How to get rid of ants

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a few big ants in my kitchen. I bought the ant traps and since only have seen one. This morning I have gotten rid of over 10. There were even a couple in my dishwasher and when I opened it, they ran down the drain. I found an area that I believe was a little nest, as I saw an ant go up to it. Never had this problem, but other than getting rid of them one by one like I am doing and ant traps, what can I do? My husband loves spraying insect sprays or he would like to call someone, but I don't want the sprays in my house.

I lost my appetite from dealing with this this morning.

Message edited 8/24/2009 11:31:04 AM.

Re: How to get rid of ants

Probably carpenter ants. We have them too. We sprayed stuff we got from Lowes around our foundation. Still didn't stop them from coming in, but now there are fewer of them.

Totally skeeves me out. I think less than calling an exterminator, you're going to have them bc they are just there in the summer. If anyone has any other ideas, i'd love to know!

Re: How to get rid of ants

i had an ant issue in the kitchen last spring/summer. tried a few solutions but the ONLY ones that worked were the terro liquid ant bait traps. i bought at HD.

Re: How to get rid of ants

i had an ant issue in the kitchen last spring/summer. tried a few solutions but the ONLY ones that worked were the terro liquid ant bait traps. i bought at HD.

Re: How to get rid of ants

Thanks for responding. Sorry you are dealing with this too. Did you try the ant traps? They always worked for me in the past with the little ants. I may try to get new ones, since the ones I put down are from a month ago.

Re: How to get rid of ants

Re: How to get rid of ants

we got the ant traps for inside the house and the stakes for outside and it worked like a charm.....we put stakes at each corner of the house and a few on each side and traps inside where we saw them and needed one.

Re: How to get rid of ants

Re: How to get rid of ants

You might want to get an exterminator mainly because carpenter ants can do serious damage to a home, much like termites. At least have them come and look and see if there is an infestation. If not, it might be just a few.

I don't like sprays either, and I'm even careful with the traps since we have a toddler in the house. I use outdoor traps though (since he doesn't play outdoors unsupervised) and look for nests outside when they start coming in the house. If you find a nest, destroy it, and your ant problem should be solved. Some pour boiling water on the nests, but I always just ripped them apart.

My toddler also likes to stomp on them if he sees them, so he is helping control the ants I know, gross, but I'd rather this than sprays.

Re: How to get rid of ants

we have ants. nothing has helped at all--they just come back.

i've been talking to exterminators all day--we are definitely going this route.

BTW...don't know about carpenter ants specifically, but they all told me the nests are OUTSIDE the home, not inside. (we don't have carpenter, we have regular ants)

Re: How to get rid of ants

I just read somewhere that if you put cornmeal out wherever you see them they eat it and carry it back with them for other ants to eat and it kills them. I don't remember where I read it or if it works but it could be worth a try before using chemicals.