<p>I’m fighting a losing battle, me and my exterminator! I feel like my house has been sprayed so many times that the ants will still be here and I’ll be poisoned by bug spray. They seem to be congregating by my doors and windows. I guess it’s Florida in the rainy summer but nothing seems to get rid of them. Any remedies out there that won’t kill me?</p>
<p>I have battled ants here also. There just doesn’t seem to be anything that works completely during the rainy season. The one thing that worked for us was to sprinkle a thin line of Borax on the window sills and back edge of counters in the kitchen and bathrooms, which is were the ants seem to be concentrated. It helps quite a bit. Good luck!</p>
<p>Terro ant traps. Non-toxic, and they work.</p>
<p>I second garland’s suggestion. Terro traps solved the ant problem in our house.</p>
<p>Third on Terro products…we battle ants on and off. You can buy a small bottle of Terro in Home Depot. It’s a thick, clear liquid; you put small (dime sized) drops of it on the cardboard “targets” that come in the box; the ants come to eat the bait and then take it back to the nest. The gross part is that you need to let the ants come to the bait - don’t kill them when you see them swarming the bait. You need to live with that for a day or so, but then they’re gone!
Good luck!</p>
<p>I use Ant Block (from Home Depot too). Ants came to my house from outside year round. I put Ant Block (small grains) along the outside walls and the fence every 3 months. I did not have any ant in my house since I used it. My house used to have ants everywhere: kitchen, bathrooms, carpet, walls, garage,…</p>
<p>We had carpenter ants a few years ago and the exterminator came and sprayed outside which didn’t do much as the infestation was inside. He put some stuff that come out of a tube in the false ceiling in the basement, a few pieces, and that got rid of the ants in about two weeks. Apparently ants take it back to the colony where it kills them all. Haven’t had ant problems since then.</p>
<p>We also work very hard to make sure that there isn’t any exposed wood that can get wet. It had better be painted or protected from standing or other water.</p>
<p>If these aren’t carpenter ants, then the above probably won’t apply.</p>
<p>Fourth on Terro. Great stuff. Always works for us.</p>
<p>to add to what my2sunz said, when you leave them to swarm, they’ll create an ant trail between the bait and their home, which will kill off the ones who aren’t yet inside. so you have this ant highway for a day or two, and then, like magic, they’re all gone.</p>
<p>I have the bottle, but I kind of like the (more expensive) traps, because it’s somewhat neater.</p>
<p>Amdro now makes baits that work well.</p>
<p>I’d loan you my cat… 
whenever we get ants- always in the front bathroom… my cat will go in there and eat them! She will spend most of her day just licking at the ants. At the end of the day they are gone. I don’t know if the ants send out a message or what- warning- ferocious beast inside- stay away…Sooo very weird. :)</p>
<p>We have an exterminator who’s been very helpful with a major infestation of ants.
He recommended the Terro liquid (also cited in a post above). This can work extremely well IF you can determine the pathway they are taking into your house. Once we figured it out, the Terro finished off the stragglers. For now. The exterminator was here last week and let us know that at least in Georgia, the ants will likely regroup and attack in September.</p>
<p>We had a TERRIBLE problem for a few months. I know how annoying it is. Also windex works great to kill any ants who are on your kitchen counters, window sills, etc and is effective in removing their scent markers to find that same “trail”. We went through many bottles of windex when dealing with the major assault. Good luck!
PS Wish we’d have learned about Terro sooner. FWIW the exterminator suggested the clear liquid over the bait traps. Still, our problem was so severe I doubt we could have solved it without professional help.</p>
<p>I’m so thankful for this thread. We’ve had the really tiny sugar ants in one spot in our kitchen (right next to the dishwasher) for a few weeks. I was using Windex, but they’d just come right back. After reading this thread I bought Terro traps and put them down yesterday. Just as garland said, the ants went crazy and I could see them going back and forth to the traps…this morning there were no ants at all. Thanks once again to all the informative CC posters!</p>
<p>My H had a five gallon bucket of honey he used for brewing mead that he kept to the side of the kitchen.</p>
<p>It was supposedly sealed. He opened it one day…you don’t want to know the rest. Let’s just say, anything made from that honey would be crunchy.</p>
<p>We have a ridiculous ant infestation every year in our condo in Florida (all food items have to be in the fridge or they WILL be infiltrated), and NOTHING but terro works. Even professional pest control people cannot stop the ants, but the terro works every time.</p>
<p>These guys fly, if you can believe it. The exterminator says that they fly and then they lose their wings and creep like regular ants. He blew some more stuff into the attic today. Hopefully it will work this time. I bought the ant traps anyway.</p>
<p>Terro liquid ant traps are the ONLY things that work for us.
THOUSANDS of ants will visit will visit the trap over a period of a few days, then POOF!- they’re gone, (having carried the poison back to the nest and killed off all their little friends).
The indoor ones are boric acid – very safe. Not sure what’s in the outdoor ones.
Both work very well.</p>
<p>We’d bought Raid brand and other brands of ant traps years ago, but the ants would just walk right by them and never go in. They don’t work worth c#^*.</p>
<p>If you’re using the system where the ants take stuff back to their outdoor home, you need to give it a rest on stomping all the indoor ants you see, for a day or so after the stuff has been laid down. Let some of them get back to their outdoor homes. So says our exterminator, who never ever sprays indoors.</p>
<p>We had problems with mice in the garage. DH set up a bunch of mouse traps baited with peanut butter, and that gradually solved the mouse problem, but the PB bait attracted an army of ants. We tried every anti-ant remedy sold at the local HD, but the ants just ignored the poisons. Then DH mixed PB with ant bait (borax, I think) - no more pesky invaders!</p>
<p>In college, when we had a problem with bugs in our room, I made a special “caulk” out of mashed potatoes and borax and sealed the cracks around the baseboards. My roomie and I were the happy dwellers of the only bug-free room on our floor!</p>
<p>“mashed potatoes and borax caulk?”</p>
<p>Wow, bunsen. That’s hilarious. I was so impressed with the whole toothpaste filling the holes in the wall idea but that one is well and above in creativity. Very cool. Wonder if you can team up with KFC and the “mule team” and market it?</p>
<p>another very happy terro customer here, btw.</p>