I think i got rid of my indoor ant problem for the season

[JEDI]

every year for the past 10years, i've had small little black ants in my 2nd floor house.
no idea how they got there. there arent any on the 1st floor or basement.

i tried Terro ant killer. the ants drank it like water.
then for several years tried pure borax, borax/sugar, borax/sugar/water in a heated pot to make a soft gel-like substance.
for the mixtures, tried different % of each.
in every case it didnt work.

bought another bottle of terro last year and added a little borax to it.
same result as the 1st time i used it.
ants drank it like water.

this year, i put out the terro (no borax) early before i saw any ants.
baby ants emerged and drank it.
no ants for a few days then saw baby ants and they drank what was left.
i put out more terro, they drank it, and now i havent seen any for 2 weeks.

cross my fingers

 

[JEDI]

they're back.
sigh..

i might have to bite the bullet and call an exterminator

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have had good luck with a combination indoor terro and the outdoor terro stakes. Seems like if you address the outdoor problem it helps prevent the indoor problem.
My ants are sporadic just if it is going to happen it happens in the spring.

Also terro takes a few days to work like your previous borax solution.

 

[lxskllr]

I used to get ants on my kitchen counter. For years, they'd come every spring. I tried some bait traps, but they never seemed to help much. One year, they didn't come, and I haven't seen them since. Dunno what changed.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I used to get ants on my kitchen counter. For years, they'd come every spring. I tried some bait traps, but they never seemed to help much. One year, they didn't come, and I haven't seen them since. Dunno what changed.

Sort of like my problem. Some years there are a shit ton by the recycle basket we keep on the counter and/or by the dogs food but never the cat food. I think it has something to do with ants need protein in the spring (I think) and simple sugars in the summer (I think).
Still can’t figure out why some years it happens other years it is a real minor thing and other years there are indoor terro traps have always worked, out door Terro by the foundation and door seems to assist

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have had good luck with a combination indoor terro and the outdoor terro stakes. Seems like if you address the outdoor problem it helps prevent the indoor problem.
My ants are sporadic just if it is going to happen it happens in the spring.

Also terro takes a few days to work like your previous borax solution.

I shouldn’t have said this because it jinxed me.
Had our occasional ant issue again this year but instead of the small asshole ants it is the larger black ant type.
I put some Terro traps inside and Terro stakes outside but I haven’t seen an ant go after it.
I am thinking about treating the yard.
Including plant areas I have a little less than 5,000 square feet.
I don’t want to do a barrier because that would be problematic to apply and I don’t like the idea of a heavy application 3-10’ from the foundation. Pooch likes his off leash time in the yard.
Should I treat everywhere with Terro granules and how much should be applied or should I use something else like below?

Terro granular:

TERRO® Ant Killer Plus

Killing ants, fire ants, cockroaches, fleas and other unwanted insects. The easy-to-use shaker bag allows you to protect the perimeter of your home without handling the product. The multipurpose, fast-acting ant killer granules knock out ants and other pests on contact and deliver long-lasting...

www.terro.com

Triaz-whatever stuff that worked like a nuclear bomb on stuff when I was a kid.

Spectracide 10 lbs. Triazicide Lawn Insect Killer Granules HG-63941-5 - The Home Depot

The power is in your hands to keep your landscape in line - unleash it with Spectracide lawn and garden products. Our easy-to-use, fast-acting insect, lawn disease and weed control solutions help you tame lawn and landscape invaders with incredible pest-punishing power. Take command with...

www.homedepot.com

Looking for pet safe after a watering and I have to treat a good amount of areas with flowers & shrubs.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[JEDI]

So I decided to try nuclear Terro.

I have borax powder.
I put a thin film on small tin foil.
Then I put Terro liquid on top of it.

Terro is 5% borax.
With the borax powder I added, I estimated it's now 30-40% borax.

No ants for 2 weeks so far.
Hopefully it holds

 

[jmagg]

I spray the foundation generously with Ortho a couple times in early spring and it seems to do the job.

Ortho Home Defense 1 gal. Insect Killer for Indoor & Perimeter2 Ready-To-Use Trigger Sprayer 022081004 - The Home Depot

Don't just kills bugs; create a bug barrier with Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer for Indoor & Perimeter2 Ready-to-Use. Whether you have ants, spiders, roaches or other home-invading insects, you can count on Ortho to keep them out. Simply spray Ortho Home Defense around the perimeter of your...

www.homedepot.com

 

[JEDI]

So I decided to try nuclear Terro.

I have borax powder.
I put a thin film on small tin foil.
Then I put Terro liquid on top of it.

Terro is 5% borax.
With the borax powder I added, I estimated it's now 30-40% borax.

No ants for 2 weeks so far.
Hopefully it holds

a day after i posted this, i saw a couple of ants. i killed one.
no ants since then.

but that got me wondering:
if a couple of ants reappeared, where's the rest of the ants that hatched around the same time?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

So I decided to try nuclear Terro.

I have borax powder.
I put a thin film on small tin foil.
Then I put Terro liquid on top of it.

Terro is 5% borax.
With the borax powder I added, I estimated it's now 30-40% borax.

No ants for 2 weeks so far.
Hopefully it holds

Yeah, I went the nuclear route too triazine the spectra stuff. No ants but this is an odd time to have ants

 

[Pohemi]

Had our occasional ant issue again this year but instead of the small asshole ants it is the larger black ant type.

Large(r) or huge n crunchy? Are they carpenter ants?
Because they require special poison. That triazine might work on them, but the Terro/Borax types definitely DO NOT.

We have/had carpenters here early in the year and while the nest has definitely been affected, I don't think it's gone yet.
Not to mention they create satellite nests to ensure the colony's survival, so it can be difficult to "exterminate" them as it's usually difficult to locate the main nest, much less multiple others on surrounding properties or trees in the area.

I used some of THIS poison bait, injected into cut sections of oversized Boba tea straws. The ants can freely crawl in and out of the straw to access and eat the bait and carry it to the nest, but it prevents the cat getting at the bait itself.

We still had a bug guy come and spray though, and he claimed he rarely needed to come back, and that usually the initial treatment will be enough. Welp...he had to return a few days ago.

We hadn't seen any for weeks, and suddenly the "swarmers" have been spotted a few times. Swarmers start as male worker ants, then when the colony reaches a certain size/strength, some of these male workers will spontaneously double in size and sprout wings. The little bastards look very similar to wasps.

Swarmers will leave the nest and spread to surrounding locations. Their job is to burrow in anywhere they are able, and start digging new colonies. The swarmer will then go into Michael Bay Transformers mode again and become a new queen ant to rule the newly-laid colony. This is how they spread and propagate. Kinda scary.

Summary: these fucks are hard to get rid of. Nuclear is the correct option if you are dealing with carpenters (or fire ants, or pharaoh ants).

edit to add:
once the ants and the colony are exposed, you might see more/extra of them for a day or two, they get confused and lost after exposure to the poison, will come out during the day (they're normally nocturnal), be crawling/flying in circles or act confused, etc. The bug guy told me to expect this...and after a few days, I shouldn't see any more of them

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Large(r) or huge n crunchy? Are they carpenter ants?
Because they require special poison. That triazine might work on them, but the Terro/Borax types definitely DO NOT.

We have/had carpenters here early in the year and while the nest has definitely been affected, I don't think it's gone yet.
Not to mention they create satellite nests to ensure the colony's survival, so it can be difficult to "exterminate" them as it's usually difficult to locate the main nest, much less multiple others on surrounding properties or trees in the area.

I used some of THIS poison bait, injected into cut sections of oversized Boba tea straws. The ants can freely crawl in and out of the straw to access and eat the bait and carry it to the nest, but it prevents the cat getting at the bait itself.

We still had a bug guy come and spray though, and he claimed he rarely needed to come back, and that usually the initial treatment will be enough. Welp...he had to return a few days ago.

We hadn't seen any for weeks, and suddenly the "swarmers" have been spotted a few times. Swarmers start as male worker ants, then when the colony reaches a certain size/strength, some of these male workers will spontaneously double in size and sprout wings. The little bastards look very similar to wasps.

Swarmers will leave the nest and spread to surrounding locations. Their job is to burrow in anywhere they are able, and start digging new colonies. The swarmer will then go into Michael Bay Transformers mode again and become a new queen ant to rule the newly-laid colony. This is how they spread and propagate. Kinda scary.

Summary: these fucks are hard to get rid of. Nuclear is the correct option if you are dealing with carpenters (or fire ants, or pharaoh ants).

I think this year were crazy ants (I think that’s their name) a little crunchy, not small and not big.
The usual are the tiny ants and they typically disappear after Terro traps. These aren’t a yearly thing either. Sort of random other than it happens in the spring.

 

[Pohemi]

I think this year we’re crazy ants (I think that’s their name)...

There's a few species of "Crazy Ants"; I was just reading about Yellow Crazy Ant supercolonies last week...they don't bite or sting, but...spray formic acid that can blind crabs, seabirds, etc. Nasty bastids have really done a number on Christmas Island, apparently and are considered one of the most invasive species in the animal kingdom, not just out of insects.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Earlier this year, ants emerged from within one of the walls and were nested behind a DC transformer that was plugged in the wall (one from my cable modem). They must of liked the heat it gave off. I removed the outlet cover and sprayed Ortho Home Defense into the wall cavity, trying not to hit the receptacle.

I had seen ants in the kitchen, like 15 feet from there. Once that mass killing event, I didn't see any ants for the longest time. They just returned in the last week or so and I saw quite a few in the pantry. I dropped the Terro liquid and have been feeding them for the past few days. Terro works by feeding the ants....they drink it like water and take it back to feed their young. It will HELP destroy the colony, but you have to keep feeding them.

When I was doing work on my house and removed the vinyl siding off the outside of my home, I found ant colony ruminants between the siding and the foam insulation. Quite often, they nest there due to the temperature and safety from water. Just be aware of this if you have vinyl siding. I'm not sure of the best way to spray for them there because they can easily go from the siding to the inside of most homes through cracks in insulation and wall sheathing. Foam insulation probably helps block them the most if the wall cavities are solid.

 

[paperfist]

So I decided to try nuclear Terro.

I have borax powder.
I put a thin film on small tin foil.
Then I put Terro liquid on top of it.

Terro is 5% borax.
With the borax powder I added, I estimated it's now 30-40% borax.

No ants for 2 weeks so far.
Hopefully it holds

Neat trick

I find I have to move my Terro traps around to where they start gathering. For some reason the ants are attracted to my mouth wash.

 

[mindless1]

I've used the terro borax/syrup baits for years and they've always worked including this year, but something odd happened this year.

Unlike in the past, the ants were smaller, very tiny and I couldn't squash the darn things, I mean over a lifetime, I've always been able to squash an ant by just pushing my finger down on it but this year, I crush it with my finger and the darn things just get up and keep trucking like they're armored.

The other thing notable about his year's colony is they like to travel in groups and maintain a very straight path... if this is evolution, they are going to win, unless I break out something more toxic than boric acid.

Oh wait, you wrote borax and I did too, are you only trying borax or boric acid? It is boric acid mixed with corn syrup that is more effective.

 

[JEDI]

Oh wait, you wrote borax and I did too, are you only trying borax or boric acid? It is boric acid mixed with corn syrup that is more effective.

borax.
no idea if mixed with corn syrup?
whatever came in the box from the supermarket.
it was in the laundry isle, i think.

i've tried making homemade terro by boiling borax, sugar, and water.
it came out as a gel. ants didnt eat much of it.

nuclear terro worked for me.
a month and 1/2 later, still no ants

 

[Stiff Clamp]

I'm going to try this Terro shiz mentioned above. Ants are invading my kitchen counter these days. A spritz of Clorox soap scum remover (?) is insta death to them, but I can't sit around and spray any ant that crawls through the crack. I need passive measures, not active ones.

 

[lxskllr]

I used to get ants on my kitchen counter. For years, they'd come every spring. I tried some bait traps, but they never seemed to help much. One year, they didn't come, and I haven't seen them since. Dunno what changed.

My luck ran out this year. I went from ants on the counter to no ants to ZOMG ANTS!! this year. They're in the kitchen, and on the floor in the attached rooms. All over the place. So far I'm dealing with them by looking somewhere else and thinking happy thoughts. I suspect the obnoxiously hot weather we've had this year has something to do with it. I might try some baits, but I've had mixed luck with them. Might just wait them out til winter.

 

[Captante]

There's a few species of "Crazy Ants"; I was just reading about Yellow Crazy Ant supercolonies last week...they don't bite or sting, but...spray formic acid that can blind crabs, seabirds, etc. Nasty bastids have really done a number on Christmas Island, apparently and are considered one of the most invasive species in the animal kingdom, not just out of insects.

Raspberry crazy-Ant's in particular are prone to this and are especially worrying to PC/electronic enthusiast's:

Why Crazy-Ants swarm inside electronics

Macbook won't turn on - Found an ants nest inside!

 

[Captante]

dbl

 

[Captante]

wtf....

 

[Roger Wilco]

I used raid gel and it worked like a charm. I've had no luck with traps or liquid.

Amazon.com : Raid Ant Gel 1.06 Ounce (Pack of 3) : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : Raid Ant Gel 1.06 Ounce (Pack of 3) : Garden & Outdoor

www.amazon.com

Carpenter ants on the other hand...that required somebody with the big guns to do the work.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

We use the Terro ant baits with the blue and orange label and liquid inside.

They're the best, as far as I can see. We live on a bluff overlooking the city which seems to be one giant ant-hill. They begin to come indoors during the summer heat. Once they find something -- an open garbage can, perhaps -- they've set up their ten-lane highway to annoy you. Put your hand in the wrong place on the kitchen counter, and they're crawling on your hand.

It takes time for the ant-baits to draw the ants. After a while, it will seem as though Terro was a sort of vacuum-cleaner.

I suppose if you can mix the stuff yourself -- the OP mentioned Borax -- and it works, then it is good.

Anyway you look at it, lots of ants in the kitchen is a pain in the ass. But I'll recommend Terro to anyone who wants to manage their ant problem.

 

[JEDI]

so a month later, the ants came back and with a vengeance!
there were dozens of them in a small area all of a sudden.

WTF?!

did all the eggs hatch all at once?
Where did they come from?!?!