I almost went anonymous on this as I'm so mortified....but you guys are from all over the country so I'm curious...do any of you get ants every year??? Every single spring/summer we get awful black carpenter ants. It's soooooo disgusting. Apparently they like wood and water...they're not after our food altho they hang out in the kitchen, as well as every other room in the house! At first we sprayed, but after a few years we decided that was probably more harmful, but it's just so gross I can't stand it!!!! Does ANYone else have this problem every year?? Or is it just me?

By Sunny on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 09:20 pm:

It's funny you posted this because we have the same problem, although ours are the little black ones. I bought Boric Acid today to get rid of them. I just need to find the time tomorrow to put it down.

By Children03 on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 09:31 pm:

I was going to say buy Boric Acid, it works well.

By Coopaveryben on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 09:36 pm:

Yes we get black ants every spring. I get ant/bug spray and spray it around the door frames and window sills and this takes care of them.

By Colette on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 09:47 pm:

I'd call an exterminator for carpenter ants. They are just nasty.

Regular ants you can make a 50/50 mixture of borax and sugar and sprinkle it around the perimeter of your home.


I have also used this product and it works amazingly well
http://www.terro.com/

By Amecmom on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 09:58 pm:

We get them every spring. Our house is milled log exterior and several room on the interior. We also have a creek behind us. Talk about carpenter ant heaven.

It got so bad that my little one was sitting on the couch and an ant ran across the cushion. He screamed as though he were being murdered.

The pest control people sprayed the exterior of the house, and I didn't see the ants for about three weeks. Now I've seen only two or three, but they are gross.

I'm going to have them spray the exterior again.

I also had a problem with pavement ants - tiny brown ants. 409 kills them nicely.

Ame

By Momaroze on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 10:35 pm:

We have had that problem as well. We use borax and icing sugar 50/50. Mix it up and sprinkle where needed. It really works.

By Emily7 on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 10:49 pm:

Is the borax & sugar going to be safe around kids. We have them bad. I have ant traps, but they aren't working.

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 10:55 pm:

We use terro quite often when they "visit", but you have to keep it away from children. Good thing is, you can put it high up on a counter, and the ants will carry it back to their home and this kills lots of them.

My aunt and cousin in OH swear by lavender oil. I've never tried it, but they had a nasty case of ants and soaked cotton balls in lavender oil and placed them on counter tops and such and said it takes care of the problem every time. This is all they ever use.

Good luck!

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 - 11:41 pm:

Mine hang out in the bathroom EVERY summer! Hardly ever venture out into the kitchen, just the bathroom. I don't know why.

Can't sprinkle sugar. Dog would lick that up! LOL!

By Danenbellsmom on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 01:51 am:

We have ant problems too! The traps dont work at all. A friend told me to sprinkle cinnamon around the doorways and windows but it doesnt seem to be working.

By Feona on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 05:58 am:

I tried the combat ant traps(little circles). They worked on regular ants. I don't know about carpendar ants.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 06:46 am:

Carpenter ants can do damage to your house. We have them, and have a contract with Terminix. They come monthly to spray the exterior of the house.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 07:50 am:

We have those tiny little *sugar* ants, fire ants, and some I-dont-know-what-kind-they-are ants.

We get HUGE ant mounds in the yard and have to constantly watch for them. We also spray around the slab this time of year because they will come into the house.

By Momaroze on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 08:52 am:

If your worried about the kds and can place the borax and icing sugar high up. The ants will find it. Carpenter ants, as far as I know can do alot of damage to your home. Follow Karen's advice, still try borax and icing sugar too.

By Fraggle on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 08:53 am:

We get the carpenter ants every spring, too. Dh sprays all around the foundation of the house and up the chimney and a couple of posts in the front of our house where they climb. He also follows their path back into the woods to spray where they are coming from. I also bought some gel type stuff for inside the house-you put it into the cracks where they are entering your kitchen or bathroom or whatever. This year we have seen only a few every once in a while so all our work must be paying off. We discovered a few damp problem areas in our house and have fixed those too so I think that has helped, too.

My mom and sister live within 2 hours of me and they have the same problem every year(my sister's house is only 2 yrs. old).

By Eve on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 08:55 am:

My DH sprays the outside of our house. He is due to spray again. They are making it inside, but they are all dead. ICK. Little black ant piles to pick up. Normally, when he sprays it takes care of them, and not many at all make it in.

By Amecmom on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 09:16 am:

Meredith,
What kind of gel did you buy for the carpenter ants? We have a pest control contract, but they have to come spray again. I want to ask them about the gel.

Tracking them back to their nest and spraying it is a good idea. I've seen where they live (all over), but I'll ask the pest control guy to spray there too.
Ame

By Fraggle on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 09:34 am:

Ame, It is called Combat ant killing gel-I bought it at Home Depot.

I also forgot to mention-we cleared all of the mulch away from the foundation of the house and replaced it with crushed stone. DH also buys some granules sometimes that can be sprinkled around the foundation instead of the spray. I hate using chemicals but I hate ants running across my kitchen counters even more!

By Amecmom on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 05:54 pm:

Thanks, Meredith, I'll check it out.
Ame

By Jjandmom on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 12:09 am:

I had them once and I got the raid with the pink lid on it that is like flower smell it took them away and never came back I sprayed the back of the counter with it right by the cracks when you use that stuff it doesn't smell like raid it is good and worked well.