Sometimes keeping house means asking the little pests to leave. Jesse wants me to do it in a green non toxic way. Well, I tried the corn meal, we have a cinnamon barrier in front of the door, and I've put dryer sheets in crevices. The vinegar is supposed to kill their trails, but I only have sushi vinegar, so they might actually like it. Don't tell Jesse, but I'm off to Target tomorrow for some toxic, horrible for the environment substance to spray around the perimeter of the apartment. They are ruthless. And the cinnamon just doesn't compete. And just so you know, it's not just a couple of ants, they are swarming. ( do ants swarm?)
September 28, 2008
Ant Eradication
Sometimes keeping house means asking the little pests to leave. Jesse wants me to do it in a green non toxic way. Well, I tried the corn meal, we have a cinnamon barrier in front of the door, and I've put dryer sheets in crevices. The vinegar is supposed to kill their trails, but I only have sushi vinegar, so they might actually like it. Don't tell Jesse, but I'm off to Target tomorrow for some toxic, horrible for the environment substance to spray around the perimeter of the apartment. They are ruthless. And the cinnamon just doesn't compete. And just so you know, it's not just a couple of ants, they are swarming. ( do ants swarm?)
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We had a major ant problem here last summer. Even if I had just mopped the floor with bleach, they would still be cruising around looking for left-overs. We got these little ant traps called "Terro", placed them around the kitchen and we didn't have any problems this summer. Who knows, though, maybe all the rain we had in the spring drowned them all :)
ReplyDeletePS Verano supplies ant traps for you for free in case you didn't know.
I hate ants ... and the ones down there are relentless. We finally taped the entire perimeter of our apartment (in Palo Verde) with duck tape and put baby plug protectors in the plugs because they were living in the walls and coming through anywhere they could see light. It worked. It's sorta green, right?
ReplyDeleteDown here I used a squeeze gel (Combat I think) that I got at Home Depot. The ants eat it up and disappear. It worked great, especially outside where I didn't have to worry about the kids getting into it.
I used the ant traps from verano, and they worked pretty well. I haven't had them in the bedroom since. Now the ants in the tub...that's another story...hence I have joined you by re-caulking my tub every few months!
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that different types of ants required different techniques. For those really tiny super fast ants (sugar ants), you have to get the gel stuff on the paper. I forget what it's called but you squeeze a little on a square of cardboard and they love it and then die. For the rest I have to recommend those combat traps, switched every three months. I've tried lots of other "friendly" methods and they just don't work. Carpenter ants-- I think those have to be bombed by professionals. They definitely swarm and can kill whole animals. They bite me all the time, but Jake thinks I'm crazy.
ReplyDeletedid jesse tell you about our big mouse? we put out traps (both jacksons and palmers). haven't caught a mouse but amaya sprung the trap at their house and ate the bacon. yum.
ReplyDeletethanks for the ant advice. my old trick of spraying around my window and doorway worked.
ReplyDeleteDid Amaya use a stick to spring the trap? I just bought a whole bunch of bacon at costco, so just bring her over here and I'll give it to her fresh. No need to raid the traps.