I need to KILL ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MikeT]

I have come here before to ask misc. advice on lots of different problems and now I present you all collectively with this problem. First, I need to do this myself because I can't afford an exterminator.

Here is the problem. My downstairs bathroom is built right next to the garage so it's outside wall is the same wall as the inside of the garage. We have been having several HUNDRED ants come in along that wall. They stay in the bathroom and don't go anywhere else (there is nothing in the bathroom for them to eat). These are the little brown ants some people call sugar ants or army ants.

To date we have used the Terro liquid ant baits where they supposedly eat the liquid and then bring it back to the nest to kill the rest of them..... We have also used the little black ant traps which use the same principal however the ants didn't even touch those traps. They ate from the liquid traps and seemed to die right there. Unfortunately they have many MANY more reinforcements and KEEP COMING OUT OF THE WALL!!!

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can put in the wall to kill these bums? Any ideas on what I can do?

I have also spread the expensive Triazicide stuff you get from Home Depot on the lawn outside and that doesn't seem to work either. I need help :bang:

 

[cnielse5]

Ants are tricky man. I worked for a pesticide company for years. the trick is getting to the queen. You are going to figure out where the main colony is. then get diazinon and drown that colony with it. as long as you get the queen the surviving ants with find a diffrent colony to go too.

 

[MikeT]

How do you find the queen?

 

[kawicam250]

the queen will most likely be where all of the ants are swarming around. the queen ant( obviously) will be much larger than the others. getting her taken of will, like cneilse5 said, force the colony to search for another queen.

 

[MikeT]

I can only see where they are coming out of the wall. I am pretty sure that the queen is somewhere in the ground below the floor (Slab on Grade). So I can't see her.

 

[XRpredator]

I used some stuff called TAT. Worked great. They supposedly pack the poison back to the queen and kill 'em all.

http://www.walco-linck.com/ant.html

 

[WaltCMoto]

If you see any in the garage, boiling water does good, its eco friendly and cheap.

 

[Oldman125]

Bug Bomb? Is there any kind of opening where the gas will flow into the wall and gas them all?

 

[mojonito]

i haveheard the hate essence of peppermint. just put it around where they come in and hang out and they will quit going there.

 

[MXGirl230]

I was going to say burn them...but since they are IN the house I wouldn't recommend that!

You've probably already tried...but what I use is that Ortho home defense max. I spray inside and outside and don't have any more problems. We had a couple hundred of those stupid brown ants coming in under our front door. Not anymore though :nod: Plus whats good about that stuff is that it's pet safe.

Isn't the Triazicide stuff supposed to be a knock off of Diazinon? It's like the stuff sold in the states that it's not legal to sell the Diazinon in or something? The Triazicide stuff is junk though,

 

[Okiewan]

At least you aren't dealing with Fire Ants! It could be worse, trust me :p Those things hurt! Haven't ever seen any in the house tho.

Good luck!

 

[Green Horn]

At least you aren't dealing with Fire Ants!

Every single bug down here either bites or stings. :|

 

[MXGirl230]

At least you aren't dealing with Fire Ants! It could be worse, trust me :p Those things hurt! Haven't ever seen any in the house tho.

Yeah, never fall onto a fire ant hill...that sucks pretty bad. Not that I would know or anything...

 

[sparkysakitas]

yeah fire ants are the worst
i got into a pile of them today getting ready to set up a parking lot light pole got bit about 12 times

as far as the other ants you could try boric acid.
comes in powder get it at local hardware store
worked great on a house i bought that was loaded with sand fleas. sprinkle it down where they are coming in
also sprinkle it around perimiter of house to help fight off other bugs(we use it for palmetto bugs)down here.

 

[motometal]

boric acid works by drying out the ant. I'm pretty sure Terro is a sweet substance like corn syrup with boric acid. For some reason they have made it wimpier over the years.

I don't think ants traveling through the powder really take it back to the queen as much, although they will probably die. Terro works (well, sometimes) because if they are sweet eating ants they think it's food, take it to the queen and she ingests the boric acid. One time I added boric acid to terro to give it a boost and it seemed to work.

diazanon definitely kills the insects that come in contact with it, bit for example on an outdoor ant hill it seems like other ants down below get wise to it and just move over to another area. That stuff is good for sprinkling a strip around your house, use a metal can shaker.

 

[MikeT]

Isn't the Triazicide stuff supposed to be a knock off of Diazinon? It's like the stuff sold in the states that it's not legal to sell the Diazinon in or something? The Triazicide stuff is junk though,

Exactly right. The Diazinon stuff worked so they took it off the market. The Triazinon comes in a higher dosage that is called MAX same as the Ortho MAX. I spread it HEAVILY outside the garage and it has lessened the outside ants a little. We took the baits out of the bathroom and the ants slowed down and stopped for the moment.

I think the baits were actually doing more to "bait" them than kill them.

 

[billtx]

I used Terro mentioned above. Works great. I had the same type of ants every spring in the same area for the past 14 years. Not this year after treating with Terro last year. Give it a try, it is easy and cheap.

 

[Patman]

For those little "sugar ants" I've used something similar to what Pred used except the traps were translucent red plastic. Don't remember the name but I got them at a place called "Self Chem". It took about a week but it wacked them on two different occasions. Supposidly that is the best way to kill them as the basically do a head count and if less than "X" come back then they move the nest someplace else in the hose and keep going.

We live out in the sticks and as has been pointed out most bugs and plants around here seem to bite, sting or poke holes in ya'. So we have a maintenance contract that does a pretty good job of keeping everything out. The occasional scorpion shows up but I think that's because the drought and high heat this summer, typically even they don't end up in the house.

 

[06yz]

I may be stating the obvious but, stop trying to do it yourself. You said you can't afford it, if you keep on trying this chemical or that chemical you will have spent what the exterminator would have charged you originally. It sounds like your ant problem is getting pretty serious, quite wasting your time and money. I know anytime I have needed an exterminator, they guarantee their work. Guarantees are always nice. Good luck.

 

[MikeT]

OK, The ants seem to have gone on their merry way for now. I am not sure if it was the over dose spreading of the Triazinon or the Terro finally did it's job. I am glad to see them gone.

06YZ, I have actually spent less than half of what the exterminator wanted for a ONE time application of his stuff. The the application that comes with a guarantee would have cost 10 times as much for the year. If my last try didn't get the ants gone I was going to call the exterminator and just pay up. I was about at my wits end.