Author Topic: Eeeek!! ANTS!  (Read 3299 times)

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Offline Middle Child

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Eeeek!! ANTS!
« on: March 20, 2017, 06:55:05 PM »
Oh UGH! I've never had ants in here EVER.  But there I was crawling around on the kitchen floor poking under things (looking for a cat toy, what else?) when all of a sudden there were all these ants marching out from somewhere.  They just ..APPEARED!  I couldn't tell if they were coming from under the baseboard or under the washing machine (which was running).

I kept squishing them but more kept coming. I couldn't imagine was had attracted them.  I'm not the best housekeeper in the world as far as dust balls and clutter, but I don't have food or crumbs around in the kitchen, I wipe the floor every night after the cats eat.

So I got the thin rod that I use to swipe under the washer for toys (was just about to do it before the ants, in fact) and what comes out but an old capsule of egg yolk lecithin. Part of the capsule was dissolved (or eaten) and about half the contents were gone. Could it have been that, that attracted them? It couldn't have been there very long, as I am always looking for toys under there.  I don't remember dropping it.

Shuddering away I wiped up as many as I could but they kept coming.  I went downstairs and got the jug of diatomaceous earth (organic, food grade) that I always keep handy, and started dusting (by hand) all along the edges of the baseboard where they were either coming from or going under.  When the washer drained and spun out, I pulled it out but there was nothing else under there, not even any dust (I sweep the stick thing under there regularly looking for toys)

Since dusting I haven't seen any more ants.  Hope that does the trick.  So glad I keep the DE handy. URRGGGGHHH.

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2017, 08:09:03 PM »
This morning they were everywhere in the kitchen, on the floor I mean. Hundreds of them. Under the cat beds, under the table, creeping out of the join where the carpet meets the lino.

I went crazy with the DE, all along the edges, under the beds, dusted across the floor.  When I came home for lunch there wasn't an ant to be seen.  The DE killed them all, as they came out, I am guessing.  But now it's all cleaned up and there are still no ants. So what the heck? I know there must be a nest of them, and the DE can only kill the ones who walk through it.  It's not like it's food they would bring back to the nest.

I did get some Terro bait traps upon advice at work (they are borax and sugar solution)  I pulled the bottom drawer out and put it in the empty space under that, the cats can't get to it that way.  Just in case.

Offline Pookie

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2017, 10:43:54 PM »
I hope the Terro works!   fingerscrossed
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2017, 05:14:20 AM »
Looks like I cleaned up the DE a little too soon, there were a few wandering around this morning, but not too many.  The DE I am thinking is a good barrier, stops the ones coming in.  The Terro hopefully will be brought back to the nest and eventually they will be eliminated.

Offline Lola

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2017, 06:00:28 AM »
Do you have an ant update?   fingerscrossed
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2017, 04:10:16 PM »
Up date on the antes, it has now been 48 hours since I've seen an ant, either alive, or dying.  I did have to re-dust with the DE along the edges of the floor, because there were stil some coming out, but they all seemed half dead.   I worried that if they were half dead from the terro bait trap they might be leaving a trail of that borax stuff.

Anyway so up until 2 days ago I was still seeing a few on the floor every day.  Then 2 mornings ago there were some on the counter. UGH UGH!

Five or six of them.  I looked around and saw more coming,  they seemed to be coming out from behind the counter edge, behind the sink.  So I dusted that entire area with DE.  No more ants on the counter, and no more ants on the floor. Hope I don't jinx it now celebrating too soon.

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2017, 04:48:36 PM »
When they're coming out around the sink, they're usually looking for water.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
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Offline Lola

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2017, 09:07:33 PM »
I hope the ants have moved on and out... permanently! 
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Offline Pookie

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2017, 10:32:23 PM »
I hope the ants have moved on and out... permanently! 

Ditto!  fingerscrossed
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2017, 09:21:39 AM »
Up date on the antes, it has now been 48 hours since I've seen an ant, either alive, or dying.  I did have to re-dust with the DE along the edges of the floor, because there were stil some coming out, but they all seemed half dead.   I worried that if they were half dead from the terro bait trap they might be leaving a trail of that borax stuff.

Anyway so up until 2 days ago I was still seeing a few on the floor every day.  Then 2 mornings ago there were some on the counter. UGH UGH!

Five or six of them.  I looked around and saw more coming,  they seemed to be coming out from behind the counter edge, behind the sink.  So I dusted that entire area with DE.  No more ants on the counter, and no more ants on the floor. Hope I don't jinx it now celebrating too soon.

Yep, I did jinx it.  Two days after I wrote that, they started coming again, from yet another direction under the cupboards. None on the counter, just six or ten a day on the floor.

 I put another terro bait deep under the little space there, and after a few days the trickle seemed to stop.  One day I came home and found two half dead ones on the counter, but other than those tow instances, thankfully there've been no more on the counter.

Now, again, it's been a few days, maybe a week maybe less, since I've seen an ant, dead or alive.

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2017, 10:02:14 AM »
You probably need to surround your house with DE at the base of it. OR, you can get those outdoor ant baits and use the little stakes to secure them to the ground at the base of your house. I've done both, but the DE seems to work just as well, and I don't worry about poisoning things like honeybees that are attracted by the liquid in those baits.

I use this kind of DE outside b/c it doesn't show up when you walk up to the house:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/red-lake-earth-diatomaceous-earth-with-calcium-bentonite-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005

Or these are the ant baits I've used before, however, I DID see wasps going up to them drinking, so that's what made me skeptical of them:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/terro-outdoor-liquid-ant-baits-3-pk?cm_vc=-10005

These newer kind might be safer, but I'm not so positive:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/terro-outdoor-liquid-ant-bait-stakes-1-4-oz?cm_vc=-10005

I was told that the liquid ones keep the ants from looking for water and coming into your house.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2017, 10:10:37 AM »
I'm not having any more for the time being.  And I live on the second floor.  the ants apparently were coming up from inside the store.  Landlord probably left a dish of food or something down there, he wasn't here for three weeks, until all the snow from the blizzard melted.  I'm pretty sure that's where they came from.  After the few days there were none was when he showed up, and they came back after he'd been downstairs, for a day or two, probably he finally cleaned up whatever he had left down there, which sent them back up here for a day or two, where they encountered the sugar/borax mixture from the terro baits.

 Now, they are gone again.

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #12 on: May 21, 2017, 06:59:00 PM »
No ants since the last time I posted.  They are gone, thank goodness. I guess I could clean up the last of the DE still lying along the floor at the base of the cupboards.  funny2

Offline Pookie

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Re: Eeeek!! ANTS!
« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2017, 10:17:28 PM »
No ants since the last time I posted.  They are gone, thank goodness. I guess I could clean up the last of the DE still lying along the floor at the base of the cupboards.  funny2

Happiness is!  This also sounds like something for The Joy Thread.   :)
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