Motherfucking ants, in my motherfucking bedroom

JMan

So, I thought I had finally got rid of the little buggers by not only bug-bombing my room, and outside my window, but cleaning my room up to the point that my desk shines. No, really.

So, I need some advice.

I do NOT want to call an exterminator. These are fucking ants, I'll only call an exterminator when I'm being invaded by foot high cockroaches.

I've put out traps.

Made sure ALL food is cleaned up, no crumbs or ANYTHING.

Put duct tape (sticky side up), around my window and computer.

And these guys must've developed some new intelligence, since they are now walking around the duct tape, as well as avoiding the traps.

Ugh, nothing like heading to bed, only to get that sensation that stuff is crawling all over you.....

So far, my only defense is a can of air freshener (hey, that stuff works), and a lint roller.

Someone give me some advice!

saltiness

How long ago did you put out the traps? I used them in my house but they took a good month or so to actually get rid of the ants. I also used some Raid to kill the ones that were around and left some of the raid at their entry points (this got rid of the big onslaught in the beginning leaving the rest of the time with just a few ants here and there).

embrik

Get this stuff. It just plain works. Take some squares of thin cardboard (like the material the box is made of) or aluminum foil. Place a small pool of this liquid on each square and place them where you've seen the ants. If you've gotten it placed where they can get at it, you'll see them show up in record numbers, and they'll feed on it like they're at a trough. After a day or two, you should see a nice absence of ants. My folks have used it several times over the years, and it works like a charm.

JMan

saltiness wrote: »

How long ago did you put out the traps? I used them in my house but they took a good month or so to actually get rid of the ants. I also used some Raid to kill the ones that were around and left some of the raid at their entry points (this got rid of the big onslaught in the beginning leaving the rest of the time with just a few ants here and there).

About 2 weeks ago

Iceman.USAF

Might try leaving something sweet that they want elsewhere, outside, away from the house with a lil trail to their home?

Delzhand

Get some two sided tape and put it on your bedroom floor where your bedposts touch the ground. It will keep them off your bed, even if it doesn't solve the complete problem.

Nova

embrik wrote: »

Get this stuff. It just plain works. Take some squares of thin cardboard (like the material the box is made of) or aluminum foil. Place a small pool of this liquid on each square and place them where you've seen the ants. If you've gotten it placed where they can get at it, you'll see them show up in record numbers, and they'll feed on it like they're at a trough. After a day or two, you should see a nice absence of ants. My folks have used it several times over the years, and it works like a charm.

Seconded. I learned about this stuff from my parents, and it is the most cherished piece of wisdom they have passed on to me. This stuff is atomic fire death to ants.

Dulcius_ex_asperis

Also, if you spray Raid once a day around the borders of your room (all along the floorboards, under the door, and also on any windowsills) it will help prevent ants from entering/leaving. One of our family friends owns his own pest control service, and that's what he recommended as a preemptive pest control action.

Burning Organ

I used to put some kind of salt used for roads around a trailer to keep the suckers out.... Apparently they hate that stuff.

cuntstarrunner

I just bought some traps from raid....they work really good. They are white and on the top they try to make them pretty...like there is a flower design. Why should traps be pretty? Everyone knows what they really are...

PorkChopSandwiches

Get some of this and sprinkle it around the exterior of your house. Works great.

Also, enjoy the sprinkling action of the image I posted.

Librarian

Can you describe the ants you are dealing with in detail?
Because for some types you will definitely NEED an exterminator.
Pharao ants for example breed like crazy and build multiple colonies with 100s of queens.

BahamutZERO

Since you've already cleaned all the food out of your room, they must have discovered some more elsewhere in your house. Can you figure out where the trail goes to? They don't just march around for no reason, if there's no food at the end of the trail and the scouts don't find any more around, the trail should just dry up in a couple days.

wmelon

You may also want to get any laundry you have on or close to the floor up where they can't easily reach it. I once had an ant infestation and was told by an exterminator that they also like the starch in many laundry detergents.

BahamutZERO

Um... creepy but true story... I once had ants in my room going after... crusty areas on certain dirty clothes. If you know what I mean.

Tal

Sounds like you've got some pretty good suggestions so far, but I'll add my 2 cents.


I've been told instant grits are a good non-poison way to get rid of them. Supposedly if you sprinkle instant grits on mounds or near trails (make sure those areas are dry so the grits don't expand) the ants will take the grits back as food. When ingested, they expand to the point that they basically explode the ant.

I put some on the trails outside my house (fuckers were coming inside for about a month after I moved in, so there's a little animosity between us) and the next day there was a clear path of missing grits. The ants are still there, but I think that's because there's a metric fuck-ton of them (or maybe this is just and old wives' tale).

Anyway, just another possible option.

witch_ie

If you can, try disrupting their trail. A good way to do this is to completely clean the floor and walls with some mild detergent - dishsoap should be fine. This will get rid of the scents ants use to mark their trails.

subedii

I just use ant-powder. Sprinkle / spray it in the cracks that they're coming in through (and preferably into the main entrance of the hive if you can). Leave the powder in places for a few days (preferably a week at least) before cleaning it up (although you might want to get rid of the dead ant bodies and re-powder if there's a big collection of ant bodies). Worked well for me so far across a couple of houses now. Sometimes you get a new colony in the summer, but this has always given me good results quite fast.

Bedlam

We used this concotion once that was pretty decent.

Mix water, suger, and I think baking soda together and leave it out on a plate for them. The ants will smell the sweets and go after it, and then their insides will explode from the baking soda.

Plus you get to see them carry their dead off to be buried. Which can be entertaining and educational for the young ones.