ant invasion

[Deleted]

I live in a Boston suburb so no fire ants (thankfully). But, I'm being overrun by the little sugar ants (and some others). Several of my patio pavers actually sunk in. Tried borax/sugar mix and the little buggers moved.....in two days they relocated to a nearby part of my patio.

then tried boiling water with Dawn detergent...........haven't seen a reoccurrence in that spot since Tuesday. But now I found more ant hills in my backyard and another invasion under the pavers in a different area. Hate using chemicals because my dog goes out there but sheesh enough already.

I never minded an ant or two, and I don't like killing things (unless they're inside) but I've had enough already.

Any other ideas?

[Dawn R]

diatomaceous earth

I haven't tried it but have heard good things about it. I use the borax/sugar/water but am very cautious as we have a cat. THe diatomaceous earth is supposed to be safe for everyone.

[57roses]

Terro ant bait.
We have the same problem and tried the home made stuff with borax without success

[Pantlandia]

Jun 24, 2016 11:31:05 GMT Dawn R said:

diatomaceous earth

I haven't tried it but have heard good things about it. I use the borax/sugar/water but am very cautious as we have a cat. THe diatomaceous earth is supposed to be safe for everyone.

I use the sugar/borax/water mixture every year. We don't have pets that can get into them, so I don't have to worry about that. The mixture is awesome. I call it Sweet Ant Death. They line up around that mixture and take in its sweet deathly goodness and take it back to their nest and in usually the next day, they are gone. It lasts about a month or so before the next wave comes in and I get to kill them over again

[Desire]

For the first time ever, I have these tiny, teeny ants crawling on my counter near the sink. The other night DH left a knife in the sink with some gooey stuff on it and when I went to shut the lights to go to bed I saw about 30 of them running all over the sink. Freaked me out so bad. I ran the hot water on them, then sprayed Raid Ant & Roach killer all over the back of the sink, down the drainpipe, under the cabinet, on the backsplash, etc.

Are these the baby sugar ants? They are black, extremely small and run fast. Going to take everything out from under the sink and spray it out good where the pipes come up from the basement. I've never had this before and wondered too if Raid was the best thing or if I should get something better. Maybe will try those ant baits that 57Roses mentioned and place them under the sink. How do those work, do the ants go inside them and die?

Outside is a different story - we always have ants that like to make the tiny little ant hills of dirt, always on the expansion cracks of the pool patio. I usually just hose them out, but maybe I better start using something on those too, to start eliminating this problem. Ugh!

[jellybeanscloset412]

I second the Terro. We used the bait inside and outside. They are two different products. The inside ones are small and the outside ones are spikes for the ground.

[57roses]

The Terro works the same way Jeremys Sweet Ant Death works. They are only about $1. per bait trap. Some ants get stuck inside and die. If you end up with a bunch of dead ants in the trap it can be replaced with another one

[Dawn R]

Jeremy, it does work well!! Ours are usually gone within a day or two. Just afraid my cat may lick it.

I think that I am going to try some of the diatomaceous earth at a side door that always seems to draw ants. They seems to be under control right now. Knocking on wood.

[Deleted]

So far the boiling water seemed to do the trick. And yes, mine are also the tiny ants. When I did Jeremy's sweet death mix....they moved.
I realized I must have an entire ant city living under my patio pavers. Then I went to the back of the p at and found another infestation (bigger ants though). 

May have to start leaving my electric tea kettle outside. Also need to buy more Dawn.

I'm thankful they aren't in my house........knock on wood. But go figure these little tiny things can decimate a patio. 

[RetroMonde]

Another Terro ant bait fan here. We get 'em in our kitchen and sometimes just to keep us interested, they'll come in the bathroom. Tried borax and the dio earth with no luck. The nasty ant bait worked like a charm. I hate using chemicals but I hate ants on my counter and under my coffee pot even worse.

[Deleted]

I'm in Massachusetts too. I did have those annoying little ants on my brick patio at our old house and I got rid of them. Either I poured vinegar or hot water down their stupid holes, can't remember. I refuse to use poisons at all. wish I could remember what I used but at least it worked so it is possible.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2016 16:38:53 GMT @newenglandnew said:

I'm in Massachusetts too. I did have those annoying little ants on my brick patio at our old house and I got rid of them. Either I poured vinegar or hot water down their stupid holes, can't remember. I refuse to use poisons at all. wish I could remember what I used but at least it worked so it is possible.

Hi NewEngland:

I don't like using chemicals but was desperate (especially after seeing a chunk of my patio pavers sunken).

I'm happy to report that I've not seen a recurrence for several days so apparently I eradicated the little buggers and the boiling water/Dawn worked. 
Now I'll probably be running through my back yard with boiling water and need to stock up on Dawn detergent. I won't use chemicals on my lawn because of my dog.