Ants
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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
I found it useful to keep honey and sugars inside a water filled container. They don't approach it if they know the risk... Did you know that the ants follow each other by using pheromones? Each ant lays down some pheromone when it searches for food. The pheromone disolves in time. Once an ant finds food, it uses the trail back and enhances the pheromone. This way, new ants, follow the latest and richest pheromone trail. I find the ants useful. They clean up. They are smarter than any AI program I have ever written ;) I live to code.
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I found it useful to keep honey and sugars inside a water filled container. They don't approach it if they know the risk... Did you know that the ants follow each other by using pheromones? Each ant lays down some pheromone when it searches for food. The pheromone disolves in time. Once an ant finds food, it uses the trail back and enhances the pheromone. This way, new ants, follow the latest and richest pheromone trail. I find the ants useful. They clean up. They are smarter than any AI program I have ever written ;) I live to code.
allia wrote: They are smarter than any AI program I have ever written Unfortunately I can't appreciate their intelligence at this time. Actually they will be smart if they left my kitchen and home without any bloodbath.
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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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
Rama Krishna wrote: Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? call an exterminator. they'll spray the outside of your house with a barrier of chemicals that will 1) kill any ant that walks into it, 2) will deter any ant from trying and 3) will erase the scent trail. ImgSource | CheeseWeasle
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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
You need to trace the trail of ants back to the spot where they're entering the living space. This may be a crack in the wall, or space around a pipe where it passes thru the wall (look under sinks). Then when you find it, plug up the hole. --Mike-- Ericahist | CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | Homepage | RightClick-Encrypt | 1ClickPicGrabber Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? I think so Brain, but how will we fit the hamster inside the accordion?
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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
do u have wide feet? if so..then just step in the middle of the ant battalion and swirv you feet around a few times,that'll get reed of a lot of them....except that, that may be too violent for your little delicate heart.:)
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You need to trace the trail of ants back to the spot where they're entering the living space. This may be a crack in the wall, or space around a pipe where it passes thru the wall (look under sinks). Then when you find it, plug up the hole. --Mike-- Ericahist | CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | Homepage | RightClick-Encrypt | 1ClickPicGrabber Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? I think so Brain, but how will we fit the hamster inside the accordion?
You might want to take a look behind any photo frames if any. I recently had a bad case of "Ant's Attack" and after a couple of days try trailing them, i found thousands of them behind the photoframe above my bed. Weird part was, there was almost no ants flowing in and out of it during daytime. Before gas-ing them and also to satisfy my curiousity, I borrowed a Sony Camera and switch it to night mode..... In 2-3 a row, they crawled from my room, round the living room and into my kitchen. I dump tons of medicated powder all over them and along the path every night before i switch off the lights. I think they got the message.. although i think they are starting a new coloney some where in my kitchen :~
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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
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! -
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
Find out where they are creeping in and put some peppermint oil (has to be essential oil not perfume) on a cotton wool ball, then stick it by the holes. You can just leave a few around the floor or wherever. The oil makes it hard for the ants to breath in through their little breathing holes.
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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
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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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
I don't know if this is a local product, or available more widely, but I use a product called terro. It is basically sugary substance with a little "death juice" mixed in. You leave some out in problem areas and they eat, and then they die. The trail to it is left and more and more come to it until they are gone. Matt Newman
I am the anti-linux "If you're Master Chief and you're facing the Flood, grab a shotgun and save the last checkpoint" - Me, cause I was bored -
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
Rama Krishna wrote: Can anyone suggest how to get rid of them pereferably without killing them? Forget it, nuke the little ba*st**ds now before the they drop your home down a fifty foot hole & start to nibble your toes:wtf: John Hudson I want to see Gollum chomping Frodo's ring finger off and dipping it in Soy Sauce :wtf::eek: http://www.rainbow-innov.co.uk[^]
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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!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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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
Welcome to Ant Warfare. My condolences. Rule number 1 of 1 is to not waste time tracing back to their entry point and blocking it - they will simply find another one. I've had ants eating through a newly plastered wall, the sealant around a window frame, and up through a solid concrete floor, latex underlay and then carpet. If they want to get in to your house rest assured they will do. Some people say it's not nice to kill ants just for entering your home, but I always ask them to wait till they've come home to find thousands of ants flying around their house. It's like a locust plague, but each and every one of them will start a new colony... in your house if you don't get them out quick. Boiling water is very effective, but only if you want to boil them alive. Find their entry point and pour boiling water straight from a kettle all over it. Repeat for about 24 hours to get all of them. Those that are left alive will have no rail to follow, and usually the bleached remains of ten thousand of his buddies prevents a stray ant from coming back the same way. If you can find the colony then you can use more humane methods. Smash it to bits, scoup up as many ant larva as possible, and rehome them in a hole a suitable distance away from your property.. You should have scouped up enough ants to care for them where the end up, and the rest of the critters seem to be able to trace their way to it, so you can safely boil the remains of the old colony without ending their genetic line. Not sure if you need the queen though... I don't know how ant colonies work, only that I did this with one by my patio earlier this year and then they started attacking my neighbour instead. :-O
David Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Putting the laughter back into slaughter
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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!How about making an ant trail to one of more of the spiders hangouts - let nature take its course.
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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
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." -
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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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
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 -
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 | doxygenmhh, 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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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.
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
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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=8912Jack 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