Ants!! How to get rid of them once and for all

amumonamission

amumonamission

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We have lived in our house for 7 years now and every summer we have the same problem, ants! They are coming in the house anywhere they can find! I have tried all the usual things like powder and nip on liquid spray etc etc but we get rid of one nest to find them coming in somewhere else! This year so far we are on our 5th tube of Nippon liquid and 2nd tub of powder, I'm at my wits end! :(

Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so how did you get rid of them for good?

Thanks in advance for you help :)
 
I dont think you can... even if you pay someone to come out.. they only do same as we do... not been as big a problem this yr.. must be the weather... signs of them outside.. but no big invasion so far.. but usually :(
 
If ya find an answer tell us... but I think its one of them things.. its nothing we are doing wrong I know that.. arrrgh :(
 
I'm sure there was a member on here who is or was a pest controller, Can't quite remember who thought. He might be able to offer advice when he reads this.
 
Don't they say if you leave there nests alone outside they want come in the house? I have 3 huge hills in the garden but none in the house.
 
I spray around all pipes door and window frames every few weeks, none in house so dar.
 
rjbell said:
Don't they say if you leave there nests alone outside they want come in the house? I have 3 huge hills in the garden but none in the house.
Click to expand...

I've tried leaving them alone and the problem just gets worse. I can't actually see any ant hills at all just ants coming in through holes in the sealant on the edge of the windows, if we re seal and fill the holes they make a hole somewhere else on the window and come in there. If I look outside I can see the ants travelling along the floor right next to the wall of the house going in to various cracks etc in the wall right at the bottom near the floor but no actual ant hill.
 
I think mine live under the house.. never seen a ants nest in my life... but they keep coming every yr... if you sealed the house enough to stop ants you would probably suffocate.. they will get in the slightest crack
 
Ant yes the bain of my life :D
You can't do much to erridacate them, all you can do is control them,
year on year.
Leaving the nests alone (outside) is good advice.

However, they get under the floor (even a concrete base) and come up through skirting board joints and door frames.
you could try thin beads of washing up liquid straight into and around
( as they wont cross it) the areas but this can get messy if you are not careful.

Another cheap suggestion is to place half an orange (etc.)
out of the way but close,
to the activity, (Behind the kick boards in the kitchen perhaps?)
they will just head for this and go back and forth to the nest,
this just sorta controls the situation though.

The only real solution is to get a pestie out, should cost you
around £75 they will use an insecticide with residual value, that is, one that
will continue to work after it has dried.
By spraying "barriers" in side and out side, the external walls.
This reduces the amount of "traffic" to and from you house.
Ie window frames, door frames, pipe work outlets are a favourite route)

The trouble with Nippon is that its pretty much a one shot wonder.

The other joy you have to look forward to, is when they fly.
All the ant nests in the area will "synchronise" at a given time,
usually back end of the summer, they take to the wing,
(in their thousands) but this lasts only around 24 hours.

They mate on the wing, the males die fairly soon afterwards (its a sad life :()
The now Queens, land, lose their wings and start a new nest.
And so the cycle continues.................................
 
PsiFox said:
I spray around all pipes door and window frames every few weeks, none in house so dar.
Click to expand...

I've tried that too, I think these ants are immune to the stuff I'm using. What I do seems to only stop the situation from getting worse it doesn't do anything to stop it altogether. I've spent hours researching on the net but nothing yet that actually works. I even rang the council to ask for their help but ants aren't listed on their pest control policy.
 
Cobra said:
Ant yes the bain of my life :D
You can't do much to erridacate them, all you can do is control them,
year on year.
Leaving the nests alone (outside) is good advice.

However, they get under the floor (even a concrete base) and come up through skirting board joints and door frames.
you could try thin beads of washing up liquid straight into and around
( as they wont cross it) the areas but this can get messy if you are not careful.

Another cheap suggestion is to place half an orange (etc.)
out of the way but close,
to the activity, (Behind the kick boards in the kitchen perhaps?)
they will just head for this and go back and forth to the nest,
this just sorta controls the situation though.

The only real solution is to get a pestie out, should cost you
around £75 they will use an insecticide with residual value, that is, one that
will continue to work after it has dried.
By spraying "barriers" in side and out side, the external walls.
This reduces the amount of "traffic" to and from you house.
Ie window frames, door frames, pipe work outlets are a favourite route)

The trouble with Nippon is that its pretty much a one shot wonder.

The other joy you have to look forward to, is when they fly.
All the ant nests in the area will "synchronise" at a given time,
usually back end of the summer, they take to the wing,
(in their thousands) but this lasts only around 24 hours.

They mate on the wing, the males die fairly soon afterwards (its a sad life :()
The now Queens, land, lose their wings and start a new nest.
And so the cycle continues.................................
Click to expand...

Oh god don't even remind me about when they fly :(

So if I paid someone to come and spray etc would it go away completely?
 
Find out where most of the ants comes in and out of the house, not just one ant here and there, but where most of the ants always use the same holes, then place a bait station in the area and left them alone.

For outside, place powder all around the house but not in the same location as where the ants comes in and out of the hole, let them carry the poison from the bait station to the queen ant.

BUT clean the place of any food, especially food crumbs, the trick is to allow the ants to find the bait station, take some of the poison from there, which could be food to them, to the queen, who will eat and die. If the queen dies, nest activity will sort of tone down.
 
Major Eazy said:
Find out where most of the ants comes in and out of the house, not just one ant here and there, but where most of the ants always use the same holes, then place a bait station in the area and left them alone.

For outside, place powder all around the house but not in the same location as where the ants comes in and out of the hole, let them carry the poison from the bait station to the queen ant.

BUT clean the place of any food, especially food crumbs, the trick is to allow the ants to find the bait station, take some of the poison from there, which could be food to them, to the queen, who will eat and die. If the queen dies, nest activity will sort of tone down.
Click to expand...

Thanks yes I have tried all this yet still ant activity continues. :(
 
amumonamission said:
So if I paid someone to come and spray etc would it go away completely?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, there are no guarantee's in pest control
It will certainly help the situation, more than one application maybe required, though,
but if done correctly,
you shouldn't see them for the rest of the year at least.
 
Creosote is an excellent deterrent - I use a paintbrush to carefully apply it around my house each year - no ants inside now for over 20 years
 
Cobra said:
Unfortunately, there are no guarantee's in pest control
It will certainly help the situation, more than one application maybe required, though,
but if done correctly,
you shouldn't see them for the rest of the year at least.
Click to expand...

Ok so when choosing a pest controller is there anything I should look for like certification and what they will be using?
 
Cobra said:

The only real solution is to get a pestie out, should cost you
around £75 they will use an insecticide with residual value, that is, one that
will continue to work after it has dried.
By spraying "barriers" in side and out side, the external walls.
This reduces the amount of "traffic" to and from you house.
Ie window frames, door frames, pipe work outlets are a favourite route)

.
Click to expand...

I can buy a spray that does that here €9.00 per year :D
 
Doc said:
Creosote is an excellent deterrent - I use a paintbrush to carefully apply it around my house each year - no ants inside now for over 20 years
Click to expand...
Creosote has been banned for about 5 years ;)

amumonamission said:
Ok so when choosing a pest controller is there anything I should look for like certification and what they will be using?
Click to expand...
BPCA or RSPH certificates are the recognise industry qualifications.
They will use something like FICAM W
Or Stingray ME

Sonriendo said:
I can buy a spray that does that here €9.00 per year :D
Click to expand...
Well yes we are the only ones that are stupid enough to abide by the EU regulations ;)
 
There is that powder stuff made from animal shell. Erinaceous earth?? Non toxic to pets but creepies of all kinds don't like it as it dries them out.

I've not really seen any ants this year. I have one of those sonic pest repellers in the hallway now. Maybe they don't like it.
 
It only take one to find something inside the house and they will all follow that trail.
If there is no trail to follow they only enter by accident.
You must break the trail.
 
srichards said:
There is that powder stuff made from animal shell. Erinaceous earth?? Non toxic to pets but creepies of all kinds don't like it as it dries them out.

I've not really seen any ants this year. I have one of those sonic pest repellers in the hallway now. Maybe they don't like it.
Click to expand...

You are thinking of Diatomaceous Earth
Its the ground up remains of diatoms
(a type of algea )
Its razor sharp and cuts the little buggers to pieces,
sucking out their body fluids.
I've never used it so can't comment as to how effective it is though .
 
Cobra said:
You are thinking of Diatomaceous Earth
Its the ground up remains of diatoms
(a type of algea )
Its razor sharp and cuts the little buggers to pieces,
sucking out their body fluids.
I've never used it so can't comment as to how effective it is though .
Click to expand...

Ah. Sounds a lot more of a gruesome demise than I had realised...
 
Cobra said:
You are thinking of Diatomaceous Earth
Its the ground up remains of diatoms
(a type of algea )
Its razor sharp and cuts the little buggers to pieces,
sucking out their body fluids.
I've never used it so can't comment as to how effective it is though .
Click to expand...

:thumbs: You could also look up recipes with Sugar and Boric acid, as Chris mentions it is more about control as they will only be back next year.
 
We had a problem with some ants near our patio doors, so we got some Jeyes Fluid and used a 50/50 dilution of JF and water and painted it around the base of the patio doors and about a 3-4 inch strip along to small walls and so far nothing has come anywhere the patio doors and this was done about 2 yrs ago.

Chris is there something in the Jeyes Fluid that keeps them at bay?
 
AFC said:
We had a problem with some ants near our patio doors, so we got some Jeyes Fluid and used a 50/50 dilution of JF and water and painted it around the base of the patio doors and about a 3-4 inch strip along to small walls and so far nothing has come anywhere the patio doors and this was done about 2 yrs ago.

Chris is there something in the Jeyes Fluid that keeps them at bay?
Click to expand...

Probably burns their little toes, co`s Ants don't wear boots as far as I am aware :shrug:
 
You might deter them a little for a while but as with almost all things natural, they'll win in the end! You could try feeding them on sugar somewhere in the garden - they often nest in compost heaps so a spoonful of sugar might keep them going there rather than invading your house.

In the past, we've had invasions but don't seem to be bothered by them so much recently - they're still around but seem to be staying outside these days for some reason! We seem to have tried all the usual remedies (including some European imports!) to little avail - maybe the cat eats them these days (although the few we do get seem to be hitchhiking in on her, since one of her favourite lying up spots is on a pot where they nest...)!
 
AFC said:
Chris is there something in the Jeyes Fluid that keeps them at bay?
Click to expand...

Hi Martin
It contains and is largely phenol (AKA carbolic acid)
So yes it does burn them.
Plus it has quite a thick meniscus and they hate crossing that
Ref back to the fairy liquid point in my earlier post.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
It only take one to find something inside the house and they will all follow that trail.
If there is no trail to follow they only enter by accident.
You must break the trail.
Click to expand...

Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
 
DorsetDude said:
Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Click to expand...

I can't argue with that :thumbs:
Wouldn't you need an Antom bomb to do that though :thinking:
 
We bought some stuff back from Oz a few years ago, that got rid of them. Highly illegal now, skull & crossbones and all sorts of warnings on it. Trouble was it was so toxic it was almost lethal to Humans. I have found some stuff in France that's a spray on barrier for doors and windows etc, seems to be pretty effective, they learn it kills and go elsewhere, next door probably. :)
 
MatBin said:
We bought some stuff back from Oz a few years ago, that got rid of them. Highly illegal now, skull & crossbones and all sorts of warnings on it. Trouble was it was so toxic it was almost lethal to Humans. I have found some stuff in France that's a spray on barrier for doors and windows etc, seems to be pretty effective, they learn it kills and go elsewhere, next door probably. :)
Click to expand...
This is the problem that we (Pesties) are facing almost everyday
The EU are banning our most effective weapons against all sorts of pests,
and we are begining to lose the battle, the reason?
Because we in the UK are the only ones silly enough to take heed of the
"banned list" ;)
 
I like ants...:(


I mean, I don't like them in my sammiches or anything but, I dunno....what constitutes an invasion.

Half a dozen ants kicking about the kitchen floor won't get me reaching for the gattling gun.

Maybe we just ought to accept that during the summer months we will get bloody great big thockin moths, spiders, flying jimmys, wasps, bungly stings and all manner of creepies in through our open windows and doors.

Isn't it just what happens in summer...:D
 
joxby said:
I
Half a dozen ants kicking about the kitchen floor won't get me reaching for the gattling gun.
Click to expand...

I think you will find the OP problem is far far worse than that..
 
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