Got Ants?

[BOA]

Ants have made their into our home. Is there something I can put down on the outside around the house to keep them out? Chemicals of some kind?

I have tried to seal every hole and crack and I just don't know how they are getting in.

These guys are pretty big and seem to just appear around dusk every night.

Any ideas?

[Roger]

Boa ants are a big problem for just about everybody this time of year. They are in the house because they have found a specific food source. Find it and remove it and in a few days they should disappear. Forget about trying to seal the house. Might be good idea to get one of the ants identified by your local extension office. Then they can advise as to best source of action if removing the food source doesnt work.
On another note....I once had large black ants showing up in the evening inside my dishwasher of all places. Maybe 50 or 60 of them in there. Turned out they had made their nest in the sub-flooring of my house. Once I discovered this...I located a well traveled and worn smooth hole under my patio door. So being resourceful I stuck one of those foggers in the hole a let fly. Didnt notice much till I stepped inside my house after the fogger had emptied. There were hundreds of ants going everywhere trying to get away from the poison. Ended up grabbing my vacuum cleaner and sucking them up in it, didnt know how else to handle this big mistake of mine. Long story short they were carpenter ants and did 3,000 bucks worth of damage to the floors and wall of my house. Hope you arent faced with this and dont try the fogger technique without your trusty vaccum close at hand.

[Mr T]

I heard that flour is a natural killer to ants. They eat it and it reacts and expands.....

Also moth balls seem to repel most living things, and kill what cant get away. (be carefull in using them if you got kids or pets). If you have hard to kill things like fleas, putting them in your vacuum will keep them from crawling back out later. May want to experiment in placign them around various places. (again, watch pets/kids)

And I agree with previous poster, they are there because they found food... eliminate the food...

[BOA]

Well, I think they are carpenter ants. I have a dog house, just inches away from our house, and the floor has a good size hole in it. I took a closer look and found tiny worm holes in the wood. My dog was put to sleep back in '98 and the house has been a rest stop for cats over the winter months. My wife doesn't want me to get rid of the house ( it's a big one I built for my shepard/collie mix ) 'cause she thinks it keeps folks outta the back yard.

Anyway, she hates the ants more and I told her that getting rid of the house might do the trick. I guess I should also do something about the paper sack I keep by the trash for aluminum cans. I need to cash them in anyway ( I've got around 50 big trash bags of cans ).

Thanks for the ideas and I'll let ya'll know what I find when I take sawsall to dog house :D

[Mr T]

I heard that flour is a natural killer to ants. They eat it and it reacts and expands.....

Oops that is baking soda not flour. I guess ants have vinager in them or soemthing .....

[xkvator]

use the flour if you plan on DeepFrying them

[BOA]

use the flour if you plan on DeepFrying them

Are ants in season now?? What beer/wine do you suggest to go with them? :D

[xkvator]

Are ants in season now??
Oh Yes........ in salt & pepper...a little garlic :)

what beer/wine do you suggest
i'm not much of a wine conosewer :p , but MD 20/20 is a fine red that would probably be appropriate.
But since we're deep frying, which would be considered more of a fast food...i would say your BEER of choice would be much better.

[Mr T]

They are best in chocolate!

And on a side note... We've had a few bugs in our kitchen (really small things, not sure what they are, dont care anymore... ) I put a few piles of baking soda out after i rememberd that trick. looked when i got home from work. Bunch of dead bugs sitting around the piles. Great day!