OOT please help me, ants are taking over my kitchen!

[econophile]

slice up some cucumbers and put them around the kitchen

[UbinTook]

DE or Diatomaceous Earth is becomming more commonly used for pest control by Eco Friendly pest companies.
Googling returns tons of information.

[GotRivered?]

I live on sand. My whole town was built over sand because we are by the beach and we used to get insane ant problems... I mean armies of them in one area or 10 ant wide lines that you could follow through the house. You need to re caulk all the holes in your walls and bombard those areas with pestacide before you do so. It reduces the visible amount of ants in the house. Get a good exterminator because there is no home cure thats easy to pull off

[Big Poppa Smurf]

I don't know what it's called and I need to go back to doing homework so I can go out drinking tonight so I'm not going to look it up, but there is this super neat plant-based insecticide that is like ant nerve gas. Basically you spray it on the scout ants and they freak out and twitch their way back to the nest, which you can then destroy using your favorite method of choice.

Hm ok I lied this piqued my curiosity. I think it is this stuff, the daisy pesticide: Natural pesticides

wikipedia article

[slickpoppa]

No, your kitchen is taking over those ants

[Annulus]

thanks, good stuff.

[Ignignokt]

First, you MUST find out where they're coming from. If necessary, put out some honey and observe the trail of ants.

Then, get some ant bait. Very cheap (~$5-7 at Home Despot). Put it in the direct path of the ants, preferably immediately where they enter the house. (If you have a cat/dog, make sure it isn't messing with the bait. Sniffing shouldn't harm it, but chewing on them may.)

I've had ants twice in three years, and both times the bait worked within 24 hours. They take it back to the nest and all the ants eat it, including the queen, and they die.

Any solution is only temporary - ants will often have many colonies in your area, and eventually they'll return seeking food and/or a place to live. But this one has worked very well for me.

[ncboiler]

[ QUOTE ]
I have had an ongoing problem with ants for awhile now. I own a home in a nice suburban detroit neighborhood. Even If I leave a spek of food out overnight their will be a hundred ants all over it by the morning. I try my hardest to keep things perfectly clean, but for some reason ants always are around. I have never had this problem anywhere I have lived. My mom thinks it's because I had new wood floors put in last year, and she says ants love wood. I dunno. But I am sick of it. Any OOT'ers have any helpful advice, should I call pest control? spray pesticides? By the way I do have a cat.

[/ QUOTE ]

I stumbled upon this solution by accident. Leave a pizza box out with some pizza still in it. Every ant in the house will be getting jiggy on this thing after about 12 hours. Throw it outside the house and all ants are gone. After I did it once accidently I did it again in a different house and it worked. I told a friend about it because he was complaining about ants. He said for [censored] and giggles he tried and it he thought it worked.

[Big Poppa Smurf]

You can leave jelly outside over night in the summer. This will do nothing except you will have a disgusting pile of ant jelly outside your house. You can then obliterate ant jelly with your hose for instant ant killing pleasure