my case Last fall I put them in the lower level/basement of my house.
I had very few bugs/spiders in my house. Really, insects seem to dislike them. It worked for me! I will have to get some more as soon as they come to fruition! Oh yeah! :D

EW EW EW EW EW I can't even read this thread. I HATE ants so much. EW. Ew. EWEWEW.

I have a bit of an ant problem too every spring. Those big black ants. I go and buy a package of ant traps. Each package contains 6 traps and I just put them all around the house.

EW EW EW EW EW I can't even read this thread. I HATE ants so much. EW. Ew. EWEWEW.
word.

The best way I deal with them is to spray first with a chemical. The house and the yard. This will kill them on the spot or soon there after. Make sure you spray into weep holes in the house and around faucets where it comes out of the house. Next is to spread around granulates around the yard and next to the house. This more for a time release kill. Ants take the grandulate in as food and die later. You can get the ready mixes spray and grandulates at any Home Depot. It's alot cheaper than hiring an outside company.


You've got to REALLY watch though if you're going to be using chemicals around pets - especially cats and that - and if you let them outside. We would get some (not as many as what it sounds like you're getting though), but those octangular black traps RAID put out work fairly well. We'd put them near doors and windows. You might be able to find larger ones (like roach motels) too. Just make sure your household pets are safe too. Home Depot would have a great selection for sure.

I hate all bugs puke:

Red Ants are the worst. I stepped on an ant hill once and my whole leg felt like it was on fire. :rolleyes:

EW EW EW EW EW I can't even read this thread. I HATE ants so much. EW. Ew. EWEWEW.


THE absolutely worst bugs - earwigs and cockroaches - and I've lived with both!!! When its damp and humid, we get earwigs in here. They even pinch and take a 357 Magnum to take down.

Years ago I lived in an apt. that had two cockroach nests in it - behind wood panelling. It was like living in a horror movie - honestly - being sprayed every week for 6 months straight, living out of boxes on the balcony - had to throw out carpeting, my couch and loveseat, refridgerator, kitchen appliances. We had nightmares about them for three years after moving. I swore I would never live anywhere with them for a minute again - you just can't get rid of them.

If you have a bad infestation - where they have a nest in the house, just spraying where you see them may make it worse. You kill the scouts, but the queen just keeps making more to replace them, and may send out a new nest in the house in another place. If you are only seeing ants in the house when the weather is warm outside, they likely are not nesting inside but just seeking food, however if you have ants inside when they are not active outside, that could be an inside nest problem.

Sometimes you can watch the ants to see if they have a 'trail' that they follow to a nesting site, and then spray the hell out of that nest area. Otherwise the bait that they take back to the nest is the way to go because that will kill the root of the problem in the nest, rather than just spraying a few ants and having them avoid that area in the future and wonder elsewhere in your house.

THE absolutely worst bugs - earwigs and cockroaches - and I've lived with both!!! When its damp and humid, we get earwigs in here. They even pinch and take a 357 Magnum to take down.

Years ago I lived in an apt. that had two cockroach nests in it - behind wood panelling. It was like living in a horror movie - honestly - being sprayed every week for 6 months straight, living out of boxes on the balcony - had to throw out carpeting, my couch and loveseat, refridgerator, kitchen appliances. We had nightmares about them for three years after moving. I swore I would never live anywhere with them for a minute again - you just can't get rid of them.

I grew up with Cockroaches. We just couldn't get them out of our house. We had the exterminator come every month but the roaches stayed. I remember one day my cousin was visiting and we told him they were our pets. :eek: They are disgusting. :barf:

THE absolutely worst bugs - earwigs and cockroaches - and I've lived with both!!! When its damp and humid, we get earwigs in here. They even pinch and take a 357 Magnum to take down.

Years ago I lived in an apt. that had two cockroach nests in it - behind wood panelling. It was like living in a horror movie - honestly - being sprayed every week for 6 months straight, living out of boxes on the balcony - had to throw out carpeting, my couch and loveseat, refridgerator, kitchen appliances. We had nightmares about them for three years after moving. I swore I would never live anywhere with them for a minute again - you just can't get rid of them.
*shudders* Luckily my house doesnt have roaches, but they are disgusting as heck puke:

Oh - they're something alright - eh Dallas? Once you have them imbedded - they are there for life! They build up a tolerance for every kind of spray there is. We finally agreed to move out for two days while they sprayed not only the floors and bottom cupboards, but all upper ones, and even the joints in the walls walls/ceiling and walls/floors. When I first went back, they were still dying and falling from the cupboards and stuff - egg sacks (they look like kernels of corn) lying all around (the females will drop them as they're dying). I learned sooooo much about the cockroach it isn't funny. We tried all kinds of "home remedies" - commercial - everything. Absolutely hidious! I swore that if I had to use 100% of my paycheck for rent or to buy a house that wouldn't get them, I would.
We do have the earwigs, but they only last a short while, and don't get into food quite like the roaches do - only damp dishcloths and stuff.

I'll take ants anyday (but of course, when you've got lots, that's never fun either).

I remember one day my cousin was visiting and we told him they were our pets. :eek: They are disgusting. :barf:

Funny you'd mention that! When we finally broke our lease and left (they expected US to pay them $150 to break the lease early - meanwhile, they were allowing the problem to continue - we told them to sue us) the super was showing the apt. to a woman when we were there. I told the lady she never had to worry about having pets in that building - that the place came with them! You should have seen the look on the superintenant! :lol:

You've got to REALLY watch though if you're going to be using chemicals around pets - especially cats and that - and if you let them outside. We would get some (not as many as what it sounds like you're getting though), but those octangular black traps RAID put out work fairly well. We'd put them near doors and windows. You might be able to find larger ones (like roach motels) too. Just make sure your household pets are safe too. Home Depot would have a great selection for sure.

Traps, I don't think, would work. These little red army ants come by the hundreds. I'd go broke constantly replacing those things.

Funny you'd mention that! When we finally broke our lease and left (they expected US to pay them $150 to break the lease early - meanwhile, they were allowing the problem to continue - we told them to sue us) the super was showing the apt. to a woman when we were there. I told the lady she never had to worry about having pets in that building - that the place came with them! You should have seen the look on the superintenant! :lol:

:rofl: I can picture the look on his face.

Traps, I don't think, would work. These little red army ants come by the hundreds. I'd go broke constantly replacing those things.

Great!! Anyway of putting out the poison safely from the critters you WANT around?

Great!! Anyway of putting out the poison safely from the critters you WANT around?

Well the liquid will evaporate and the grandulates...the animals would have to eat alot of grass and dirt I would think to get at that stuff. It usually fall between the blades down to the soil. My critter stays inside and by the way that some of this stuff smell like I can't see them being drawn to it.

Diazanon. You put it on your yard like fertilizer or seed. Sprinkle it heavy on ant hills. It smells like ****, but the ants take it home, eat it, and perish.

Diazanon. You put it on your yard like fertilizer or seed. Sprinkle it heavy on ant hills. It smells like ****, but the ants take it home, eat it, and perish.

Would that hurt wildlike like birds or chipmunks and squirrels? I have a two-foot anthill in an old garden area that I'd like to get rid of, but we also have a lot of wildlife that I wouldn't want hurt by it. Maybe that's why it smells so badly - to keep everything else away?

Would that hurt wildlike like birds or chipmunks and squirrels? I have a two-foot anthill in an old garden area that I'd like to get rid of, but we also have a lot of wildlife that I wouldn't want hurt by it. Maybe that's why it smells so badly - to keep everything else away?

I don't think so. If we have a bag at home, I'll have to look. But I'm pretty sure it's safe for birds and rodents and the like. Because we have a lot of squirrels and rabbits too, and I don't think it ever hurt them.

I don't think so. If we have a bag at home, I'll have to look. But I'm pretty sure it's safe for birds and rodents and the like. Because we have a lot of squirrels and rabbits too, and I don't think it ever hurt them.

That would be great if you do get a chance to check it out Cath - you know me, I'd hate to hurt a furry or feathered critter and the rabbits hang out a lot in the area of the anthill (hey - maybe I should leave it alone - maybe they're ant-eating bunnies)! :lol: :bunny:

Diazanon. You put it on your yard like fertilizer or seed. Sprinkle it heavy on ant hills. It smells like ****, but the ants take it home, eat it, and perish.

Too bad that stuff is not sold here anymore.

http://www.greenhome.com/info/news/62.shtml

Thanks for the suggestions. I have an outdoors cat, I should have mentioned that.

Sorry if I sound naive but what are "weep holes?"

Thanks for the suggestions. I have an outdoors cat, I should have mentioned that.

Sorry if I sound naive but what are "weep holes?"

If your house is made of brick they are little gaps about 4 feet apart in the brick where it meets the concrete slab. They're only about an inch wide and 3 inches tall. Bugs love to get in them and build nests.

If your house is made of brick they are little gaps about 4 feet apart in the brick where it meets the concrete slab. They're only about an inch wide and 3 inches tall. Bugs love to get in them and build nests.


BEAUTIFUL! I've been after my husband to fill those in! :grrbald:
No wonder I've got those dark, black short worm things in the basement! :eek:

BEAUTIFUL! I've been after my husband to fill those in! :grrbald:
No wonder I've got those dark, black short worm things in the basement! :eek:
Yuck! I'm starting to get those wormy bugs in my house too. Not only do I have to deal with those big black ants. Now I have to run around and squash worms.

I need to be a terminator to get rid of these pests. :mad:

I need to be a terminator to get rid of these pests. :mad:


:cannon

:cannon

:lol: I'll be back........... :lol:

BEAUTIFUL! I've been after my husband to fill those in! :grrbald:
No wonder I've got those dark, black short worm things in the basement! :eek:

Well, they actually serve a purpose. They are there to let any moisture drain from the house. I don't think it would really hurt to plug them unless you have alot of moisture.

Well, they actually serve a purpose. They are there to let any moisture drain from the house. I don't think it would really hurt to plug them unless you have alot of moisture.


hmmmm - we do have a very high water table here. You should see the ground heave during the winter months - it's even crushed a corner of the vinyl siding on the laundry room (and addition) in past years. We might need those afterall. I've seen our back deck rise as much as 5 inches in the early spring! :eek: (It's a wonder we don't have fish in the basement :lol: )
Meanwhile, we're up on a hill at the end of the Niagara Escarpment - you wouldn't think it would be like that would you? :confused:

Ewww I hate creepy crawlies :eek: :seeya: We haven't had any major ant problems *knock on wood*, but when I do see ants, I just put out the ant trap things and they work wonders :)

They also will come out alot if there's food lying out, or something that was eaten that was thrown in a trashcan with no lid, so make sure you change your trash as much as you can, and no crumbs or anything laying around :)

I did remember one of these tree men come to my house and he told me that ants love wood. I did have a pile of wood lying just outside my house. I've gotten rid of the wood now I see ants coming out from my central air ducts. Grrr....

Our house is always full of centipedes, and a few occasional spiders.

It's the warm weather.


CENTIPEDES?. agh ::shudders::

i had the same problem last summer, except only in my room- buy ant traps, and put them all around your house, it worked for me

I would rather have ants anyday than BATS.

Red Ants are the worst. I stepped on an ant hill once and my whole leg felt like it was on fire. :rolleyes:

Yep, I did that too. It happened while I was running laps in PE class. It hurt like a bitch, but at least I got out of running for the rest of the day.

Too bad that stuff is not sold here anymore.

http://www.greenhome.com/info/news/62.shtml (http://www.greenhome.com/info/news/62.shtml)



No way! That really sucks.

I have a bit of an ant problem too every spring. Those big black ants. I go and buy a package of ant traps. Each package contains 6 traps and I just put them all around the house.

We have those ants too. Carpenter ants. And naturally they love trees and we have a lot of trees.