# Ant **** HELP!!!



## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Anyone got any suggestions to get rid of ants we are being over run with these things I cannot spray in the house because of my 2 cats. They are getting in the carpet and beds and its not because the house is nasty its not! Raid works when I can spray it where our cats cannot get to it. Anything I can get to maybe spray around the outside of the house or something? This is becoming a nightmare!

Best Regards Cakerookie...


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

I heard this today in a friend's commercial kitchen, and thought that it was pretty funny. He leaves two ovens on ar 170 degrees so that they just keep popping on and off. According to him, the corbon monoxide build-up sets off his detectors, but the mice and bugs do not heed the warning. Ultimately, he says that he walks in to find dead mice and dead bugs, and they don't come back for quite a while.

True? I don't know him well enough to know if it's just a story. Regardless, I'd be afraid for the cats. :look:


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Thanks GreaseChef any ideas are helpful the cats are the only drawback but they are like our kids and we don't want anything to happen to them...

Rgds Cakerookie...


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Yeast is an ant killer by Norma Jean
Try mixing 2 parts molasses to one part 
sugar, and 1 part yeast. Ants love this, and they take it back to the anthill. The mixture kills the 
whole colony, as the yeast multiplies and causes the ants to explode. 

Thanks. Your vote has been counted.Rate this tip: 


Killing ants by eHow Friend
I've been using a half vinegar and half water solution in a spray bottle to blast those little buggers away. Our bathroom is free of the black ants, but we are still having problems in the kitchen. I found that if I put a line Morton's salt down it will kill them. Off-brand glass cleaner works better for me than Windex. I prefer not to use toxic pesticides, since I have five cats. 

I always find the entrance into the house. They need h2o. Stoping them on the outside is better for the ants and you:smoking: or just move to Texas. Step in a red ant hill and drive immediately for help! We love common ants, they are sooo cute, marching in their little line:lol:


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Thanks for the tips and the humor Pan. One thing I don't understand is what vote are you talking about?

Pan I owe you an apology my friend. I honestly thought you were joking around but I found the reference you referred to in your post.Agian sorry man.


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

oh, those are just what I had somewhere. they're supposed to be good hints and then you judge them and vote for them.
Listen, grasshopper, become the ant. Where is your source of water. where can you grab something to eat. It's not until you snatch that morsel of food from the ants hand that you will prevail.


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Good point Pan...

Regards Cakerookie...


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

borax and sugar.....fire ants are the scourge of the south, only thing we found that eradicated them was a boiling pot of crab boil water. ++ bonus!
Everyone wins, we eat the crawfish/shrimp/crab....AND kill fire ants. ugly ugly things. For those of you unfamiliar, they mound up and swarm if you walk near their mound....when they bite it feels like you've been stung, then it festers and you have an itchy pus blister. Nothing like having small children unable to randoming play in the yard. Horrible things.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Agreed. Borax and sugar, or Borax and simple syrup which is sugar and water cooked down. Just look it up online, you'll find recipes.


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Darn never knew there was some many ways to kill ants. Thanks all.

Best Regards Cakerookie...aka Rook


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## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

Unfortunately they're lodged under our house so I can't do anything about their mounds.

They pop up relentlessly in the house and had attacked a new litter of kittens a few weeks ago. They'll find anything. I've resorted to a pyrethrin (which is a natural plant derivative) spray in the house along the baseboard where they find their way into the house. That works great to instantly cause their demise. Unfortunately it doesn't stop where they are actually finding their way into the house in the first place or kill the millions that are lurking.

Talc works really good. It doesn't kill, just repels. I don't know about black or other kinds of ants but when we get a trail into the house we put talc on them (no, not cornstarch, the baby powder talc) and they just go away. It doesn't kill the colony just moves the attack. I'm hoping that they'll move enough to go into the yard so I can deal with them conventionally. 

I understand, though, that they are brutal on ticks. 

Anything involving feeding them stuff that will make them "blow up" doesn't typically work. Polenta, rice, whatever. Ants just eat liquids. They chew it up finely with little antie saliva and "regurgitate" to feed each other. Except for the larvae which actually eat protein and even that is pretty much chewed up by the worker ants. (if you get my drift) So it really doesn't stay anywhere long enough to swell up. I'm not entirely sure an individual ant could carry enough mixture of yeast/molasses to create a big enough yeasty nuclear reaction in an ant.

Another repellant: Oil of clove. Cinnamon. (ground) Garlic oil (fresh-but then your house smells like garlic bread), Citron/orange oil. I'm looking at twisting orange zest on the next set of the little buggers that show up. I understand it works really well. 

But so far Talc works the best. 

April


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Rook, I have 2 words for you Diatomaceous Earth (DE) you can find it at most garden stores. Bait the ants if necessary to get them in and then just dust their path with the DE. DE is safe just don't breathe a lot of it and wash your hands. (It's not a poison, just has microscopically tiny sharp edges)

Here's a link to another forum that has a discussion on it.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...430022194.html


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Yep, Diatomaceous Earth. Good stuff. It's old sea fossils, diatoms, Pokes holes in the insects and dries them out but good. 

Phil


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## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

I've found that liquid dish washing soap is also a repellent. If I see a bunch of ants marching in from the outside or from a crack in the floor or wall, I just put a line of Palmolive dish soap and they retreat. The cats are not interested in the soap, so it's pretty safe. It just looks a little weird. :look:


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

I was painting some fencing in the garage this weekend and dripping white paint on the garage floor. One of those giant black ants crawled up the saw horse so I kicked it off. Wouldn't ya know it's big, heavy butt landed right in the paint and crawled off. It was funny to see the big black ant with a bright white butt walking away.:lol: Okay so I was hot and tired, still it was funny. Won't be hard to find that guy!


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Diatomaceous Earth and Boric Acid (found in Borax Mule Team laundry detergent) both have the same effect on ants and both work without doubt. When an insect comes into contact with the them, it sticks to the insect and literally shreds its exoskeleton. The insect dehydrates and dies within hours.

If your cats are indoor/outdoor, let them out, take a fine strainer and sprinkle either of them all over your carpet especially along the edges of rooms. You can walk on it, shake it in, get it nesteled in carpet fibers, etc.

If you use Boric Acid, then vaccuum with a light setting so your cat's don't get too much of it on them and lick it while they're cleaning. Don't freak out - they'll be fine. I've used Borax in the past three times this way and it always works like a charm. Enough of it settles so it doesn't get vaccuumed up to do the job.

You could mix either with some cinnamon powder which is a deterrent.

You can also sprinke them right around the perimeter of your house. Do so on a calm (not windy) day when you know you'll have a few dry days before it rains.

If you choose Diatomaceous Earth (ground up seashells) you can use a skimmer to apply since it it's finder than baby powder. Sprinkle close to the carpet and edges, not from waist level. You want it to get to the surface as quickly as possible because you don't want it floating around in the air. As long as it's not in the air, Diatomaceous Earth is harmless to your cats.

Any bug that has a hard exoskeleton including fleas and roaches are vunerable to boric acid, and they cannot grow immune to it either like they can to other pesticides including Permithrin.


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## jaundiego (Jun 1, 2006)

Maybe the ants come around because they like the food you leave out for your cats. In Mexico, animals do not live inside with people and you only feed them a little at a time so they eat it all. Leaving food out for your animals in your house is asking for roaches, ants, and unwanted relatives to stop by when you are at your most uncomfortable moment likke in the middle of being romantic with your lady. This really happened...I was at my girlfriend's place in L.A. and she had left food out for the gato. Later, I thought the gato was on the bed...it was a rat, man! Gross!!!


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## free rider (May 23, 2006)

That is clearly not a problem with the cat. It is a problem with the cat owner who apparently cannot keep her house clean. I have cats and have never had a problem with roaches, rats or whatever. It's a matter of cleanliness on that one.

Now ants are attracted by sugar, something cats don't eat. Also, they tend to follow the trail set by the trailblazers.


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

The food we have out for the cats is not on the floor so we don't have a problem with them getting into the food. And we clean house once a week need it or not. No I think its the heat thats causing the problem since its been near or above 90 degrees here for sometime.

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook

Oh and anyone who has a cat and has problems with rats better get another cat! A rat would last about 2 seconds in my house with the 2 cats I have.


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## jaundiego (Jun 1, 2006)

Not true my friend! When I have lived in warmer states (California and Georgia), I always had a problem with ants eating my cat's food. Ants are just tiny roaches, man. They eat ANYTHING. That's why I thought it might be they are sensing the food (It's animal product) and collecting it for the colony. Make sense? As for the rat and the very awkward moment I mentioned, Cakerookie...have you ever seen how big some rats get? Man! Like the size of your gato, guey! And they are very mean!!! I picked a my boot from the floor and beat the **** out of the thing and then I set it on fire. Rats are scary things.

-Jaun


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Yeah I know how big rats get in my current line of work I see rats frequently as a Wastewater Maintenance Supervisor. You know how big SEWER RATS get?

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

*jaunDiego*,
There are many types of homes built many different ways along with many different humans and many different cats, and many different types of cat food, along with many species of ants.

Sometimes it's the human, sometimes is the house, sometimes it's the catfood, sometimes it's simply tenaceous ants who found a way to get into the house.

There is never one simple answer like saying it's the cat food. And I agree with the above, the cats are not the issue here. There are plenty of people in this country who own animals who spend time indoors and are fed indoors who have no problem with ants and have never had a problem with ants.

So *cakerookie*,
I assume you've had time to pick up Borax or Diatomaceous Earth and sprinkle it?


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