My new enemy!!!!!

[S.A. Boggs]

Friggin ants!!!
In all the time we have lived here never a problem until this year. Started about 6 weeks ago in the kitchen and then spread from there. Tried all the commercial sprays [Home Defense works fairly well], other traps/bait. One problem is my low immune [chemo related] so I have to be very careful as to what I can be around. Daughter researched and came up with a Borax solution so we tried it. Did fairly well, not as I expected for the results. Last night on one of the saucer I added extra white sugar to the solution and went to bed around 2230 and got up @ 0500. Checked the plate and I was amazed at the results. About half of the solution is gone, more ants attracted to the bait. Now the clincher about 7 feet away is a trail of dead ants leading back to their next. I think we have found the safe solution to our "invasion" and a safe way to deal with it. Now if I can do something about the robo calls...
Sam

[Merc]

Sam,

Borax works the best on ants. There’s a product out there that’s available at Walmart and elsewhere called Terro that uses borax in a thick, sweet solution and it’s always worked for me. Carpenter ants like wet and/or decaying wood. I had one 4 ft section of partially rotted facia board on a shed that they loved. Replaced the board and they left, with a little help from the Terro.

[Allen]

I use to use Bengal ($12 a can) with boric acid (borax). I spray under sinks and behind the fridge and stove where nothing can get into it but the bugs. It is mostly for roaches but works well on ants too. Now I use a pump sprayer with boric acid bought on ebay. The concentration is much higher, the cost is ziltch, it is more effective and I only have to spray/dust once every couple of years now.

Ants will sometimes enter a home through the space under an exterior door. You will see their caravan trail, much like the S. American invasion we are experiencing. For this you may need to find their origins outside and spray the door frame, sidewalk or whatever outside with ammonia or even gasoline if need be. Ants can smell and if they don't like an odor they go somewhere else.

[S.A. Boggs]

Our home made solution is Borax, table sugar and water made into a syrup. Less ants are eating on it and I see more deceased ones now.
Sam

[Allen]

Our home made solution is Borax, table sugar and water made into a syrup. Less ants are eating on it and I see more deceased ones now.
Sam

The thing about borax/boric acid is not about how many dead ones you see but how many die in the hill after the ants return with the solution on them where it is spread and exposed to other ants. You are seeing less live ones so you're doing good.

[Merc]

The thing about borax/boric acid is not about how many dead ones you see but how many die in the hill after the ants return with the solution on them where it is spread and exposed to other ants. You are seeing less live ones so you're doing good.

Correct. Supposedly, the borax slowly starves ants by effectively disabling their digestive system. The foraging ants return to the nest and feed the borax solution to the queen and the other ants and they could return to your bait station for more. The process is purposely slow and can take as long as 2-3 days to wipe out the colony. The good news is that the borax isn’t a harsh poison that will kill other wildlife if it’s used properly.

[Sunray]

Now you're going to have a huge ant carcass issue. Vikings used fire. snicker.
Robo calls can be mostly eliminated by putting your number on the Do Not Call List. Free too. Usually doesn't stop the local carpet cleaning companies much, but you get to tell 'em what they're doing is illegal. Cost Bell Canada 2 million Cdn. a few years back.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

[Allen]

Now you're going to have a huge ant carcass issue.

Not if Sam buries them and makes little tombstones for each of them. If he gives them names they can vote too.

- - - Updated - - -

Carpenter ants like wet and/or decaying wood.

You probably know this but these biga$$ black ants will bite the krap out of you. Their bite is much worse than fire ants.

[Merc]

I’ve never been bitten by either one and am glad of it. My cousin who lives in Fort Myers, FL is always on the lookout for fire ant colonies in his yard. They can build quite a mound. He also has the smallest ants I’ve ever seen get into his pantry. These guys are microscopic. Terro also worked well on them.

I have lots of tree stumps on the property at my summer home and the carpenter ants love them. I only see individual foragers and set out the Terro feeders when they become numerous. Last year, I saw a really huge black ant wander into my sunroom that was at least several times the size of your average carpenter ant. A queen maybe? No wings.

I also set out a hornet trap that attracts the various types of hornets that seem to like to buzz around our cook-outs. The traps are very effective and environmentally friendly. Occasionally, they’ll set up a nest in a hole in the ground out in the yard and attack me when I’m cutting grass. That’s when I spray the hole at night.

My disabled and now deceased neighbor had the largest hornet nest I’ve ever seen inside a shed that hadn’t been opened for several years.

[lyman]

I've only been bitten by the big red ants,

they hurt, but not like a bee sting,

first house we had would get the big black carpenter ants,
I used ant spray around the door and windows in the kitchen(outside only) and got a bag of spectracide (from lowes or home despot) and spread it outside the perimeter of the house, and they would go away for about a year or so,

very wooded lot, so never seemed to get rid of them completely

[PWC]

Amdro kills fire ants bettern' gasoline. Little black ants in the kitchen need Amdro + sugar, mix together before using because the Amdro is to big to carry, but the sugar gets poisoned and the carry that back to the queen killing the nest.

[S.A. Boggs]

Less and less ants in one sector of the house this A.M., bait in the kitchen not touched yet...also no ants seen!
Sam

[S.A. Boggs]

Have withdrawn all bait as no ants in evidence and the cost in $ was minimal as compared to buying the commercial product.
Sam

[Allen]

A little boric acid powder dispersed with a pump duster behind the stove, fridge and other hidden places will keep them away.

BTW if you keep a small stack of firewood inside for the fireplace we aware of bringing in all kinds of bugs including termites and powder post beetles.

[S.A. Boggs]

Our "firewood" is compressed wood blocks that is kept outside under cover, the area around the blocks is sprayed to kill ants.
Sam