| [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #299977] |
So, 16 Juli 2006 23:58 |
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There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
and the fact that there are probably some in there now
crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
keep coming.
Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
afterwards.)
Diane L.
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #299988 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 00:29 |
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Diane L wrote:
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
>
> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
>
> Diane L.
>
>
If in the UK:
Nippon Ant bait/traps work eventually (2 weeks).
Nippon Ant powder can be used to attack the nests outside and to put a
screen line down around your walls and thresholds.
My top tip (if you can find it) is a foaming 'crack and crevice'
crawling insect killer (by RAID I think as I cannot find the tin right
now). The identifying feature is the long 'straw' nozzle with hinges in
it which enable the chemical foam to be directed into cracks etc. When
we get ants coming in what I do is spray along the front and back door
sills (plus up the sides a bit) ditto for the kitchen window frames
where they open, in the cracks/joints around the same (when an ant comes
out on the excess foam you can be sure you have found one route) etc.
If this does not work within 24 hours I check for further gaps and treat
again. It remains effective for weeks (usually all summer) as the ants
have only to walk on it to get done in!
Found a link to the product (ain't Google great)
http://www.scjohnson.co.uk/products/product.asp?idr=1&id b=7&idp=38
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| Re: Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300001 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 02:14 |
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Diane L wrote:
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
>
> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
Consult a professional. I think this works in _Arachnophobia_ and
_Eight Legged Freaks_, although that's not quite the same problem.
_Them!_ I don't know about. Just testing using nuclear bombs on-site,
I suppose.
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300003 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 02:19 |
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"Diane L" <dianenews [at] lindquist.plus.com> wrote in message
news:4hvr3uF1gvg1U1 [at] individual.net...
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
>
> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
When I lived in the country, I baited a spot in the yard with white sugar.
Occasionally I added kitchen scraps. I know how goofy this sounds, but it
worked. It was really hot & dry in the summer, so they would come indoors
looking for water. I kept some of that outside too.
Aggie
:)
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300006 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 03:13 |
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Diane L wrote:
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
>
> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
Sounds like part of the problem is the bit about not knowing how
they're getting in, which makes it difficult to place ant repellant
across their entrance point.
I've never had to make a kitchen into a chemical hell to get rid of
ants, because the old, classic trick of using talcum powder (you put
it where they have to walk over it, e.g. a line of it across their
entrance) has always worked for me. In your case, however, it sounds
like the classic tricks haven't worked.
I had an appointment recently with someone in a profession where
people have appointments with you. You can tell I'm being deliberately
vague in order to make absolutely sure that anonymity is preserved,
can't you? Anyway, before getting started, he had to make an important
phone call to his wife, and then by way of apology explained to me
what the call was about. The story was: (a) Their daughter is sick.
(b) Their kitchen is invaded by ants. (c) Had put down Really Nasty
Ant Poison. (d) Fridge magnet with phone number for local doctor had
fallen off fridge into Really Nasty Ant Poison. (e) Had to call wife
to suggest that picking up fridge magnet in order to call doctor for
sick daughter may not be good idea, on account of fridge magnet having
Really Nasty Ant Poison all over it.
Adrian.
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300007 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 03:26 |
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> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
Ant bait traps seem to work best for me. Takes a bit of time to see the
results, but they're pretty good as near as I can tell.
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300014 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 04:51 |
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"Diane L" wrote ...
> There are ants in our kitchen. <snip> Any suggestions for dealing with
> them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
>
For the home-grown hippy-dippy method, let me recommend
to you powdered mustard. This has worked for me in two
places. One I knew where they were coming in, and I put it
across their path, and another I didn't know where they
were coming in, and I just sprinkled it where I saw them -
which was in the teeny weeny space between the stove[1]
and the wall.
Takes a little while (week? two? don't remember), but it
does stop them.
One caution, though - do not let moisture touch the
mustard powder or you will have yellow stains for the
rest of eternity.
April.
[1] - cooker, thingie, whatsit - big box with an oven and
four heat elements on top
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #300064 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 13:12 |
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on 16/07/2006 22:58 Diane L said the following:
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
<snip>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
This takes some perserverance but wash down all surfaces (including the
floor and anywhere you seen them) in a very weak solution of bleach once
a day. The theory behind this is that the scout ants leave chemical
trails for the workers to follow which basically say "Food this way!".
The bleach breaks down the trails and, if you perservere, after about a
ten days or so, they give up and look elsewhere.
It's worked every time I've used it.
--
esmi
A Brief Guide to alt.fan.pratchett:
http://www.blackwidows.co.uk/afp-guide/
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #301297 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 19:51 |
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"Diane L" <dianenews [at] lindquist.plus.com> wrote:
> There are ants in our kitchen.
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
Yes. Finding the entrance to their nest outside (probably somewhere
between the tiles of the garden path) and pouring power sink cleanser
inside. You know, the kind that says "wear gloves when handling
undiluted". It's not nice and it's not nature-friendly, but it works. Be
careful not to get drops on your trousers, 'cause it stains like nothing
else.
Richard
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| Re: Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #301300 ] |
Mo, 17 Juli 2006 20:52 |
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Diane L wrote:
> There are ants in our kitchen. I don't know how they're
> getting in and I don't know how to stop them getting in
> and the fact that there are probably some in there now
> crawling around in that horrible anty way of theirs is
> really making me quite uncomfortable and slightly itchy.
>
> We've declared war on the little horrors and have been
> using weapons of mass ant destruction for the last two
> weeks. The kitchen is a chemical hell but the best
> weapon in my armoury has been what I'm coming to
> think of as the Strappy White Sandals of Doom (nice
> flat soles and a large surface area - no ant gets up
> again after an encounter with those). But the buggers
> keep coming.
>
> Any suggestions for dealing with them? (I've considered
> a flame thrower but I'd like to be able to use the kitchen
> afterwards.)
>
> Diane L.
If they are little brown ants the best way to deal with them is to
eliminate their scent trail, otherwise they will continue to return. I
spent weeks battling them before I found window cleaner is a highly
effective way of destroying their scent trail, I believe it contains a
small amount of ammonia (NH3) which breaks down the substance they use
to establish their trail with. A few days of spraying the floor around
where they entered did the trick. The following mixture for black ants
may work, doesn't hurt to try.
If they are the larger black ants a very simple method works wonders (I
learned this ages ago from uk.rec.gardening, IIRC) In a jar lid mix a
teaspoon of sugar with a teaspoon of borax (look for unscented
detergent with borax, important that it is unscented!), add a small
amount of water so it's a little pasty, leave in sheltered areas when
ants have been seen to walk. Be sure to keep away from where pets can
get at this mixture. This takes about one week but is highly
effective.
The ants consume the sugar with the borax, which doesn't actually harm
them, but the take back to their nest where they add it to the
materials they grow a certain type of fungus on, they feed on the
by-products of the fungus. The borax kills the fungus, effectively
killing off the source of food for the ants and starves them out.
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| Re: Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #301365 ] |
Di, 18 Juli 2006 02:03 |
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Ant bait traps do work, they are said to kill the queen. Not quite so
effective year after year.
"do not know where they are coming in" When the carpet of our house was
redone, I saw this large crack in the foundation -- tree root I
suspect. I poisoned it and we have had much fewer ants this year.
Sean
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #301544 ] |
Di, 18 Juli 2006 23:20 |
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On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:42:55 +0100, esmi wrote:
> This takes some perserverance but wash down all surfaces (including the
> floor and anywhere you seen them) in a very weak solution of bleach once
> a day. The theory behind this is that the scout ants leave chemical
> trails for the workers to follow which basically say "Food this way!".
> The bleach breaks down the trails and, if you perservere, after about a
> ten days or so, they give up and look elsewhere.
>
> It's worked every time I've used it.
This also worked for me when I had ants in hot, sticky weather like this,
but now the ants have gone, those horrible tiny little weevil things have
infested my home. There are tons of them all over the place - inside my
flour and porridge mainly, and I can't pour bleach into my food, so I end
up throwing a lot of it away!
I think the best thing Diane can do as she also lives here in the UK is
just to wait till the weather cools down a little, and then maybe the ants
will all (hopefully) disappear by themselves into hiding. :-)
All the best
Sofie
--
Please visit my deviantART page: http://sofen.deviantart.com/
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| Re: [I] Ants and the gettiig rid of same [message #302089 ] |
Fr, 21 Juli 2006 14:12 |
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Diane L said:
> There are ants in our kitchen.
Dethlac. End of problem.
--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at above domain (but drop the www, obviously)
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