Ants are gone?
With Grant’s ant trap (ants bypass it).
With Terro’s liquid ant killer (those are specks, not ants, on the wall).
On March 13, we discarded the ineffective Grant’s ant traps. David bought Terro liquid ant bait and poured it onto small pieces of cardboard cut from the box it came in. He placed the pieces on our kitchen shelves. Immediately, ants swarmed to the bait and consumed it. David kept pouring liquid bait onto the cardboard daily. It took two weeks for it to take effect, but the ants are gone from the cupboards now.
Last night, however, I noticed a fresh wave of ants creeping from the air conditioner to the beam of the ceiling and then to the kitchen. It seems we have not been killing them at the source, i.e., the yard. Does anybody have a safe solution for this? Since I don’t want smelly poison sprayed on the plants next to the windows and since I don’t want our outdoor cats to eat ant pellets, perhaps traps would be the way to go. But are they effective? Please let me know.
April 1, 2008 at 1:59 pm
gigi…have i ever steered you wrong.
those ant traps you bought are designed for outdoors. the terro liquid/gel is the exact same composition as the grant’s liquids.
the ants that have come back to your house is from another queen. the ants typically nest outdoors and seek food indoors when there is none outside. you could try those ant traps, which are really the same stuff as the terro bait only enclosed in a bait housing.
if not, you need to use something like bayer’s outdoor yard granules throughout your yard or at least a three foot band around the perimeter of your home. this needs to be done monthly. it will also take care of most roaches,etc.
a residual spray would also be a great secondary combative for your pest.
the number one way to prevent pests from dining in your home is proper cleaning and sanitation. plus, pest sealing all open food stuffs.
at the last resort…call your local pest control company. for about 40 bucks a month they will help you rid your environment of these problems.
…nuff said
April 1, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I guess I’ll buy the ant traps again and use those in the yard first. I really want to avoid the granules because of my cats, and the sprays because of the odor.
April 1, 2008 at 3:09 pm
one, they are not harmful to your cats.
two, they are odorless.
April 1, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Gigi,
I go with Terminex terminte and pest control. They spray around my house and certain places in my yard where the ants like to congregate. They told me to cut down the little berries from my Filipino palm trees. Since I did that, they have not been around to much. Also, you might want to put the terro in the seams by the pipes, windows, and other entry points. The ants like termintes follow plumbing a lot of times. I watched the Terminex guy do that.
Because they spray, we are one of few house that get dead roaches every morning in Kaimuki. Kaimuki is infested with roaches coming from the sewer.
I think Terminex uses different odorless sprays if you have small animals. Because I don’t have pets outside, they give um. No dead animals in our yard from spraying, but we get the occasional gift of a dead mouse or bird from the neighborhood cat. The cat is always trying to catch the birds in our yard.
April 2, 2008 at 12:21 am
listen to kaimuki boy.
collect rent from the daughter to help pay for pest services.
call hauoli terminix ask for jeff. tell em i sent you.
April 2, 2008 at 10:08 am
The terminex guy says the spray is safe for small animals and kids as long as they are not there when they spray. 15 mintues after spraying its suppose to be safe. Cux the neighborhood cat is in our yard all the time, peeing on the corner of our house, catching birds, playing with our flower wind mill, I guess the Terminex guy is right about it being safe.
April 2, 2008 at 8:09 pm
David looked for Bayers granules at Long’s but they don’t have it. He will check at Home Depot.
If that fails to work, I’ll call Terminex as well as another company to get the best price for outdoor spraying. I won’t spray indoors, but will continue to use the Terro liquid bait.
Thanks for all of your suggestions. Much appreciated!