I have small ants in my kitchen and can't seem to get rid of them!
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I notice some very very tiny ants on my kitchen sink & can't get rid!
I have flies can't get rid of them.no food left out. No fruit. Really
I have fruit flies and can't get rid of them. I don't even have any food or fruit out.
try mint gum. Spearment or peppermint. My grandmother kept wrapped pieces in her kitchen drawers and windowsills. Worked for her and works for me.
I use cinnamon or cinnamon oil along the path they travel. It's safe for pets and it drives ants away.
Buy the small ant traps at Dollar General - they work great without spraying poison everywhere! The ones for roaches work great also!
the trick is to use a homemade terro bait, it's 1 cup sugar , 1/2 cup water , 3 tablespoons Borax ( the twenty mule team laundry type ) boil this for 2 minutes , let it cool, and pour small amount in shallow dish, wait for the ants to go after it, but leave the container for a couple of days, they will take the bait back to nest and kill off the colony. after they have gone, clean the area with white vinegar to destroy the trail odor and they wont come back, if even a few survive.
These are most likely Argentine ants, an invasive species that has become a big problem in Southern California where I live, and much of the country, really. They are wiping out other native ants species and other insects. Forget about Raid, other ant sprays, commercial baits or cinnamon and borax. You can kill the ants in your house, but there are thousands or tens of thousands more waiting to get in. They will just find another way. You have to kill the colony.
I have found the absolute best treatment for Argentine ants. You get a bottle of Termidor, a product used for treating for termites. It can be found online. Mix about four or five teaspoons of sugar with about four ounces of water, boil it in the microwave briefly, then let it cool. Then add three or four drops of Termidor -- no more -- and shake. Place about half a teaspoon of this mixture in a couple of places on the counter or floor, or in a beer bottle cap or something similar right where the ants are located and can find it. (If you have pets, cover the baited areas with a heavy pot or some other object they can't move, but that ants can get under.) The ants will swarm on the bait mixture. Let them feed! By the next day, all will be gone. Guaranteed. They take it back to the nest, if you are lucky killing all of them in the colony.
Termidor is fipronil, the same chemical used in Frontline and other products that many people put on their dog to kill fleas. Advantage flea threatment contains amidacloprid, a similar chemical that also works as an ant bait. Both are newer insecticides not very toxic to mammals, but I still would avoid getting either your skin. (Don't use Frontline or Advantage, however. Both are in an oil base so it will spread on a dog's skin.) Ants cannot detect them, and even a tiny amount is deadly to them -- and to termites fleas and cockroaches. What is important is that it doesn't kill them right away, giving them time to bring it back to the nest. (For subterranean termites, they sometimes dig a trench around your house and soak the ground with a solution of fipronil, and termites just have to pass through that soil to bring enough back to kill the colony.) So use only a few drops of Termidor in your bait mixture so the ants can bring it home before dying. (It also kills bees, so use it carefully outside so bees can't get to it, and never spray it!)
Baiting is a much better approach than using a distributed pesticide like Raid sprayed on everything. It only gets on the ants! I find commercial baits, a few of which contain fiprinol, don't work very well because they often don't attract ants, but you could try them. But Argentine ants love sugar water.
Also, Termidor isn't cheap, but a a pint bottle will last years, even decades. It can be purchased online in most, but not all, states.
Argentine ants often live in huge nests, some with several queens. Some properties I have seen have numerous colonies, containing even millions of ants among them. I bait outside whenever I see large numbers of ants congregating. We have about 30 fruit trees on an acre, mostly citrus, and they attract ants by the tens of thousands. (The ants farm aphids in the trees.) This bait takes care of them overnight. If your problem is smaller, it won't take very long to take care of these ants. If you are diligent, you can wipe out all the ants on your property. and forget about baiting for awhile. But your neighbors have colonies, too, so it's likely they will be back.
We put sprinkled cinnamon around the base board so no one steps in it, and our dogs leave it alone, as well. Won't hurt them!
Worked great! Hope it works for you!!
Salt ! It's really that simple. Just pour a little line of salt around the area where they are coming and going. Ants have a sticky substance on their feet and legs. The salt burns them . So they won't cross it. Check the salt every couple days until no more ants . Replace when needed.
You can also plant mint around your house outside and inside keeps mice out to.