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Ants

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  • M Member 96

    I had the same problem last summer and I too hate to kill anything unless absolutely necessary, the ants were invading my back patio area (concrete slab) because we had spilled coffee out there one day and didn't clean it up right away. What I did is pressure washed the patio to get rid of the sugary coffee stain and then lead them astray with some drops of honey that lead to a big cache of honey in the bushes away from the house and they eventually all started trucking out to that spot and away from the patio. Took a few days though for them to realize there wasn't anything tasty on the patio any more. Our bigger problem here in the fall is spiders. I live on Vancouver Island which is technically a cooler version of a tropical rainforest and we get some huge spiders around here and a *lot* of them. Mainly I was just evicting them back outside for the most part although the cats ate quite a few of them.


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    I support two teams: the Canucks and whoever is playing the Leafs!

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    Steve Mayfield
    wrote on last edited by
    #15

    How about making an ant trail to one of more of the spiders hangouts - let nature take its course.

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    • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

      I see lot of small balck ants in my kitchen and were ever I put something sweet they just attack the area. So I have to keep sugar and all other stuff in the refrigerator. Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? The policy in my home is that anything that entered my home alive has left alive. If that is not possible I want to get rid of them with least fatalities. If that is also not possible than I am willing to resort to more violent means.


      Somewhere in the world there is a machine language programmer waiting for that damned assembly language fad to pass. - Stan Shanon

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      Roger Wright
      wrote on last edited by
      #16

      The idea of leaving peppermint oil by the entry is a good one - it probably also overwhelms the pheremone trail, as well. Another fairly non-toxic blocker is boric acid. It's sold in drug stores as a powder, used primarily for an antiseptic eyewash, so it shouldn't be too hard on pets (if you have any in the yard). Sprinkilng the powder along the foundation perimeter will repel them, along with any cockroaches you may have around. The ants already inside will have to be dealt with some way - an indoor insecticide is probably the best bet. And, if you find it necessary to do a one-time kill around the house, use Diazanon - very effective against ants, and fairly cheap, but it smells terrible for a few hours after you apply it. Use it only outdoors, and take the family for an outing for a few hours after you spray it. "Your village called -
      They're missing their idiot."

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      • M Martin Haesemeyer

        John Cardinal wrote: although the cats ate quite a few of them :omg: "Situation normal - all fu***d up" Illuminatus! http://www.martin-haesemeyer.de

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        peterchen
        wrote on last edited by
        #17

        yep... spiders make that crunchy noise. Just think of it like catchips.


        "Vierteile den, der sie Hure schimpft mit einem türkischen Säbel."
        mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen

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        • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

          I see lot of small balck ants in my kitchen and were ever I put something sweet they just attack the area. So I have to keep sugar and all other stuff in the refrigerator. Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? The policy in my home is that anything that entered my home alive has left alive. If that is not possible I want to get rid of them with least fatalities. If that is also not possible than I am willing to resort to more violent means.


          Somewhere in the world there is a machine language programmer waiting for that damned assembly language fad to pass. - Stan Shanon

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          Jack Puppy
          wrote on last edited by
          #18

          Dress up like the queen ant and they'll obey your every move! I think the home remedy is baking soda and lemon juice, but then again I could be thinking of the remedy for acne or some other ailment.

          "Insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops." - Mortimer Brewster, in Arsenic and Old Lace
          My 20 favorite films:
          http://www.ymdb.com/user_top20_view.asp?usersid=8912

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          • P peterchen

            yep... spiders make that crunchy noise. Just think of it like catchips.


            "Vierteile den, der sie Hure schimpft mit einem türkischen Säbel."
            mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen

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            Martin Haesemeyer
            wrote on last edited by
            #19

            mhh, yeah but there is more to eating than just the noise.... X| "Situation normal - all fu***d up" Illuminatus! http://www.martin-haesemeyer.de

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            • N Navin

              Get an anteater. :-D Seriously... a few things you can do are: :bob: Keep the place as clean as possible! As you have found out, the little boogers are attracted to sweets, as wel as remnants of food. :bob: See if you can figure out where they are entering your home. You might be able to plug the area. If, however, there is an ant colony inside of your house, you're in trouble, you'll probably need to call an exterminator. The casualties will be high. :bob: Putting "bait" outside while you do all of this might help. E.g., throw the rotten apple outside instead of leaving it in the garbage. You'd rather have the ants swarming a dead apple outside than in your garbage, correct? :bob: Seal/caulk cracks and crevices in your house. This will also save on energy bills... As for me, I've been having problems with ladybugs. I feel bad killing a lady bug becuase they are cute, and can be beneficial when outside. But lately there have been tons of them. My windows upstairs need to be replaced, they get in there pretty easily. Downstairs, hardly any come in becuase the windows are new and render the house impregnable to the average insect. No single raindrop believes that it is responsible for the flood.

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              J Dunlap
              wrote on last edited by
              #20

              Navin wrote: As for me, I've been having problems with ladybugs. I feel bad killing a lady bug becuase they are cute, and can be beneficial when outside. But lately there have been tons of them. That's because they think your house is a good place to hibernate for the winter. ;) :)

              **"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

              FLUID UI Toolkit | FloodFill in C# & GDI+**

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              • J Jack Puppy

                Dress up like the queen ant and they'll obey your every move! I think the home remedy is baking soda and lemon juice, but then again I could be thinking of the remedy for acne or some other ailment.

                "Insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops." - Mortimer Brewster, in Arsenic and Old Lace
                My 20 favorite films:
                http://www.ymdb.com/user_top20_view.asp?usersid=8912

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                J Dunlap
                wrote on last edited by
                #21

                Jack Rabbit wrote: think the home remedy is baking soda and lemon juice, but then again I could be thinking of the remedy for acne or some other ailment. Or maybe the recipe for a home volcano or a small explosive? :~ :rolleyes:

                **"It is appallingly obvious that our technology exceeds our humanity." -- Alber Einstein

                FLUID UI Toolkit | FloodFill in C# & GDI+**

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                • J J Dunlap

                  Navin wrote: As for me, I've been having problems with ladybugs. I feel bad killing a lady bug becuase they are cute, and can be beneficial when outside. But lately there have been tons of them. That's because they think your house is a good place to hibernate for the winter. ;) :)

                  **"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

                  FLUID UI Toolkit | FloodFill in C# & GDI+**

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                  Navin
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #22

                  Yes. It's ironic that I would like to attract more ladies to my house... but this is not quite what I intended. :) No single raindrop believes that it is responsible for the flood.

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                  • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

                    I see lot of small balck ants in my kitchen and were ever I put something sweet they just attack the area. So I have to keep sugar and all other stuff in the refrigerator. Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? The policy in my home is that anything that entered my home alive has left alive. If that is not possible I want to get rid of them with least fatalities. If that is also not possible than I am willing to resort to more violent means.


                    Somewhere in the world there is a machine language programmer waiting for that damned assembly language fad to pass. - Stan Shanon

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                    Kant
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #23

                    Rama Krishna wrote: to keep sugar and all other stuff in the refrigerator Eat the laddus quickly.... ;P
                    "Whidbey"..."Orcas"...Roadmap
                    This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".

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                    • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

                      I see lot of small balck ants in my kitchen and were ever I put something sweet they just attack the area. So I have to keep sugar and all other stuff in the refrigerator. Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? The policy in my home is that anything that entered my home alive has left alive. If that is not possible I want to get rid of them with least fatalities. If that is also not possible than I am willing to resort to more violent means.


                      Somewhere in the world there is a machine language programmer waiting for that damned assembly language fad to pass. - Stan Shanon

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                      Phil Martin
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #24

                      I've had a few successful ways of discouraging ants from the house, though none fit the criterea of non-harmful. For interiors: - Get some borax, and mix a teaspoon with maybe a couple of table spoons of honey. - Place this mixtue in a small container thats easy for ants to climb on, and pepper these around the house or where ants go. - They absolutely love the honey, and will eats it up in no time, carrying the borax back home and killing the colony, or at least reducing it in numbers. For exteriors: - mix 1 table spoon of borax to 3 handfuls of blood and bone. - Mix up that ratio to the desired amount in a bucket. - Sprinkle it in large handfuls around your house. The ants love the blood and bone, and will also eat up the borax, with the same effect as above. Bonus is next time you water it will act as a great fertiliser for your yard as well. I've used it a couple of times, and the ants left for at least a month. Another thing to note, is that those little tiny black ants (at least where I live, middle east coast of australia) are perdators of white ants. Large infestations of these type of tiny black ants often indicates some form of nest of white ants. Might be worth looking into.

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