Dealing with ants?

[Bozo Erectus]

Boric Acid works great. It will kill the ants, has no odor and from what I have seen you would have to eat a pound of the stuff to get sick.

Just to set the record straight, it shouldnt be consumed in ANY amount under any circumstances, its a deadly poison.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002485.htm

 

[El_Machinae]

Just remember whenever you're arguing with the fellow - he's consumed vast quantities of Boric acid.

 

[Nad]

I find washing powder works. Vacuum to suck up the ants in the house, then sprinkle lots of washing powder all round the corners and at the doors to the house...they don't like crossing that.

 

[RedWolf]

Just to set the record straight, it shouldnt be consumed in ANY amount under any circumstances, its a deadly poison.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002485.htm

When I was killing my ants I found the following article/quote on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax

Borax is also a food additive in some countries (it is banned in the United States), with E number E285. Its use is similar to salt, and it appears notably in French and Iranian caviar. Despite its use as an insecticide and reputation as a toxin, the LD50 toxicity of borax is about the same as that of table salt (both are around 3,000 mg/kg body mass).

I think in this case I'll follow the directions of the non-wikipedia article.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Good lord. Kids, please dont listen to any of us crazy people online. Speak to your parents about eating boric acid.

 

[Panzeh]

If you're extra-cheap, urine will kill ants pretty readily. Like boric acid, it's not a good idea to consume this stuff.

In my area the ants only go into the house from late April through May, and they generally are dissuaded away with repellant in the key areas (most notably, the kitchen). They still love one of the bathrooms, though, for some reason. There's nothing in there they would want.

I bought some stuff at a local hardware store that seems to work for repelling ants.

 

[Bluemofia]

If it was outside the house, I would have recomended soaking the ant nest with 30 gallons of water. Worked at my place.

But since it's inside, use the honey method that was mentioned in the other thread. Get a bag of honey, and have the ants attack it. They will get stuck, and then you chuck it out. Then repeat until no more ants come.

And then pour anything that says "keep out of reach of children" into a container, mix well, and then pour that stuff into their ant holes.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

I've got an ant problem in my house, how do I get rid of it?

As am I. Carpenter Ants. Bust out the Anthrax, Chemical Ali. But, seriously, the only sure fire way to get rid of ants is chemically.

I don't want to buy poision, cause well, I don't want to inhale the poison in my house.

If you're scared of the poison, don't be. I know with "bug bombs", you set a few off in your house and leave for a few hours, come back and the bugs are either dead or dying. It also takes care of their eggs. The best way to do it is to use external pesticides, that way, when the bugs land or crawl on your house, they get the poison on themselves and they die. They may still get in the house, but they'll die a short while later. It isn't fatal to you unless you eat, sleep, and basically live on the exterior surfaces of your house. In any case you should hire a professional if you aren't sure of your skills in pest removal.

I personally have a sort of side job at work where I spray weeds (when there are two guys in the baitshop, no need for that many). We take a less than a cup of the weed killer and dilute it in roughly 5 or 6 gallons of water. I've done this for going on two years, and last year I didn't get the seal quite tight on the sprayer and I got soaked when I bent down (one of those big backpack sprayers). But I haven't keeled over from being poisoned yet.

Believe it or not, the government keeps a very close eye on what kinds of pesticides and chemicals goes on the market. According to my friend that worked at a local pest control company for I believe 5 years.

 

[drkodos]

Good lord. Kids, please dont listen to any of us crazy people online. Speak to your parents about eating boric acid.

Despite your user name, your advice in this thread has been most grounded and spot on.


I can't wait to read the Civfanatics thread on marital advice.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

The most fun way of dealing with ants outside:
Put a smoke bomb (you know the ones firework store sell) upside down in one of their holes (after lighting it). Wait awhile and see where the smoke comes up from the ground, then stick a fire cracker in each hole. Man, my cousin and I must have killed thousands of ants that way. We used lighter fluid on the big mound. We roasted those mutha's.