How to get rid of ants?

[NYCHitman1]

For some unknown reason, we've had this sudden ant infestation issue in the basement of our house. I noticed it for the first time about two days ago when ants were randomly showing up in the basement bathroom.

What common household supplies can I use to get rid of them (for good)?

TIA

 

[jhawkkw]

I don't know about something you already have, but a bottle of raid ant spray will kill those already in the house, and your home depot/lowes store probably has perimeter defenses that you can use around possible openings to your basement like windows, doors, or cracks in the wall.

 

[SiempreTuna]

You need to trace the route(s) the ants are using to get into the house then 'block' the way with ant powder. That'll give you a temporary break until the ants find another route - they tend to stick to tried and tested routes until forced to look for others.

Any gardening or hardware store should stock ant powder. I believe there are some types that claim they get carried back to the nest and take out the whole thing, but none have ever worked that way for me

Note that bees are related to ants and are also affected by ant powder so you should try to avoid using ant powder where bees may be - like on plants, I guess. Not that there are that many bees left these days ..

 

[rabidhunter]

Borax and sugar near the hive will do that. It's a safe alternative to all that spray stuff and very effective.

All the worker ants take the borax and feed the queen effectivly killing the hole lot of em.

 

[jefboyardee]

I pour unbrewed coffee on their kingdoms and spray the indoor wanderers with Lysol or somesuch.

 

[NYCHitman1]

The issue is that I haven't seen any outside or any area that they were able to get in. It's likely through cracks in the brick/concrete since our house is brick/concrete on the outside. However, I have thought that I eliminated those suckers with some steaming hot water and disinfectant, but the following day MORE appeared than the previous time.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Having just won an epic battle against flies and gnats in my house, might I suggest what worked for me? Some liquid dishwashing detergent mixed with water, and sprayed on them. YMMV, obviously.

 

[jhtalisman]

409 and patience. Deep clean everything you can with the 409 daily, and the numbers will diminish.

How is the weather there? That could be affecting why they are invading.

After being forced to accommodate the rain and storms on July 4th by cooking inside, came downstairs the next morning to hundreds of ants in the kitchen. With some repeated daily cleaning they were down to a maybe ten a day a week later.

 

[Joelgp83]

Having just won an epic battle against flies and gnats in my house, might I suggest what worked for me? Some liquid dishwashing detergent mixed with water, and sprayed on them. YMMV, obviously.

Good thing, too. I was starting to run out of *nix bugfix jokes. :vroam:

 

[unnamedny]

there are special gels at home stores, they work really well.

 

[NYCHitman1]

How is the weather there? That could be affecting why they are invading.

Scorching hot. It's been high 90's all week and today it's supposed to hit 103.

 

[sntaylor]

Doesn't salt stop them? Or am I thinking slugs? In pretty sure ants don't like salt though!

 

[Rxpert83]

Doesn't salt stop them? Or am I thinking slugs? In pretty sure ants don't like salt though!

I've always heard that with slugs. It dries them out

 

[pastafarian]

We've had issues with them from time to time. I found they were coming from outside. We tried every organic solution we could find, but none worked. Ended up using something like this Amazon.com: Spectracide Home Barrier Ant Shield, 3 LB Granules: Patio, Lawn & Garden (example, not advocating this particular product). I sprinkle the granules around the foundation early in the season and we don't get ants. One application lasts us a whole year. It's the only chemical pesticide we use and I'd love to find a safer organic replacement if I could.

One more thing? Are the ants the smaller common type or the big black carpenter ants Carpenter ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ? Carpenters can do a lot of damage and should be dealt with professionally. Carpenter ant infestations inside a home may be a indicator of an even more serious moisture issues. A neighbor found out about a serious ongoing plumbing leak which was hidden in a wall because they saw ants. The mold problem they found was far more serious than the damage the ants were causing.

 

[Shotgun84]

Put one of these in your basement and it'll soon get rid of them

Spoiler

 

[ouch1976]

I don't know about household supplies, but I know that you can pick up ant traps pretty cheap at most stores. They'll contaminate any ants that enter and then take the poison back to infect the other ants. They are pretty effective. Also, you should invest in a bottle of bug killer from Home Depot/Lowes and spray around any windows, doors, and pipes entering the house. And I've heard that they come into the house looking for water, hence why they are appearing in the bathroom.

If nothing else works, there's always Terminix...

Good luck!

 

[Frisco]

For some unknown reason, we've had this sudden ant infestation issue in the basement of our house. I noticed it for the first time about two days ago when ants were randomly showing up in the basement bathroom.

What common household supplies can I use to get rid of them (for good)?

TIA

Hello Hitman. During heat waves insects, spiders and various other critters will go places they usually don't go, for survival. In the case of ants, they'll risk the colony a bit by going into a cooler environment that does not necessarily have enough food or shelter for the whole colony.

I displace invading creatures rather than kill them. Most often they follow a food source back outside.. but in a heat wave or heavy rain, they just need the shelter. So in that case I'd do as mentioned in a post above and follow the trail as best I could to the queen's den and carefully relocate it to the coolest spot outside I could find, and as far from my house as possible (near shade trees?).

It's a tough call.. some have no trouble at all mass killing invading insects, etc. I just don't see it as necessary most of the time if one is willing to do some work to help the little guys out a bit. They just want to live as long as possible. Same as us.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Good thing, too. I was starting to run out of *nix bugfix jokes. :vroam:

Too bad, because they make me smile! :laugh:

 

[Joelgp83]

Too bad, because they make me smile! :laugh:

In that case, you need to merge your patch upstream so NYCHitman1 can get it.

 

[NYCHitman1]

We've had issues with them from time to time. I found they were coming from outside. We tried every organic solution we could find, but none worked. Ended up using something like this Amazon.com: Spectracide Home Barrier Ant Shield, 3 LB Granules: Patio, Lawn & Garden (example, not advocating this particular product). I sprinkle the granules around the foundation early in the season and we don't get ants. One application lasts us a whole year. It's the only chemical pesticide we use and I'd love to find a safer organic replacement if I could.

One more thing? Are the ants the smaller common type or the big black carpenter ants Carpenter ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ? Carpenters can do a lot of damage and should be dealt with professionally. Carpenter ant infestations inside a home may be a indicator of an even more serious moisture issues. A neighbor found out about a serious ongoing plumbing leak which was hidden in a wall because they saw ants. The mold problem they found was far more serious than the damage the ants were causing.

Honestly, I can't tell the difference. I haven't picked any up. I just tried to make my own concoction of soap + water in a spray bottle and squirted away around the edges of the bathroom and the window sill. However, they are still coming in in fairly larger numbers. I'm going to have to try to get to Home Depot this weekend to buy the good stuff. Hopefully that will do the job.

 

[BigCiX]

This stuff right here works real good. Got rid of my ants in the house for two years straight. Haven't had an indoor problem since the summer of 2011. Ants eat this stuffed and take it back their house. Kill the queen and the problem is solved.

You apply it where they are entering the house and watch them eat it. I'll take about a day for them to start disappearing. Mop your floor with bleach to erase their trail.

 

[lunatic59]

Honestly, I can't tell the difference. I haven't picked any up. I just tried to make my own concoction of soap + water in a spray bottle and squirted away around the edges of the bathroom and the window sill. However, they are still coming in in fairly larger numbers. I'm going to have to try to get to Home Depot this weekend to buy the good stuff. Hopefully that will do the job.

Carpenter ants are fairly large black and not usually seen in large numbers inside the home. If they are in your house, they are in the walls and you won't see them other than a wayward worker now and then. They don't eat wood like termites, they nest in it.

Spoiler

If you are seeing smaller swarms of ants they are most likely common pavement ants. A borax solution will get rid of them for now. The problem is that one ants establish a "route", as Schwarzenegger said ... they'll be back.

You have to find where they are coming in (if you see them in the bathroom, they could be coming in by following drain pipes through the ground.) Treat that ground with a borax solution and you should be able to reroute the invasion.

FWIW, pavement ants are pesky but relatively harmless.

 

[Atma]

Anything with ammonia, like Windex, will kill the stragglers. Like others have suggested, you need some kind of bait they will take back inside their colony. If you find the colony and attack it directly, usually they will just move to another location and get back in somewhere else.

If you have any mulch around your house rake it back a couple of inches away from the foundation. Ants love to build colonies under that stuff. Try spraying some Ortho Home Defense around your foundation to keep pests out. I've never used it but I've seen people say it works great.

I used to do pest control for a living. As soon as the weather started getting hot I could expect calls for ants.

 

[Bearsyzf]

Borax and sugar near the hive will do that. It's a safe alternative to all that spray stuff and very effective.

All the worker ants take the borax and feed the queen effectivly killing the hole lot of em.

I also use this same technique , it does the job.

 

[ouch1976]

Hello Hitman. During heat waves insects, spiders and various other critters will go places they usually don't go, for survival. In the case of ants, they'll risk the colony a bit by going into a cooler environment that does not necessarily have enough food or shelter for the whole colony.

I displace invading creatures rather than kill them. Most often they follow a food source back outside.. but in a heat wave or heavy rain, they just need the shelter. So in that case I'd do as mentioned in a post above and follow the trail as best I could to the queen's den and carefully relocate it to the coolest spot outside I could find, and as far from my house as possible (near shade trees?).

It's a tough call.. some have no trouble at all mass killing invading insects, etc. I just don't see it as necessary most of the time if one is willing to do some work to help the little guys out a bit. They just want to live as long as possible. Same as us.

Frisco, that is hugely admirable of you to spare the ants...but how the hell are you moving a colony of ants?