lately we have been having ants on the kitchen floor and bathroom floor. not too many but still my wife is having a fit in finding them. how can we exterminate them? this is only within the last 2-3 weeks.

-- Roger Bisson (robis@lamere.net), February 05, 2001

Answers

If they are just sugar ants, the solution is sometimes as simple as eliminating whatever they are finding and liking, and finding and disturbing their trail in. I guess it depends on what kind of ants they are how big a problem it is.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 05, 2001.

Right after we moved into our brand new mobile home last summer we had ants in the kitchen, around the walls in the dinning room and all around the back door. We sprinkled a pile of diatomaceous earth around the base boards, around the back door and all around in the kitchen. It seemed to do the trick. I still have some around the back door, we never go out that way and I just sweep around it.

Blessings

Blessings

-- Judy Murray (nomifyle@yahoo.com), February 05, 2001.

Roger, Where do you live, what size are the ants, what room of the house are you seeing them in, what color are they, and do they have ONE or TWO nodes on their spinal area? (NODE: lump or spike about where a camel would have humps)....Also, has it been recently raining, or mostly dry weather?

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), February 05, 2001.

If you take sugar and borax and make a hypersaturated solution of it the ants will take it back to their nest and they will all die.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 05, 2001.

Actually, re-reading your post, you mentioned kitchen and bath. Roger, these are two zones usually associated with Carpenter Ants, due to their moist nature. If you are seeing large, maybe 3/4 inch ants near sinks or tubs, whose head is slightly wider than it's thorax, than that's my bet. The Carpenter Ants usually excavate galleries within 4-6 feet of their moisture source, in some of the weaker wood members of your structure. I take a moisture meter around the perimeter of a dwelling looking for wood moisture readings higher than 20%. A faulty gutter, a leaky pipe, or tub closet that's warm and wet, once it was the sill below an air conditioner unit. Wherever the wet spot is, that's where you look. Eliminate any nest, high or low, with it's little quarter inch eggs, of course. Than work on fixing the leak or whatever. If you'll diligently eliminate the moisture source, the Carpenter Ant will head next door to plague your neighbors, or some old tree. Let me know if it's a smaller type ant. That would dictate a different fix. Good luck!...xxxxxxxx

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), February 05, 2001.

== We sprinkled a pile of diatomaceous earth around the base boards, around the back door and all around in the kitchen. It seemed to do the trick. I still have some around the back door, we never go out that way and I just sweep around it. ==

If you also put the DE on the outside of the house where the ants are getting in, you'll eliminate the problem. Been there, done that! -G-

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), February 05, 2001.

We had those little tiny ants when we moved in....I had been told by a cute 87 yr. old friend of mine, that you can get rid of them by leaving a trail of regular bakers yeast like a barricade where they are coming in. I put it several places across their trail. It worked. I have also heard that they won't cross a line of chalk, but the yeast was easier and I didn't want to have a chalk mark in my wooden window sill. The yeast somehow takes care of them?! Maybe the little yeasty toots explodes them! POOF! wow....I'm such a scientist! I don't know if the yeast will kill big ants or not?! It sure wouldn't hurt!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 05, 2001.

If they are fireants I would suggest nuclear weapons. Hmmm come to think of it they might just survive that....lol. If they are sugar ants or some other kind of ant you need to figure out what will kill them and then put it around plumbing pipes. This is how almost all ants come into a house is around the pipes.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), February 05, 2001.

Try pouring vinegar, full strength, wherever you see them coming in. They really seem to hate it.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), February 05, 2001.

If they are the big Carpenter ants, get rid of them quick - they will literally eat your house. My Mama had them in a mobile home, since they didn't bite or get into food, she didn't pay them any mind. But it turned out to be a quick way to become homeless.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), February 06, 2001.

== If they are fireants I would suggest nuclear weapons. Hmmm come to think of it they might just survive that....lol. ==

Heehee! Funny, but unnecessary. The Diatomaceous Earth will do them in in no time. That's about the only kind of ant in these parts.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), February 07, 2001.

Good Lord, haven't you gotten a plethora of answers?! From our personal experience, and I KNOW this works, putting a bay leaf in the sugar bowl ABSOLUTELY keeps them out of there. I am not an emtomologist, but perhaps ants, whether sugar or fat eaters, are deterred by similar substances. Hey! Bay leaves are cheaper then exterminators! Give it a try, my friend! GL!!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), February 08, 2001.