22 replies to this topic

[mhawkins]

Anyone else all of a sudden having any ant problems? I'm finding them in our upstairs bathtub, shower and other random places!!

[Bill Z]

Anyone else all of a sudden having any ant problems? I'm finding them in our upstairs bathtub, shower and other random places!!

I used to, but not in several years now. Basically, you've got a colony that is trying to find a new place to set up home cuz something like water or cold is driving them out of their normal underground home.

[mhawkins]

So....How do I get rid of them or stop them from making a home in mine!

I used to, but not in several years now. Basically, you've got a colony that is trying to find a new place to set up home cuz something like water or cold is driving them out of their normal underground home.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Tarro ant bait from Lowe's. Place several of them outside your home -- especially in the area the ants are coming into the house (if you can tell).

[Darthvader]

So....How do I get rid of them or stop them from making a home in mine!

Get some liquid Terro ant bait, find the trail or where they are entering, place the Terro there and within a couple days the colony will be wiped out.

[4thgenFolsomite]

Anyone else all of a sudden having any ant problems? I'm finding them in our upstairs bathtub, shower and other random places!!

follow them back to where they are entering your rooms. pour a little bleach and then sprinkle comet or ajax at the entry point. then use a sponge moistened with a little water and clorox (or vinegar if you don't want to stain) to wipe up all the ants you can find. keep doing this. it may take a few days to get rid of all the ants invading your rooms. also make sure they have no food source available. then you might put baits outside the house so you work on poisoning them. i never spray because i don't like a lot of toxic chemicals around the house and i don't think you can ever really get rid of them anyway. just control them so they can't in your space and find a good balance.

[mhawkins]

Thanks!!! I will try that for the downstairs, but for the upstairs I have no clue!! They seem to be coming from the baseboards and plumbing fixtures. Does this mean they are in the walls? And if so, can I do anything about that?

[Darthvader]

Thanks!!! I will try that for the downstairs, but for the upstairs I have no clue!! They seem to be coming from the baseboards and plumbing fixtures. Does this mean they are in the walls? And if so, can I do anything about that?

They are walking along the pipes probably in search of water. They are coming in from someplace around the ground floor, you need to do some detective work to find out where.

[mhawkins]

Thanks everyone! I will put on my detective hat!

[4thgenFolsomite]

Thanks!!! I will try that for the downstairs, but for the upstairs I have no clue!! They seem to be coming from the baseboards and plumbing fixtures. Does this mean they are in the walls? And if so, can I do anything about that?

First of all, don't freak out. Ants like nice dry places to live and nothing is finer than a big warm concrete pad. So they really live pretty much everywhere under our houses. And then they like to go up into walls, but they don't live there. It's just a road for them. Read my previous post about what to do upstairs. Remember. They may "bug" you, but they're just a nuisance and you can deal with them cheaply and easily. Use the clorox and ajax to create a barrier into your room. Use the wipe to get rid of their scent trail, so they're confused and think its no-bug's land. then you can also put poison outside to try and minimize their colonies. I don't think you can ever get rid of them. but if they stay outside, what do you care?

[mhawkins]

First of all, don't freak out. Ants like nice dry places to live and nothing is finer than a big warm concrete pad. So they really live pretty much everywhere under our houses. And then they like to go up into walls, but they don't live there. It's just a road for them. Read my previous post about what to do upstairs. Remember. They may "bug" you, but they're just a nuisance and you can deal with them cheaply and easily. Use the clorox and ajax to create a barrier into your room. Use the wipe to get rid of their scent trail, so they're confused and think its no-bug's land. then you can also put poison outside to try and minimize their colonies. I don't think you can ever get rid of them. but if they stay outside, what do you care?

THANKS!!! Yeah I LOVE vinegar!! I use it around the house for everything : )

[bunny]

Another vote for the terro ant baits. Its just sugar water with some boric acid powder mixed in, very mild stuff. The mix is toxic enough to kill the ants but not toxic enough to kill them immediately, so they bring it all back to the nest to feed the queen, the eggs and everyone else back there.

We had a terrible time with them last year when we first moved in. They kept invading the kitchen and coming out of everywhere theres plumbing. They need water and drains are often warmed up in the morning with hot shower water. I sprayed a bit and used a lot of the outdoor terro baits and this year we only got one invasion, in the upstairs bathroom of all places. Some indoor terro baits and 2 days later they were gone and havent returned.

The rains over the last few days have probably driven them inside, after they had a couple of weeks of warm dry weather to spend outdoors.

[Dave Burrell]

Anyone else all of a sudden having any ant problems? I'm finding them in our upstairs bathtub, shower and other random places!!

rainy season always brings them indoors - and I think nearly every house around here was built on top of an ant colony. There's been a lot of great advice here already and I'll 3rd the recommendation for the Tero bait - that's always worked for me in addition to putting comet cleanser down where the ants are entering the house

if you have a lot of ants, we found the best thing to do is vacuum them up, along with some comet cleanser (to kill them inside the vacuum) and then spray or put comet where the ants are entering, that saves having a bunch of bug spray all over your house

[Bill Z]

So....How do I get rid of them or stop them from making a home in mine!

I decided not to give advice as my method is neurotoxins, not everyone is confortable with using chemical warfare at the extreme, but fundamentally, that's what raid is.

[mhawkins]

Yeah there has been some GREAT advise!! advise I can live with, unlike the smell of Raid...which seems to take for EVER to go AWAY, and doesn't even seem to be that effective long term.