I have ants in my house :(

i have no idea where to post this, but i remember looking at a post on this site and apparently Aspartame kills ants. Has anyone tried putting equal down or anything like that, and had any success. The ants are only in my bathroom.. i dont know where they are coming from. Any suggestions?!? Will Equal kill them all?

Hahahaha!

So random it borders on brilliant.

I hope you're taking the piss...

set up those round things that have poision inside, ants come in and die, and some bring it back to queen and it kills her.....

when I get ants I grab my AK-74 and a flamethrower and blaze away, however, this has proven bad for my house so I remodeled it totally bulletproof so now I can even use a missile launcher to get rid of ants........hahahaha, just kidding, lol, sorry I love to goof around

Eat the ants, that'll show 'em.

Ants are a very predictable insect, they lay down a trail for other ants in their colony to follow to a food source.

Have you identified the type of ant you have ???
Are they walking in a line, or just moving randomly in search mode ???
Are the same ants anywhere on the exterior of your house, or in the yard ???


I can understand the idea that aspartame or equal might be an ant killer because it lacks nutrition, but it seems like a very slow way to kill a colony. They would probably just seek out another source of food, like in your kitchen.

If you tell me what part of the planet you live on I can probably give you a good cure.

They are in my bathroom, they are small picnic ants.. they are randomly searching for something. They are never in a group or line. I live in New York right on the water in the south shore. I have only seen the ants in my house in my bathroom. im not sure if there is a hole in the bathroom in which they are getting in

ohhh, and something i just remembered.. the trash cans are set right on the side of the house right next to the bathroom, that could have something to do with it. I would like to kill the whole colony, should i put traps on the outside, as well as the inside?

There are mainly two kinds of "pest" ants, "grease loving" and "sugar loving".
All you need to do is mix some Boric Acid (get it at the drug store) with either corn syrup or butter and set it out for them.
I'd mix up both just to be sure.
Mix 2:1 with either butter or corn syrup. Don't combine butter and corn syrup, keep them in seperate batches.
Example: 2 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon boric acid. OR 2 tablespoons corn syrup with 1 tablespoon boric acid. Get a few bottle caps and use them as dinner plates for your uninvited guests.
They carry it back to the nest, so it will kill the queen also.

On a side note: It's almost sad to watch the progression of the whole event.
Day 1. Muscular, healthy ants will be following in line carrying your bait back to their nest.
Day 2. The ants will look a little shriveled and walk "jerky" like a heroine addict carrying their newfound needle home.
Day 3. (if they make it that long) They will be almost unable to walk, but will still go get more and carry it all back home to share.
Most won't make it to day 4..... but your ant problem will be over. And it's not toxic to your pets.

awesome, thank you so much!

If your ants are very small black ones you're probably dealing with Monomorium Minimum or Tapinoma Sessile.

They are in your bathroom for the water, or they have picked up a scent that smells like food. Many products in your bathroom could be attracting the ants, especially if you have females in the house that apply make-up products in the bathroom.

A tube of silicone chalking only costs a couple bucks, and going around all the edges, corners, nooks, and crannies, will take less than an hour.
Good quality chalking is about your best defense for the interior.

Keeping food sources away from the exterior wall will help a lot, but keep in mind that ants will travel quite a ways. So put some ant killer down around the area outside the bathroom to make sure they're not coming in from there.
And a tube of exterior chalking applied to any tiny cracks or holes outside should solve your problem.


If your dealing with ants that have set up a colony in your walls you might be in for a bigger problem, but baits and traps can handle those.



EDIT:
Beer_Guy is right on.
Boric Acid is fantastic, and you can get it at any pharmacy for about $2.00.



You may also want to try non-toxic baits so you can find out where they live.
Place a few drops of honey near an area with ants and see if they form a trail. If nothing happens, try a bit of bacon fat.

Track the little suckers back to their nest, and kill without mercy.

Boiling water can be very effective when poured on an outdoor nest, and you don't need to mix anything up.








[edit on 12/3/2007 by anxietydisorder]

Whats up with the ants ? I have seen them find a humming bird feeder thats hanging off the corner of the house on a string. They climb down the string and go right in and get that colored sugar water like they own it or something. Thats about the only problem I have ever had with them, Ha, ha, ha. Good luck with them my friend.

On a side note: It's almost sad to watch the progression of the whole event.

Those poor ants!!! Come on. Their just a little thirsty let them off with a warning this time..........Seriously you think you have it bad?? I got a family of skunks trying to set up camp under my house.. Good luck!!

Well I have got ants in my kitchen right now.

I just can't kill them and maybe I need to see a Doc but when they fall in the sink, I fish em out and put em back on the bench.
They are a problem but really facinating to watch. I don't have the heart to kill anything...

honestly, the other day, it looked like they had met up for either smoko break or were discussing their next move. I stood watching them for a while, then they all separated and got back into it.

I wouldnt give one mouth to mouth resusitation but I won't watch one drowning. I pulled a couple out today and they were half dead and then they came good and wandered off again and lmao I was like 'yeah' - 'the little guy made it!!'

lol oh farout, I think I need therapy..

edit *spelling

[edit on 26-3-2007 by NJE777]

LOL!! One thing to consider sometimes having ants is a sign of a much worse problem..Like having Termites..In which case Ants are a good thing and more then likely the reason their in your house...Ants love Termites!!!

well then thats a good thing to have the ants hanging around!!

lol

I am gonna start feeding em!!!!

Seriously you think you have it bad?? I got a family of skunks trying to set up camp under my house.. Good luck!!

LOL, we have skunks under our shed in the back yard every summer. When they wander close to our back porch I usually feed them. We sit there with music blaring and they'll walk right up to us without fear. They'll come within about ten feet and just check us out, then they wander off.
I think they're cute.

I am gonna start feeding em!!!!

Becareful they might form a union and demand to be put on the payroll..=)

LOL, we have skunks under our shed in the back yard every summer

Yeah I didn't have a problem with them untill they started fighting with each other and one of them decieded to "Let Loose" so to speak..Its been a couple of weeks and my eyes still water everytime I enter my house..

get a copy of the 1954 movie THEM. it is a movie on how to handle ant problems, admittedly they had a bit more of an infestation than you describe but i sure some of the same stuff would work for you.

Just a notation, if you did happen to locate where they were getting in from, lay down some cayenne pepper. Ants don’t like it, and they won’t cross a cayenne pepper line. I know this works on carpenter ants; I haven’t tried it on piss ants. If it was the window, dust the window seal on the exterior, and so on and so forth.

Every year we get 2 carpenter ant migrations. Ewww...they come loaded with wings and stay for a week or two, and then they are gone. They show up on the first really hot day…it’s like they come out of the wood (literally) or your deck :shk: Theres nothing like having one of those bastards fall from the cieling on you in the middle of the night when you are sleeping :bnghd:

There are a lot of old folk remedies for keeping ants out. Chalk, coffee grounds, cinnamon, pepper, etc. These work to a degree to keep ants out, but won't eliminate the problem. Plus, it can be kinda messy to sprinkle that stuff all over the house. If you keep 'em from coming in one way, they'll find another. And if you use a contact killer spray it kills the ones you see, but the queen will just lay more eggs.

Gotta kill the colony. And you can buy your own boric acid and mix up your own remedy, but really there's a cheap ready made alternative that works as well as anything you can do.

Shag fanny down to the hardware store and get yourself some Terro. It's already mixed, it's inexpensive, and it works. No colony, no ants.