In a small container (a film canister works well) put about a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of boric acid. Add a few drops if water. Place this, on its sdie, without the lid, in an ant trail but where kids and pets can't get to it. Within a day or two, all your ants will be gone. Allow the mix to dry out, cover, and save until next year!

We periodically have problems with acrobat ants (tiny little beasties) in the kitchen. After much online research and experimentation with various ant poisons, DH has found that the best product is something called "Terro". It is a liquid so it is easy to put out and keep confined.

Actually, he put some out last night & they were really going for it this AM. He took a glazed ceramic tile from the backsplash that he is pulling down and put a few drops on it. We expect that they will be done for in a few days. This is much cheaper and less intrusive than an exterminator.

We've had such a cool spring here in Houston, that the ants haven't started up unitl now. I see that he also came home with a bag of "Over & Out" for the fire ants in the yard. That does a great job, too. He really, really hates ants and our new catch phrase is a modification of Samuel L. Jackson's famous line about snakes on a plane. LOL!!!!

In my area of San Diego, ants are an ongoing problem. I've tried everything. The best is a banned substance called Insect Chalk, but I wouldn't recommend it if you have infant or pets. Even with older children, I'm very cautious using it. However, this year, I tried something called PIC Liquid Ant Killer. I've only used it once and it seems to be very effective. Last week we had an ant invasion, so I used it for the first time. The directions call for putting a drop on weird little paper squares that come with it. Since they are very small, it's easy to put them out of reach of children or pets.
The ants were gone within a few hours. This week, I had a second invasion, so this time I just put a drop of the stuff on a teensy fragment of bread crust and put that in their path. I've tried the boric acid, but it takes days to get rid of the problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic Liquid Ant Killer

We have kids and pets and ants. On Sunday I just put out a few Raid ant hotels. They are enclosed so pets and kids can't get into open poison. It seems to be working- our ant situation is much better. You get 4 to a pack and so far I've just used 2.

In California, we have a HUGE ant problem. Really bad. One time, the colony actually tried to move into the kitchen -- I found them laying their babies all along the inside of my kitchen sink! And during periods of heavy rain, they'd sometimes invade, crawling up the walls and around the ceiling. I used to have an exterminator come once a year, but got tired of worrying about the chemicals. Nothing else would work until I tired Grant's Ant Killer Bait (granules) -- this stuff is amazing. Seriously. I sprinkle it around the back and front yards, focusing on areas where I've seen a lot of ants and where the sprinklers won't hit it. It usually keeps the ants at bay for months -- I don't even see them on the property. Not sure if it'll work for you (we have Argentine ants) - but I'd recommend trying it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grant's Ant Killer Bait

Where are you located? What kind of ants? It really does make a difference. If you have one, a state agricultural extension service can be helpful (they probably have a web site).

But yeah, with a baby? No exterminators. No spraying anything. Baits are safe, assuming baby doesn't get into them. If you can follow the trail and see where they're coming in, caulking it might send them off elsewhere.

Two safe and nontoxic methods:

1. Saturate a sponge with a lot of dish soap -- far more than you would use if washing dishes -- and wipe down their trail with that. You will have a soapy residue, but it's better than an ant trail residue. I use Dawn.
2. Make a barrier with a line of cayenne pepper. Ants won't cross that, at least for a few days until it wears off.

Each of these is moderately effective; the toxic sprays are, obviously, far more toxic, but if you don't want toxic, these will let you sleep at night.

I live next to open space. I know that I cannot rid my property of critters; I can just hope to manage them outdoors and keep them out of my house. I had an exterminator service for a while but, for reasons that the exterminator explained to me, spraying outdoors means that the ants will show up indoors about 3 weeks later in massed force. I decided to tolerate the ant outdoors in exchange for getting rid of them indoors.

Also, if you see one or two ants, they're scouts checking out food/trails, so get rid of them immediately before they can report back to their nest -- zero tolerance is a must.

Mine were getting in through a crevice of my aluminum kitchen window. Since I've remodeled and replaced the window, I haven't had any ant attacks...yet, but summer has not yet begun :)

Blue

Try Diatomaceous Earth, it worked like a charm for us in our old house where we got ants yearly at the same time each Spring.

My friend went the expensive exterminator route and continued to have problems, we used this once and they never came back!

Good luck!

Kat ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: How to get rid of ants

I have used Grants and its worked well except when wet - like now.

I take the toe kicks off and spray under the cabinets with spectracide - low smell gone in a couple of hours, we go to the movies and then pop the baseboard back on. I'll spray the foundation outside if it gets bad.

I use Terro as well. They sell it at Lowe's. I have sweet ants every spring and the ants love that stuff and are gone within usually a day.

Another vote for Terro! I have uses the Terro ant traps, which I have bought at my warehouse club.

Last spring I had ants - the tiny little annoying ones. I also had a toddler who is very curious so I didn't want to use poison or traps. Drove me crazy.

Believe it or not the best thing I found (and worked great) were cinnamon sticks - they ants hated it and left. It was amazing. For the outside I purchased an all natural ant killer (I don't remember the name) but it had cinnamon in it as well.

I tried the Terro, but it didn't work for me. Ants would eat it for a couple of days and then stop. It didn't kill the colony, which is what you need to do as a longer-term solution.

I went to the site that Kat linked to & found Terro there, as well. Read the MSDS and you will may feel better about using this product indoors. The active ingredient is borax which is a chemical precursor to boric acid.

Here is the wiki for boric acid for pest control:

Boric acid is generally considered to be safe to use in household kitchens to control cockroaches and ants. Homemade ant bait can be made by dissolving 1 teaspoon (5 mL) powdered boric acid and 10 teaspoons (50 mL) sugar into 2 cups (500 mL) of water; this mixture can then be absorbed into cotton balls which are left near ant trails. This reportedly will be carried back into the ants' nest, killing any ants that eat it, potentially destroying the entire colony.

Boric acid is also made into a paste or gel form. The paste or gel has attractants in it to attract insects; mostly cockroaches. It is convenient to use because you can simply put a small dab under sinks, counters, refrigerators, and stoves. The boric acid dehydrates the insects. It does it slowly and they don't realize they are in danger. One of the real benefits of using boric acid is that immunity can't be built up; since it works through dehydration. The insects take the bait back to the nest and one application can eliminate them for an entire year.

BTW, the MSDS for Over'n Out is a horror show compare to something as benign as Terro, but fire ants are beyond nuisance level; they can be very dangerous to sensitive individuals which is about 0.5% of the population.

Here is a link that might be useful: Terro Info

"Try Diatomaceous Earth, it worked like a charm for us in our old house where we got ants yearly at the same time each Spring."

I use the same stuff. I saw where they were entering the house from the outside and puffed a little in that general area. I went back later and no ants to be seen. That was 3 years ago.

Another Southern Californian here with perennial ant problems (the little teensy ones)...until a few years ago when I got so frustrated that I got out the masking tape and went around the kitchen and put a bit of tape over every place in my grout/caulking that looked like it might have a hole or a crack. At the time, I thought they'd probably just find another way in but lo and behold, they disappeared completely. Over the next couple of years the tape wore off, came up, etc. (never really intended it to be permanent) and they still haven't come back! Of course it's not a great solution if you have a beautiful brand new kitchen where the tape is going to show but in my case the tile was about the same color as the tape and the kitchen was way past its prime...don't know what I'll do now if they suddenly show up again with the new kitchen. I'm hoping the new kitchen doesn't give them quite so many access holes! I know it doesn't sound very scientific and maybe it was just coincidence, but I was shocked at how completely they disappeared after I did that. Since we have dog food and water bowls on the floor near the almost always open door, I really thought I was just putting a temporary bandaid on...anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there.

But on a related topic, what I can't seem to get rid of are spiders! Both the daddy longlegs type and various brown and black ones, some of them rather ugly looking. The particularly like to pop up in DS's bedroom and he's absolutely phobic about them...but also totally passionate about our not killing them! It really gets to be a comedy routine with us trying to "capture" them without him realizing that they are getting squished in the process so that we can get them out of his room so he'll go to sleep...anyway, if anyone has any good, nontoxic suggestions for spiders I'd love to hear them!

Terro Terro Terro Terro!

Get it at the hardware store. Put a little drop on a little plastic lid near the start of their "trail" and they'll be gone in a couple days.

The thing about spiders is they are carnivorous, so that means they are eating something in/around your house (probably other spiders). If you want to get rid of the spiders, also get rid of their food, or you will be looking for a way to get rid of that next.

Something that works, and is totally non-toxic, but isn't necessarily a good idea to do on purpose is to burn them out. It's a very old fashioned remedy. Boil up a big kettle of water and pour it into the ants' nest.

In a rental I lived in previously, the owners weren't quick about repairing a hot water pipe that was broken near the heater and saturating the soil of the setback to the steaming point. That worked too.

We've had a big ant problem ever since we moved into our house. I had an exterminator come a couple of weeks ago and it usually works, but this time we still have them in the basement. Since everyone was recommending Terro I just went to Lowes and got some. $2.50 for a bottle. I put it out and the little guys are swarming on it!! Hope they take it back to the nest.....I'll keep you posted.

Just an update. It's been 32 hours since I used the Terro. Thousands were swarming around the bait last night. Just went down to check and only saw three left. That seems pretty good,I have a feeling that they all may be gone tomorrow.

I've had ant problems in two different kitchens in two different countries. Both times I got the problems under control by 1) finding the route the little critters used to enter the house, and applied caulk to seal any entry cracks and 2) chemical warfare - lots of useful products available as others have mentioned.

Now, if only controlling wasps in my yard was as easy - I got stung last year and it took 4 weeks to control resulting infection...

Terro - never fails - I just used it last weekend and ants gone in less than 24 hours.

I use the Diatomaceous Earth (food-grade version) that Lesmis and Clg7067 use. It works great--I sprinkle it around the floor boards. It won't harm my children or pets, even if they eat it. When my cat had fleas, I rubbed the Diatomaceous Earth all over her and the fleas were gone. It made a mess, but it worked, and it was OK for her to lick off. In fact, it is supposed to be good for internal parasites too. My horse gets some mixed in his feed all summer--sounds odd, but horse people will tell you that Diatomaceous Earth for horses eliminates internal parasites, and makes the manure unappetizing for flies, resulting in less flies buzzing around the horse manure.

There is one downside to Diatomaceous Earth--it's messy. It's a fine powder that can track around.

My sister told me this, and it has worked for both of us. Use whatever your favorite toxic or nontoxic method is to do away with the ones already in the house. They WILL likely come back eventually, though if you don't do something about how they get in. We both found that spraying the outside foundation of the house is a lasting cure. I have not had to do it more than one time in a year, although I don't live where it is warm year round, where you might need to do it 2 or more times a year. Since the spraying is done outside, you don't have to worry about it being in your house. Since it is on a vertical surface it doesn't pool, and isn't laying around where pets or playing children will likely come in contact with it. I just bought an bug/ant spray in a large container from Home Depot, diluted it in a inexpensive pump sprayer like you use for spraying roses or something, holds a gallon or two, dilute according to instructions and wet the entire foundation with it except the garage foundation (no problem with ants there) just until it looked wet, not dripping or anything. I haven't found anyone yet that this hasn't worked for. No matter where the ants are entering, they almost surely have to climb up the foundation to get to the crack, hole or whatever. I guess they just don't make it that far once the foundation is sprayed. Don't forget to do where cement steps meet the foundation and around basement windows and basement entry like a hatchway.

At least you don't need to let chemicals into your house or on surfaces that might be dangerous to children or pets and if it needs to be done again even months later, it is quick and the cost is very reasonable.

This doesn't get rid of the ones already in your house, but prevents re infestation. If you do it as soon as you see the first sign of an ant or two inside, you can just kill those manually and stop the problem in its tracks. I have only had to do it 2 or 3 times in 10 years because they never get well established inside.

Sue