Kind of a rant, home issues

I have been battling ants since the middle of July. I had thought I could handle it but, I never expected the battle to go on for so long. Ants might not bother me so much but my cat is constantly trying to eat them. This of course makes a problem because if the ants get any sort of bait, it could hurt my cat.

But it does really bother me to have any ant in my house.

First, it appeared they were getting in via small cracks in my front. I put cinnamon in the cracks and taped them over with tape. I thought, I was done, but I had another break out near the kitchen counters. That was by far the most gross as they were crawling over the counters, I am not sure what happened but they seem to have gone from there. But of course, I suppose they could be back at any time. It seems they can easily get in due to the way the dishwasher was installed, with no tiles under it.

I had the condo come out and spray around the outside of my condo (they said) and I hoped that killed the nest.

Sunday they got under my stairs...

Disgusted I went out and bought something called Diamoatous Earth. Unfortunately due to the misleading product at Home Depot... I put the product down and then, discovered, it was toxic. Though the package said "safer" right on it... only "food grade" is not toxic and good luck finding that. I had to vacuum it up.

Then I put down ant traps. And while it drew in a ton of ants... somehow, it didn't seem to be killing them. It was if they knew not to eat the bait. After 2 days they were all still sitting there around the bait but still alive. Worse they kept walking around and my cat could get them (risking the cat eating the bait). Previously I had used the traps and it seemed to really kill them easy.

I had it, I went and got calk and calked the entire area... that looks to have stopped that outbreak.

But it seems clear there is a hole outside where they are getting in.. but (1) for the life of me I can't find it and (2) they seem able to walk under the tile and walk around the entire house that way. But it is above the sub floor so I see nothing in the basement.

I have probably spent 100 dollars and spent at least 100 man hours trying to end this problem.

I am starting to feel like a prisoner in this place, prisoner to the ants. I would just move but I suppose every place has issues like this.

That is annoying for sure. We get ants periodically usually in the spring. I have found that ants really hate white vinegar. I started using it wipe down counter tops and clean the kitchen with. Obviously, do not leave any dirty dishes or food crumbs anywhere to attract them. They used to get in the dishwasher and I just started pouring a cup or two of vinegar to leave in the bottom of the dishwasher until they were washed.

Yeah, you need food grade DE, but I can tell you it is well worth it to get some. Most farm stores have food grade if you have any near you. Amazon has it too.
You could also try flour, it will suffocate them. Or try using cinnamon or peppermint essential oils, diluting them and spraying around the areas, as well.

If there is a line, follow it til you find the source, not just inside, but follow them outside too.

Diatomaceous earth should work for you. You can also place hedgeapples around the cracks. They have osage orange oil in them. I used to get ants pretty bad at my old house. I works better if you just use some of the osage orange oil.

They look like this. I'm sure you've seen them in trees before.



Bonus if you know where the tree with hedgeapples is then you know where to get osage orange wood. That wood is the best for making bows.

TheRealCallie said:

Amazon has it too. You could also try flour, it will suffocate them. Or try using cinnamon or peppermint essential oils, diluting them and spraying around the areas, as well.

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I looked but all the ones on amazon that said they were "food grade" at least one comment --got the product --and discovered it wasn't. Also DE doesn't work if it gets wet so I can't sprinkle it outside. (as was my plan) Can't take the chance on it being toxic. I tried ground cinnamon, they laugh at it. I can't use peppermint essential oil because it is toxic to cats. I also don't find the vinegar to be working. But I can't tell. I cleaned with vinegar a few weeks ago and, in that area they haven't been back. But recently I did it in this new area and they came back. Tonight they were back, in a new area. This time I tried calking holes outside my place, that looked like it could be a place they are coming in hopefully that does the trick... I also put the raid ant baits which I hope work. One problem I continue to have is that they seem to only come out as a way to hide from the heat. So I do stuff at night, think it worked... come home to a pile of ants. No way to see where they are coming in because I am not home.

It is exhausting.

It was my house, I wouldn't give up on the bait....if one gets the right kind, the ants take it back to their nest and feed it to the queen...dead queen, no more colony. But some ants are attracted to sugary stuff and some to oily stuff, hence two varieties of bait.

Also, if you put the bait where the cat can't get to it, I'd think it would be OK.....any ants the cat eats probably have so miniscule an amount of poison in it, that the cat's much larger body could probably absorb it and process the toxins with its liver.

Also, eliminate any and all foodstuffs the ants could get to.

The ant bait marketed as "Terro" has always worked for me. Look for sugar or oily type ant bait. Good luck!

constant stranger said:

The ant bait marketed as "Terro" has always worked for me. Look for sugar or oily type ant bait. Good luck!

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The Terro has been working... but recently they seem to have figured it out. But today I put some of it out and they swarmed. So I put out raid AND Terro and I am hopeful. I do feel like it is just bad luck that a nest has actually set up base camp on my stairs.... or behind them. I have to wipe that nest out and then, put the traps out next year to avoid them coming near the house. Today I went to the hardware store and got the outside traps. I put 4 around the stairs and two on the stairs... hopefully that will be enough. I have seen a few coming in via the front door but I did just spray vinegar around the area and hopefully that will stop that.