Hello Everyone, You are all right. All your methods work. We all fall into the trap of it doesn't work anymore. OR 24 hrs and they are back. All I can say is you have to look at your situation and be smart. If you live in an apartment, expect roaches. If you live near a restaurant, expect rats. If you live in a house with landscape, expect spiders, ants and mice. Bottom line. MICE: Look around before you open the door, and don't leave your doors open. Make your screen doors snug around the edges. Try to screen off your roof vents or openings with metal screen. Plug up holes with steel wool. Leave traps up year round and eventually they will be gone. If not for good, a long time. An old building was demolished across our street and it took a year to get rid of them as they were looking for a new home. Been there!! ANTS: Its not just you.....what about your neighbor. My neighbor was collecting soda bottles outside his house as I discovered.......which created a SUGAR ANT SUPER COLONY. Guess where they decided to live?....That's right!!! in my garden. Borax and sugar bombs worked great. However, they were only control devices. We had to open up the ground and burst the colony, then spray. We left bombs inside and out, as well as next to all the ant ports. Eventually.......gone. But.....they are never gone, so don't be fooled. We also used bates of three Brand names....only temporary. Borax bombs worked best. ECO SPRAY Seems to do a good job. We also use peppermint and lemon essential oil as a spray to finish coat on our counters and other areas where they might wonder. Just a quick coat before we go to bed and no visitors in the morning. They hate that stuff and so do spiders. The spray mix so far does not damage anything. We use consumable essential oil...in other words we can eat it. If you need help getting some, I can direct you where to get it. We noticed in our new home that we had a different kind of ant. A protein ant as others have stated. So we left some ice cream on the counter all night for two days. Not a single ant. But, when we used a frying pan, and even washed it.....they came to visit again. Soooo............here are some tips. Ask the correct questions first. What are they going after? How big are they? What is our weather like? Where are they located? (Kitchen, Bathroom, Shower). Can I trace the ant trail outside? Do I think the nest is inside? Once you have done that...take it from there. SPIDERS: They really are a pain. Lots of trees? Lots of spiders. Lots of junk? Lots of spiders. And so on. Don't give them a home or opportunity, and you wont have a problem. Lemon pledge, Lemon and peppermint essential oil spray, keeping your house orderly, and window sills clear will help a lot. We use our diffuser with essential oils and they don't seem to appear anymore. I leave essential oils in bottle caps under the couch, closet and hidden corners, and again no appearances. Determine what type of spider you have the most in the same way you did with the ants. Sometimes they are just lost checking out your house and trying on your shoes!! (Joking) Do some reading and try different things. I read once where a couple had a super spider invasion and could not get rid of them. They were in everything and everywhere. When any pest problem gets to this level.............call a professional. ****No matter how you slice it....you share space with all of these creatures because your dwelling is on the ground somehow, and someway. You don't have to kill every spider you see...just keep it from coming in. You get what you put into it!! Bottom line. If you want to get rid of them....you have to go the extra mile. If you go the extra mile as I did when I dug up the ant colonies.......you get the big results. Like everything else in your house............its work. And it has to be done. And remember...the BUGMAN is like your Auto Mechanic.....do you think he will tell you everything!!??? It's up to you!!!!! Good Luck.

I have already solved the problem. I stopped adding scraps and I got a huge amount of coffee grounds, and I mixed it all in and turned everything. Now I check the bin and there is no ants. It breaks my heart to stop composting food, but the mice could be baby rats. Alfalfa was a huge part of my problem. I had EB Stone brand starter fertilizer made of Alfalfa in a box, and the rats got into the basement and found it. The ripped open the box and ate it, and then they began to rip up other things looking for food. I am lucky that they can't eat coffee grounds and they are free so I will continue to work with just wood and coffee ground and not use anything edible for ants or rats, and without fruit peelings the fruit flies are also gone. We had a outbreak near me, became I saw some government issue fruit fly traps. The rats can flatten themselves and fit in tiny space like the slates in the earth machine and ants can fit in no matter what.

Since your friend really doesn't know what they are dealing with, calling an exterminator seems the smartest thing to do. We recently had an ant situation starting, also going after our cats food. Very small ants, almost couldn't see them. One treatment from the exterminator and they have disappeared from the house at least, although I still see them around the back steps (they were coming in through our patio door). If I remember correctly, they will be back for another go-round at some point. I'd rather spend a bit of money to make sure they are completely eradicated safely. They worked from outside the home, not inside where the cats bowl is, and where obviously the nest of the ants are.

I do the moat thing. I find dishes at the thrift store that have a shape that make a built in moat -- for example, a gravy boat or a chips-and-dip plate. I found that just putting the food bowl inside another dish didn't work for me because the cats would scoot the inner bowl until it was touching the outer tray, and that made enough of a bridge for the ants to get to the food. (This is a little hard to describe, but if it happens to you then you will know what I mean!) Terro didn't work for me, but I have had friends who had great success with it. I guess it depends on your ants :).