Ants - A Serious Problem, Please Help.

[horseshoes]

Every year we have a terrible problem with ants in the house. Sometimes they have even come up in the MIDDLE room in the house. We had a new kitchen installed a few years ago, and when we took the old units away, there were unit-height ant hills where they had dug up the ground! We ot rid of a old outside tap which may have dripped from time to time. We have paid £80 to have a professional kill them but STILL they are back again. I'm at my wits end with them. They are making such a mess inside our back door. The floor is wood and now has their piles of soil/dirt on it. Please give me some advice on what we can do. Ps I don't mind the ants in the garden, and I hate killing anything but this has to stop. I can't see what damage they are doing.

[follyfancier]

mix some icing sugar and boric acid powder and spread it around the doorway or anywhere that you think they are coming in, just be careful not to get any on food items as it is poisonous

[keyplus90]

Just go to an Asian shop that sells spices. Buy a pack of turmeric powder and sprinkle a little bit where the ants are, or where they come from. You will never see them again.



https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=turmeric+powder&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr

[boxtops]

Good tip, keyplus, but your house will smell very exotic - and it stains, so be careful with it :-)

[horseshoes]

Thanks both.

Keyplus - I have LOTS of turmeric, so I'll have a try with that later.
FF - would that be safe to use as we have a cat? Sounds good though.

[horseshoes]

Boxy, you are SO right about the staining - I have the tea towels to prove it!!! The ones I use when we cook Indian food.

[FredPuli43]

The other remedy is Nippon ant killer. This works for all garden type ants, You put a few drops where the ants come in, they take it back to the nest, and it is passed to other ants and, with luck, the queen and kills them.

[shoota]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Myrmecophaga_tridactyla_-_Phoenix_Zoo.jpg/800px-Myrmecophaga_tridactyla_-_Phoenix_Zoo.jpg

[horseshoes]

Oh we've tried (and failed) with Nippon Fred. Honestly, we've tried all commercial possibilities.

[horseshoes]

Shoots, I LOVE him. Where can I get him;-)

[fraser]

hi, i walked into the porch this afternoon and it was swarming in ants, I poured boiling water over them and spray fly and wasp killer over them. touch wood it has worked.

[follyfancier]

would that be safe to use as we have a cat?

no probably not in that case

[horseshoes]

Definitely ants Methyl.

Bleach, boiling water, Nippon all work but only short term i.e. a few days or weeks and then they're back. So I'm really only looking for alternatives to the usual remedies. But thank you all the same.

[horseshoes]

The biggest problem I have though is that the nests are obviously under the house, NOT around the edges. If you could see just WHERE they come up, you seriously wouldn't believe it!

[cupotee]

Get some Ant Bait.

http://tinyurl.com/ol23j9q Sold in many places and a cert for getting rid of ants.

We had them in our bathroom unit earlier this year but knowing about Ant Bait soon got rid of them. The bathroom is in the centre of the flat with no window.

I keep them by the waste bin in the kitchen all the time just in case the blighters make their way in.

[horseshoes]

Cupotee - yup, tried those too. Thanks though.