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Ant Invasion!

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Guys, I had blog ideas this week, but something has been driving every other thought out of my mind – ants. For some reason, they are invading my office/craft room this week, and I cannot stay in here one minute longer than I have to for work.

We had an exterminator come earlier this week to do the downstairs and around the outside of the house, and ever since, I’ve had ants all over my office. I can’t stay that’s what did it for sure, but consider: Prior to exterminator, 0 ants. Post exterminator, 1 million ants.

Anyway – any ideas how to get rid of them before the exterminator comes back to do the upstairs? I’ve been trying STEM, which works to kill them, but not to keep them away.

Any ideas welcome!

18 thoughts on “Ant Invasion!”

  1. Noooo! Bob has sprayed eucalyptus and mint essential oils — a few drops in a spray bottle with water — to deter them. However, if you want to get rid of them, the borax method usually works:

    Borax, also known as boric acid, is a common ingredient in ant control products because it’s effective and relatively safe. To kill ants with borax, you can mix it with something ants like, such as sugar, peanut butter, or honey, to create bait:
    Sugar and water
    Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 tablespoons borax, and 1.5 cups warm water until blended. Soak cotton balls in the mixture and place them near ant activity. The sugar attracts the ants, who will take the borax back to their colony and die from eating it in 24–48 hours. If ants aren’t attracted to sugar, you can try adding peanut butter instead.
    Peanut butter
    Mix 1 teaspoon peanut butter and 2 teaspoons borax until well blended. Place the mixture in bottle caps or other open containers.
    Honey
    Mix borax and honey in a small dish until it forms a thick paste. You can gently heat the honey if needed.

    One time I mixed it with sugar and it killed most of them, but the ones that came back avoided sweets and went after fats and salts. Those were Pharoah Ants, though.

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  2. Oh no!!! We had that happen at my house in Bend, Oregon in the kitchen and it was horrible. My suggestion is to check if there is something stuck somewhere that is luring them. We discovered after the exterminator came and they came back that I had let one piece of candy that fell out of a bag and congealed to the back of a kitchen cabinet. We did a thorough clean out of our kitchen cabinents using a disinfectant and they never returned. We also started every 6 months having the exterminator apply something to the outside of the house that kept them from wanting to enter the house. Wishing you much luck, I know how frustrating it is!

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  3. That is weird. The spraying drove them inside! I have been ant-less for about a week now (‘cuse me while I go knock on wood). I sprayed Home Defense after all the home remedies didn’t work but I think the weather change is what stopped them. They seem to come in the spring here.

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  4. We also have the exterminator come and do a perimeter spray quarterly, but I don’t have them do stuff inside because I worry about toxicity for cats.

    Inside, I use Terro Liquid Ant Baits. It will increase your ant population, temporarily. Big ant party. But they take it home with them, and after about 3 days, they’re gone. Sometimes I’ll see dead ants inside the bait containers. Other times, they clean up after their dead.

    I usually close off the room where the ants are invading, so the cats don’t play with the baits. It’s usually my office (upstairs, no food, go figure) or the sunroom (houseplants, water).

    Anyway, very effective. I’d stop having the exterminator perimeter spray, except that may be keeping the invasions to a minimum. Not sure I want to try and find out, the hard way!

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  5. Mr. Wyrm often says we live on an ant hill here, and sometimes we get ants inside the house as well. Recently we tried a liquid ant bait, and that got rid of the invasion we tried it on very quickly. The brand we tried (at an exterminator’s suggestion) was Terro, and it was pretty easy to use and definitely worked, at least for us this time. I hope you are able to find something that works for you!

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  6. I used to sprinkle baking soda along the floorboards and that worked pretty well. Did I mention that I was a poor student living in the married student housing at the time? Anyway, I remember that it worked, and once things are under control again you can vacuum up the soda.

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  7. We had an ant invasion in my parents house when I grew up. It turned out there was an ants nest in a big cheese plant pot in my sister’s bedroom. They ended up throwing it out of the window! I’d try Alissa’s method, I suspect the exterminators use much more toxic methods.

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