Woodhouse, do you want ants? Cause this is how we get ants!

susan

So, yeah, New Homeowner Crisis #217 and counting here.

Thoughts, ideas, solutions, etc? I have a fairly well built home with a decent yard next to the wall where these little bastards are coming from. I haven't checked in the daytime, but at night I'm not seeing immediate signs of ant activity outside on or near the wall, except for a single one of these guys camping and sleeping near a small exterior vent (which is pretty much directly opposite the power plug). And, yes, there is wood siding to ground contact going on at this place, unfortunately. I just moved into this place in January, and have never been through a Summer here to learn its "quirks". Any help eliminating or even identifying these things would be vastly appreciated.

Continental_Op

Windex is great for killing any ants you find in your place and has the added benefit of killing the scent trail so they can't follow that path readily again. Other than that I think we ended up calling a pest control company to take care of the major source (our problem came after we had the place tented for termites, apparently ants like to eat dead termites). I'd wait for more advice on sorting out the cause though, I'm sure somebody knows way more than me.

amateurhour

Seconding the multi surface windex.

We got ants bad in the summer in an old house I used to rent and that stuff did the trick. I had to work through about two or three weeks of keeping stuff out of cabinets and spraying a shitload of it on counters and walls and in cabinets but then they'd stay gone for pretty much the rest of the summer and be gone through the winter.

Thundyrkatz

Those are probably odorous house ants. They are after your water, and any food they may happen across. They have no interest in your wood. You should be finding them in the bathroom or kitchen, or anywhere there is water and or condensation. They are otherwise pretty harmless, but will come in great numbers if they find anything worth taking.

I live in NH and we get them every spring, this spring is especially bad it seems due to the very mild winter and dry spring. You can hire an extermiator, or put out some bait traps. I have never tried windex myself.

The Ender

I recommend these ant traps if they are available in your area.

Killing the drones with spray is not usually a very effective method for dealing with an ant invasion; the queen(s) can hatch out hundreds in a night that will be ready to rock in 1-2 days. Ant traps work by attracting the workers to the poisonous 'food', which they then bring back home & feed to the queen(s), collapsing the entire colony.

bowen

Yeah tear apart the house and look for soda cans, plates, anything with food on it.

Djeet

Boric acid. Sprinkle generously into the electrical outlet and some heavy lines of it outside crossing the path which they use to enter. Be careful using inside the house if you have feline, children, or immune-compromised residents. Can't find pure boric acid, so I've used this. I'd also use baits. I've had luck with amdro, but I'll try Terro in the future at the advice of HA.

punk

Last time I had an ant problem, I tried various traps and tricks. Then I tried Terro. It was fucking Armageddon. They never came back, and for generations to come they will fear me.

Just...you know...keep it away from animals.

susan

Thanks guys . I shall try all of these recommendations, in ascending order of intensity; I'm already cleaning and scrubbing and eliminating exposed food and waste and such, and I've put down several simple Raid ant traps (it's all the store had) around the spotted entry sites, so I'll continue this over the weekend and slay these six legged monsters.

Again, thank you!!!

WildEEP

Terro is awesome but yeah, it will also Armageddon your pets.

When you run across an infestation, I get out the vacuum and suck all the ants up and all the dirt and crumbs I can find in the immediate area.
I then treat every inch of space an ant touched with some kind of ammonia or bleach containing cleaner.
Then make sure to take the container and get it into the trash bag asap and back out to the garbage can. Those fuckers will crawl out of the vacuum.

Its not enough to clean up the mess once the ants have found it - remember that ants don't have eyes, they have chemical receptors. They see by what chemicals have been left in place by the other ants..so even if you kill whats present or remove the food - the ant trail will still look just as appealing to other ants.

That's why, after removal, a nice carpet bombing campaign of bleach wipes or 409 cleaner makes it a nuclear wasteland for ants. They can't see a damn thing.

puffycow

I third Terro. I had an infestation in my new home last summer (2 months after I moved it). In a few days they were gone and haven't seen any since.