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
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
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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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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: 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". -
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'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.