How can I Keep Ants out of my House?

Help! I found a bunch of little black ants all over my nightstand the other night. I immediately grabbed the windex, because that's all I had, and sprayed them down. And the carpet around it. Then I open the drawer and they were all over inside so I sprayed everything in it. I pulled the drawer out and dumped it in my bathtub and sprayed anything I saw moving. There were cough drops in the drawer that my husband had left in there.

I had pulled my bed away from my wall, stripped my bed down, and sprayed Windex on the floor behind the nightstand. It seemed to be okay, but I slept in the guest room that night.

The next day, I went to Home Depot as I see more randomly on the wall and on the nightstand, they sold me Terro liquid ant bait traps. They said it would attracted a lot more, but in two or three days, they would be gone.

I set one down in the corner where the baseboard meets the carpet in the corner, behind where the nightstand was, and in a few hours I saw nothing. However the next morning there were so many ants all over that trap, they were coming from underneath the baseboard where the two inside corners at the carpet and baseboard meet.

Here is the problem. 1.) my bedroom is upstairs in my house, I don't have a porch or anything like that below it where there would be a roof overhang or anything, if that makes sense, and The guy at Home Depot said it would take 2 to 3 days. I really didn't see any more ants after about 24 hours. However I set down a second try out then I saw a few more, and then nothing but now I'm seeing random stragglers walking up the wall, or on my feeling, or now even in my master bathroom. Just onesies and twosies. Why are they not going to the bait traps? What are they not dead? Where could they be coming from?

I called a pest control company, but they cannot come out until Tuesday afternoon. Ugh! I've been dealing with this since Wednesday night with Windex, Thursday with the Terro liquid bait, and it's only Saturday. I seriously feel like crying.

The nightstand and bed are still pulled out about 2 feet from the wall. I won't sleep in my room. And of course this stuff only happens when my husband is away on business.

Reading all these posts I was little surprised to see there are so many ant lovers here. Here in India we usually burn a piece of paper and run over their trail to kill them all. No mercy for them. I have lost two of my mobile phones, keyboard, remote controls and many more.

I will sure check out cloves and cinnamon in my shelves. That's what I needed. I don't want to kill them -- just keep them away.

Tonight I came across about 50 ants at the front door in the brand new mobile home I moved into just a month ago. My puppy had been staring at the carpet (she was driving me crazy doing that) and I couldn't figure out why. I thought she was just fascinated with it until I happened to go get my shoes from by the front door and saw all the ants! I am livid.

I can see where they are coming in from (a crack around the door that was not covered completely by weather stripping and caulk). So I started vacuuming them up and then read this column. Someone suggested vaseline and others suggested other things, which I did not have, but vaseline I have! I tried it and have not seen another ant crawling by the door or baseboard.

I'm calling the landlord tomorrow to see what they propose for the new carpet!

"Remedies that are chemical-free"? Water is a chemical, for goodness sake. To be helpful, be more specific. -- Robert, Mesa, Arizona

Just use bay leaves all around where they are, Ants hate bay leaves this will eliminate your problem. --joe

I was just wondering, what are the potential health risks of standard black ants around your house? Every now and then, if I leave anything containing sugar on my desk and forget about it, a line of ants will come and start collecting - after a little while they're gone again. How many vary, but one could guess that they live in the house (I'm on the second floor).

At the moment, I just see them as another part of life on earth, and seeing as they're not sleeping with my girlfriend, I see no issue with them collecting food from what I don't consume. So my question is, why are we killing ants again? I understand serious infestations are a separate matter, but am I ignorant by leaving them be?

Just found a load of ants underneath my dog Gemma's basket, fast little suckers.

I have been renting the same house for almost two years now and we have a serious carpenter ant problem. I see them in the kitchen, bathroom and even my bedroom. It makes me feel gross and unclean. I bought the bayer homedefense stuff today and sprayed it everywhere. Hope it works. I've been calling my friend (who's my landlord) and leaving messages but he doesn't know how to check voicemail. I told him to call someone to spray inside and outside the house and crawlspace. This stuff better work. I have a child, dog and fish tank. Pray it doesn't hurt them.

Just want to say thanks! My wife and I are staying in a rental house in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Last night, I was going to bed- and saw a whole parade of big black ants marching along the hall! I believe Raid etc. causes cancer, so don't want to use that, and don't want my maid to use that the next day.

So I went to this blog and found out I could sprinkle red pepper and cinnamon along the doorway to keep them out. It worked! I also gave them what one of you called "an offering"- put some sugar outside to feed them and keep them away. Thanks so much to you all. It's now 2012 and you'll probably never read this, but thanks!

409! 409 is the best ant killer I have found. Spray the ants and they die immediately. And it destroys their scent trail so other ants can't find the trail. It also helps you clean up the area once the ants are dead.

Baby powder works really well and I have not tried it, but I heard that equal parts Borax and sugar sprinkled at random around the outside of the house keeps them out.

Last weekend, I read through all these comment looking for a solution to the ant infestation we had in the wall of our master bathroom.

I wanted to post this update to anyone still looking for help since what I did worked so well. Sprays are not effective since they only scatter the ants to a new location. I used Terro Liquid Ant Bait and four days later, no more ants.

You will have to be patient by refilling the bait trap a few times and resist the urge to kill the ants you see by letting them take the bait back to the hive and queen. Terro worked and my ant problem is history!

Thank you very much for listing all the methods to discourage instead to kill them. They are fascinating. We found a pile of dead ants in our playroom, and spent an hour watching two worker ants taking the dead out. I am still not sure where they come from, but knowing that if it gets out of hand I can control the situation is satisfying enough.

I put spearmint and fresh mint leaves and until then I always saw ants. I have seen none. I think the cinnamon works too. I always keep cinnamon on my counter. Make sure it is real cinnamon.

I noticed an ant crawling on my neck and found one crawling across my bed at night. My stepson doesn't pick up the dog poop in backyard after telling him many times to and it's right by the sliding doors. Do you think ants are coming in because of that?

What I do is I take an empty spraying bottle, and put some perfume on it and spray them (take that you stupid little butt holes!)

use WD40.

Bayer's Home Defense! Works for at least two months. (longer if it doesn't rain).

I have an ant problem. My ants have nest inside of my house plants. Some of my hibiscus plants brought in from the summer now have ant colonies in them. What can I use that is safe for the plants but will get rid of these ants?

My family and I are living in this apartment that is decent shape and isn't starting to fall apart, but it has been a few years now since we've had this ant problem. We fixed it by repairing our entire apartment with plaster and sealing all holes.

That fixed that a year ago, but now they are starting to infest in our living room and my bedroom. I can't sleep at night thinking about being bitten by ants. I made some home made ant killing spray which is part vinegar, water, dish soap, habanero pepper, chili powder, black pepper and rubbing alcohol. It certainly gets rid of them and its been two days and they haven't gone near that area, but i can't spend hundreds of dollars trying to fix this problem. I'm 16 years old and my mother and father don't want me to use these tricks.

My Mom is a clean freak, my dad so-so but he hates having the house a little stinky and messy, so yeah, he's my favorite. And i don't want to bring any ants in my 2004 pathfinder since i love that thing. I just need a trick that won't make a mess but my spray does work, just a little strong so i can't use it.

For the last few weeks we've had a serious ant problem. No one else seems to be bothered by it but I've been freaking out because once I got rid of them in the bathroom they began to appear in my room!

What I first did was tape up all the cracks because our house is old and what not. Then I sprayed a insect killing product. They still appear in the bathroom so I'm out of ideas on that.

Next, I did the same thing in my bedroom but they still find ways in! I can't even concentrate because every minute I have to look around my room to see if there are any ants. So far I've sprayed windex and it's been working a little, but ants are still appearing.

Now they are appearing in our other bathroom!

We have a crawlspace so could that be the source of entrance? If so, would calling the 'ant man' to spray down there fix it?

Why are ants attracted to my dog food? This does not always happen. I live in Arizona and it is starting to get warmer here. I keep the dog food in the pantry and had never had a problem, but yesterday i saw a trail of ants leading to the dog food.

My bathroom is invested with ants so i put like a gummy in my bathroom. Will this work? After they all go to it i was going to throw the gummy away. Sounds stupid but...

I use cinnamon - for some reason ants won't walk through it. Works great.

So while reading this an ant startled me by crawling on my laptop screen. Yup, I have an ant problem all right.

Dish soap is a great way to kill them individually. I did that this morning coming home to see a dozen of them crawling all over a single dirty cup. Not so easy to do if it's not in the sink, though.

For comment 108, the ants are drawn to the heat that the power strip generates.

I'm having a problem with little black ants swarming a power strip in my living room. There is no food or drink anywhere around it. Any idea why they are drawn to it?

This is the first time we have had ants, and we have been here for over 20yrs! been trying to figure out why they are coming inside now. We have animals so pesticides aren't an option, and my sister is pro life for all animals (ants included). They never go anywhere and need food even when it's been left out.

It's been a dry summer here this year so I'm going to try to work with the ants and leave out some water by their nest. I love the boiling water idea but I don't think it would work as the little black ants nest under our pavers (my sister would be too upset anyway). I have found that cucumber slices work as a deterrent but you can't keep food lying around forever lol. Does anyone else have ideas that don't involve killing the ants? or tips for getting at the ones under pavers?

It's february and I'm getting ants in my house. Is this normal? Rita

OK i have recently read every single article. My house ants are out of control. i live in a place where the kitchen is inside the bedroom and the bedroom is inside the living room so just one room the size of a hotel room. so what i have tried is taking soapy water and wiped every surface i can with it then i took lysol wipes and did the same exact thing, then right after that i have taken chest rub and wiped small cracks down.

i am hoping that will work.

We have tried many different solutions to rid ourselves of the little black ants invading our home when it rains or is too cold out. At first, leaving a small line of cinnamon across the trial where they entered the house worked for a couple of years. Then they learned to walk around the line of cinnamon. None would cross over it, but they sure found a way around it!

We’ve tried chili pepper, black pepper and most everything mentioned above. After a few months to a few years they learn to adapt to the deterrents. Last night we had a black line of ants crawling from where the dishwasher is inserted into the cabinets. Their little train ran about 25 feet to the source of food they found.

So I did a little experimenting and found Capzasin HP (arthritis pain relief cream) smeared in a long line across their path stopped them dead in their tracks. At another spot I tried Tabasco Sauce and they would not go near it! Both work great because you can put these products on the side of counter tops and under the lip. Now they have no way to get around the barricade.

I found by putting a barricade near where they enter the house and leave the rest alone – they’d all be gone by morning. And my dog is safe from chemicals.

I moved into my new apartment one month ago, and found sugar ants in kitchen and bathroom, some on my dresser in my bedroom, my end table near my sofa. I refused to unpack anything after seeing them in my kitchen cupboards. All food went into the fridge. Some ants were crawling in my granola bar boxes. Eww.

I threw out all boxes, put granola bars in fridge. They were crawling in my rice tin so I threw out the rice.

I was constantly looking for ants. Drove me half crazy.

Everyone in the building has had them for about six months since construction on the roof. A guy came and put one small brown ant trap in everyone's apartment. After a few days, I still had ants. I put Raid ant killer drops everywhere I saw ants. Some ate it, some walked around it. Then, I sprayed one ant with Spay Nine disinfectant spray. It died. It also removed the built-up wax on my floors. It kills germs, even HIV germs, so I said, why not try it.

So, I sprayed around the kitchen sink, the counters, the bathroom, my dresser, and I see a lot less ants. From up to 40 a day, to one or two. I started seeing ants in my hall closet so I sprayed there, too. Now, none.

I'm caulking around kitchen sink (where they were crawling out from). bathroom sink, all baseboards, in cupboards, anywhere I see a crack or hole. Everywhere I spray the Spay Nine, I don't see ants anymore, but it's a good idea to spray every day. Just spray and wipe with a dry rag on the counters, but I sprayed around the sinks and bathtub and left to dry. It's been well over a week and I get maybe one or two ants a day. It's worth a try.

We have ant problems every summer and winter. We have been trying to fix that problem.

I was trying a lot of different natural "remedies" for keeping ants from the home, and I remembered a trick I heard: make them an offering of sugar. The reason they come into the home is in search of food (generally during/in preparation for winter hibernation), so instead of waging a frustrating and seemingly endless war with them -- put a mound of sugar outside, near their trail.

Sometimes it can be difficult to find where they are entering in the home from outside, but don't give up, soon they will show themselves. I have tried the "offering" technique a couple times now and both times they had stopped entering my home within 24-72 hours. You will still get a few stragglers coming in, in search of some food, but soon they will all begin working on the mound of sugar that is like a gift from heaven.

And I have found that it is much more enjoyable and fascinating to see them ravage a mound of sugar outside, than it is being frustrated at the line of them leading to my maple syrup. Happy offerings!

Diatomaceous Earth works great. You can purchase the kind for indoor use at Lowe's. There is also a kind called, "food grade" which is safer. There is another kind for outdoor use you can purchase at Lowe's or Pool Stores.

I use the diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of the home -- especially where they are coming in, inside and out. I also put it wherever the ants are congregating.

To top this off, I put it on the ants' nest. I think I read somewhere within a mile? (eeks) of the home, so I at least trek out a ways within my home. I think I go up to 100 or 200 feet from the home in all directions.

Then I use peppermint leaves (dry) - you can buy peppermint tea and break open the bags. I use this around the perimeter of the house inside and out, where the ants are coming in and where the ants like to hang out. This works better than the oil because I have noticed the oil dissipated and it is very expensive.

I kill all the ants I find and then I clean the area with soapy water well afterward.

In the past, these methods have worked well.

Sometimes I like to put the coco wheat (cream of wheat cereal) down on the counter tops. It attracts them and then they explode. I believe they also feed the queen with it. If you use this method, you will need to be prepared for a swarm of ants for a few days (not fun).

Also, the instant hand wash with alcohol kills them on contact and wipes the area clean.

Where I live, small little ants love to come in a check out what is to eat. Mostly they're just probing around provided that we keep everything really clean. Sometimes, especially when it just about to turn cold for the winter, they like to come in a swarm (stocking up for the winter I think).

I have used Raid and such and it works for a while, but I have found something that works much better and is a bit contrary to this article.

As the ants come in and swarm on say the counter (which is tile) I use a fire place lighter to light them up. Kill most of them, about twice, in the same day, and leave them alone. They nicely come and pick up the dead and then the stay away, usually at least for the rest of the year.

It is really fascinating to come back in and find not only the swarm gone, but the dead ones too. The ants do "know" about fire.

I never have seen the same effect if you just kill them and clean up the dead ants. And if you use something like Raid you have to clean up the dead ants, because if their buddies come to get them, they die too.

To get the things already in the house: Windex stops them dead in their tracks! No windex, then soapy water (dish washing liquid) will also do handily.

While most of the remedies I read work (eventually), if you want to annihilate these relentless punks, then use two items: Terro ant bait granules (shake around perimeter of house and trash cans, etc.) and Terror foaming ant spray (long distance kind with that WD-40 type tube). Spray low on walls, around house perimeter and trace around windows (high pressure spray can even reach second floors!).

After the few stragglers already inside disappear in a couple days, you will be ant free for months! Long enough to get to Winter. But I do it every few months anyway, as revenge for their intrusion!

I am happy to say that my ant problem in my kitchen has been resolved after over a month.

i had been diligent with wiping down counters and appliances (with lysol and windex). Cleaning up dishes right away and garbage and sweeping up the floors right away and it has worked. hooray!

What can you spray on walls and ceilings inside house to get rid of ants that will not take the paint off?

Ants in the dishwasher. I rinse the dishes before putting them in so there is no food for them. why do they come back?

Ants Ants Ants. Ive never had this problem. For two weeks now. I bought three different products. Yeah they die, but others come. After reading your comments, we will now try these home remedies. Fingers crossed.

the vinegar absolutely worked for me. I tried the bay leaf with mouth wash and they just carried them away. But I put a line of vinegar (on top of a line of cayenne pepper) across all the entrances to my house. It worked! thanks for the tip.

Wow! The ants are very bad everywhere this year. I am currently fighting a losing battle with sugar ants in my kitchen,i am going to try some of these tips. I did win the war with "fire ants" in my yard. Pour dried grits on top of the mound, about a cup. They eat the grits then when they drink water the grits expand and they explode! I am not kidding -- it's very effective. This, of course, won't work on the sugar ants until i find the nest. Finding the nest or mound or getting the ants to take something poison to it will kill the queen. No queen, no ants!

I have large black ants, carpenters I think. They've bitten me a few times and bit my kitten once, too. he wasn't even doing anything, those meanies.

I tried peppermint. First I tried pouring crushed up peppermint candy (with peppermint oil in it. This worked, kept them at bay, but should be avoided as the candy melts, fuses together, and becomes impossible to get off the floor (*hangs head in shame*). Next I tried peppermint oil. I put the oil in a sprayer bottle and filled it up with water (I used lots of drops (*bwahaha*). Then spray *liberally* at all possible entry points, where they'd been seen, where their trails might be, the edges of the wall, around the front door, the window, etc, ("take that, damn you!"). Then again the next day or so. Works great.

I've had to reapply maybe every three months, remind 'em who's boss, you see. You get results and your whole house smells like peppermint.

A method a co-worker gave me worked beautifully when adapted just a bit. For outside anthills, she said to use self-rising cornmeal mix. The baking soda in the mix is not healthy for ants.

So, since I didn't have any cornmeal, I mixed a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch, a teaspoon of sugar and two teaspoons of baking powder together and sprinkled it over one of their paths.

In two days, my house was ant-free. Completely. This concoction is also non-toxic to dogs and cats.

It absolutely works.

Yes, to see ants anywhere is normal, even in electronics where they like to stay for colder winter. How to get rid of them gently? (We are humans, remember!)

Just three steps are needed.

First you sit down and meditate: ants do not have great sight or hearing, they smell their way around: one ant walks down the world leaving every second a tiny drop on the ground. The next follows him by smelling the way. Next comes the next ant and so on.

What does that mean? It means that it does not help to kill just some of them. One has to annihilate their highways wherever they crossed "our, human" living space or border.

Second step: Watch where their highways are.

Third step: Find a vapor cleaner (the small hand cleaning kind e.g.) and vapor over their roads inside your house and to a certain distance (two meters?) from your home. That is all. You might like to repeat the magick vaporizing on the borderline (where there was the entrance of their roads in the past) every two days, then every week and then every spring.

It also might help to see a hypnotherapist to help you relieve the fear (should be easy - question of a few visits only.) Good luck.

I get rid of house ants by mixing Borax and peanut butter. Put it in a little cup outside the door where they were coming in and it'll get rid of them within a week.

If they are in your house, they have probably established a colony in a wall, maybe more.

Isolate the walls affected, remove outlet and switch covers, make small funnels with foil, place in bottom corner and shoot a little Terro liquid ant killer in.

You have minimized the traffic into your living space while providing an awesome attraction to the ants. They will go crazy for about two days, sometimes busier than others.

They are taking the poison back to the colony and sharing with others, most importantly the queen(s).

Usually in about two days plus, they will cease to appear.

You have successfully killed the colony, not just the guys that wander out into your living space.

snowglobe380 - To keep food on the counter while it is cooling. Or to leave any bakery items out. Lay a large dinner plate out on the counter, take some cooking oil and make a large letter "O" with it on the dinner plate. Then place a deep bowl (smaller than the plate) on the oil. (It should look like a moat surrounding the bottom of the bowl).

Then put your plate of bakery goods (or food that you need to cool) on top of the bowl. The ants will crawl on the dinner plate and have to swim in the oil to get to the bowl. And they end up drowning in the oil. (So the food at the top is safe).

I use a plate with the oil and place my dog's food dish on it. I have never found any ants in the dog food, but I've seen many dead in the oil.

It works for the tiny sugar ants. I don't know if it will work for the big ants because I don't have any to test it out on. But it's worth a try for all you that want room temperature bakery goods for breakfast or to cool a pie or cake after baking. -Katie

To get rid of ants in the house the easiest and probably the cheapest and most pleasant way is to shake old talcum powder over them. They will immediately return to their hole to die - but - the talcum on their bodies will also kill off any other ants that are there.

I have a question: I'm trying to get rid of ants in the kitchen, so how do you properly cool off food I just cooked (that is still hot) without trying to attract ants to come? it is hard to do this because it's not so great covering up freshly cooked hot foods or immediately putting them in the fridge. any suggestions? thanks

I just moved into an apartment and am noticing brown ants mostly in my kitchen and at times in the nearby living room floor & washroom. I am becoming frustrated seeing them on the kitchen counter and am discouraged to cook anything.

It sounds insane but I am really squeamish about bugs in a home. To find a couple of them crawl up my foot as I was washing the dishes creeped me out. I just moved into this place to relieve myself from a wasp visitation in my last place! This place is newer but surprisingly has bummed me out because of this situation.

I've tried the ant traps and noticed the ants see it and walk around it- doesn't work. I sprayed windex on them and they died instantly but it doesn't solve them from coming back. I wipe down my counters, try not leave any dishes or garbage. I've tried spraying raid from under the dishwasher, fridge, and side of microwave. I'll see what it does but it's wet and messy. Is there a way of doing this without making a wet mess from the sprays or leaving messy sprinkles of something like cinnamon around? Help! the ants are brown and some are fat looking!

I actually never had a problem with these critters and I would even have fun watching ant hills. Then, I started getting bitten at night and thought it was mosquitoes.

When by luck I found an ant crawling on my skin, I started searching for the colony.

I've found that *Soap Scum Remover* stops them cold.

Sprayed the whole house with this stuff and now my place is free of ants. Makes you wonder how harmful those chemicals are to humans.

here is my story. I have a gap in the wall where my bedroom door shuts, the wall is near my front door.

Last year I had tons of ants coming through this hole and I taped it up which stopped them for the rest of the summer. During the winter I removed the tape, a mistake it seems.

This past week I noticed some flying ants in my bedroom. It was annoying but otherwise didn't think much of it.

Then about an hour ago, I noticed what looked like a pile of dust on the floor next to the part of the wall where the crack is, and as soon as I disturbed this dust, dozens of ants popped out and started also coming out of that crack. I have ant spray which I brought last year but never used since the tape was effective so I sprayed inside the gap and around the gap and now have put down some more new tape. Hopefully this works again.

I actually think the colony is inside my wall. In addition I am not sure what they attracted to. I am careless with cleaning up wiping surfaces, but there is none around food, kitchen area, and sweet stuff. They're just around the door and the flying ants in my bedroom. I have a lot of pc equipment in here and really hope they are not the electrical type.

I just poured bleach around the outside of the front door. I hope this helps. It worked for fire ants when I lived in Texas, so I hope it helps here as well. The little black ants began coming inside a week ago and now I find them in the kitchen and inside the front doorway.

I'm 19 and I'm pretty much the only person ever home. i hate creepy crawling creatures. i noticed lately these itty bitty, tiny little light brown/orange ants crawling on the side of the sink going into it.

i decided to experiment with a couple of things. best thing ever: vicks vapor rub. i took a couple of q-tips to spread the vicks along the side and anywhere else ants were located (the bathroom) the ants dislike the smell and they run from it. haven't seen an ant since! also i wipe down the counters with bleach, pour some down the drains and clean with it. i pour it in front of cracks in the kitchen to keep the food smell from reaching them.

also in the living room i used mint mouth wash all out the window. they hate mint and i haven't seen one since. good luck

Ants are bad!

OK, that was helpful. i have not yet tried it but it sounds very nice. thanks.

Cillit Bang, and the ants are gone. This stuff could kill a horse.

Try Bayer Ant Poison. It works on the spot and the ants don't come back!

I'm a teen and have a really bad ant problem in my room. i don't know where they're coming from and i don't know how to get rid of them. can anyone help me, please?

I have small black ants coming in my house by the patio door. I bought liquid ants killers (raid type) but it is completely useless. those little buggers are very smart and avoid that stuff.

I washed the area with hot soapy water and some more came back (after a few days). Now they stay outside the house (between the screen and the door (they stay in the track) but they do come back. Help!

I have no idea how to get rid of ants. they are so grows and they are everywhere in my house and it is so bad.

Terro Liquid Ant Baits. The ants come and bring more ants into the clear trap, eat the liquid take it back to the colony, puke and the others eat and puke and ultimately kill the queen and the next is dead. Takes a few days and you will notice a lot more ant traffic once they find it, but it does work and works well.

I have two small children so when it starts to get nicer out and I see ants, I will put down baby powder in windows and around doors and walls. never see them after that!

Every march or april, I had swarms of disgusting flying ants inside my house. The exterminator would spray, but that was not helpful. In addition to the ants I got termites. The exterminator drilled down under the foundation in and around house and it killed the termites and the ants. That was two years ago. Saw a half dozen flying ants a couple of weeks ago for one day. We'll see what happens.

We found hundreds of ants in the ipod charger and in our portable phone charger. Anyone ever hear of this. It was the creepiest thing! We're spraying and keeping all food away. Any ideas on what to do?

I had so many ants in my house a few weeks ago. I tried sprinkling cinnamon, the chili powder and the black pepper around and none of them worked. I also tried leaving bleach just outside so they would lose the scent of their ant train into the house and that trick didn't work.

I read that killing an ant could attract more ants because when an ant dies it emits a smell that can attract more ants.

I bought ant spray and that worked okay, but the absolute best thing that got the ants out of the house, and is still keeping the ants out of the house, is washing powder for the washing machine. Ants will not crawl through the powder so sprinkle it wherever they are getting in. For example I sprinkled it in a line by my front door and haven't had a problem since. Also I have to keep reminding my housemates not to leave around crumbs or anything that could attract the ants, I made tiny notices that said things such as "go away, ants" and stuck them to clean ice pop sticks and put them around the front door where the ants were entering.

It was a polite, yet constant reminder for my housemates to vacuum and we haven't had an ant around since.

Blue Dawn Dish soap will kill big black ants on contact!

I tried the vinegar/water technique. Didn't work for me. So I went and tried sprinkling black pepper along where the ants were coming from (underneath the strip where carpet ends and kitchen floor begins). So far it seems to be much more effective.

I had a colony of ants at my last place and here now in my new home. My weird solution: to keep them outside of your home feed them honey. It will keep them happy, and I enjoy seeing them go nuts for it. They no longer come into my basement looking for something sweet to eat, and as long as they stay outside where they belong, I'm fine with the colony.

Outside, boiling water is a good non-poisonous way of killing ants. Those that don't get killed immediately will rush out of their nest where you can pour more water on them. Keep doing this several times until they are all dead.

Each time there will be fewer of them left to emerge from their flooded underground home. For a slower, but more permanent solution, mix five parts of sugar with one part Boraxo (yes, the laundry detergent). Put in just enough water to make a sticky slurry, and stir it well. Put this stuff anywhere where sweets-loving ants hang out.

They will take it back to their nest and share with the fellow ants, so that all of the colony will die. It is not an immediate solution, as it generally takes a couple of days before the nest completely dies off. You should notice a drastic decline in their numbers after the first day. Very cheap and very effective non-poisonous solution.

I had a problem with ants in the cavity wall two years ago. Pest control fellow sprayed around house and into every crevice and gap in the brickwork. After two weeks, no more ants or dead ants in the kitchen.

However, they came back about two months ago. Back in the cavity wall. Pest control fellow has had to spray all over again. If it works for two years, it is well worth it!

I have ants in my living room, but only in about half of it. I noticed they are small and are all over my love seat, but not my couch which is less than three feet away. I have about a 12x12 living room so its not very big, but it is right next to the kitchen and after three weeks they have not wandered into the kitchen at all.

I have ant traps, i have sprayed, i have caulked around my large window that is right above the love seat, i have found them every day on my favorite seat on that couch. i spray them with Mr. Clean with febreze antibacterial spray with the orange scent and it usually kills on contact but is not keeping them from coming back. Help!

And in case i forgot to say they are tiny black ants.

I found loads of ants in my house -- black ones. i hate insects and can't eat my dinner without thinking of ants around.

The chalk line method is a joke! Ants still cross it! My mom tried that and it just doesn't work. A friend of mine who has an ant problem had also tried it and she too said that it did not work.

So whoever said that the chalk works is not the smartest bulb in the box on that one. Sorry but it just doesn't work so don't waste the chalk or waste the money on chalk to try that.

I've had decent luck with spraying the perimeter of the house (where the foundation meets the ground) with some insect killer. Haven't applied this season yet and have seen some small black ants in the house.

A friend recommended the ant traps (for the ones in the house already) and I will be spraying the foundation this evening.

These ants were taking all my attention and time. Found them all over my wash area and bathroom which annoyed me a lot. Did everything to keep these places clean but find them again ruling my housing. The cinnamon trick did work out for me and I was really happy to see the ants saying goodbye. They lost the battle.

We have small brown ants in our kitchen. it seems every time i go into the kitchen i am killing and cleaning them off our counter tops. It's making me insane. we have animals and a son with asthma so harsh chemicals cannot be used. Someone please tell me what really works. thanks Kim

i have ants that go in my bathroom and in the shower and they like to make a nest in the shower doors.

i see about 1000 ants every time i clean them up and more and more come. they even come to my daughter's room and the other rooms, but they must love to stay in the bathroom.

What is it about the bathroom and why do they make a nest in the shower doors?

If anyone knows what to do or can help me with this, write me back.

I had a colony of small brown ants outside on my sidewalk. It was amazing what a can of "Brake Clean" did to them. Killed them instantly so I emptied the can into every crack I could find in the general area. Problem disappeared.

Now in a different home in the country and we have large black ants inside the house. Tried the Brake Clean trick to no avail. These are some hardy ants. They roll over and shake for a while then get up and walk away.

Any one have any proven suggestions to kill the large type black ants?

I purchased a bottle of hot sauce and a small paintbrush. They will not cross the line of hot sauce or cayenne pepper, but the hot sauce is easier to apply.

I have put a think line of it around my kitchen cupboards, after washing them out and putting anything that might smell good to an ant in containers or zip lock bags. I paint the hot sauce on the hangers for hummingbird feeders, doesn't bother the birds, keeps the ants off. I reapply every week or two for a month or so, and the ants seem to give up.

i have an ant problem. But have been told by friends to use Nipon ant powder.

I have little black ants. Someone told us to try Combat Gel. It seems to really attract them, and they were all over it within hours. We used inside like we were told. The next day we found hundreds of dead and half dead ants!

They were covered in the poison gel, leaving greasy marks everywhere! Nobody told me that. The package says the ants will take it home and then die, but mine didn't!

We found them in every cabinet, shelf, and along the baseboards for weeks! And of course we still have ants!

From what I am reading many of you have different types of ants and that is why the same ant repellents aren't working for everyone.

Somebody (18) said they had ants eating sawdust. Those are probably carpenter ants, and they can ruin the wooden structures in your home!

Another person said they were on her and her son's computer stands (19.) Those may be ants that are attracted to electrical currents, either "crazy ants" or "iomported fire ants." They can and will get inside your computer and other electrical equipment, and can short is out.

Someone said they had larger black ants around their carport (10). Those are probably "pavement ants" and they live under concrete.

For best results, look up repellents and poisons specific to the type of ant infesting your home.

I have been finding ants everywhere: in my bathroom, counters, bathtub, on top of toilet, tv, my clothes, blankets, and even in my bed! :( They are tiny ants! But I'll find a lot dead (i've been spraying so much bug spray its ridiculous) and some still alive just crawling around.

Now that I've found them in my bed, it's bothering me even more! I've tried all kinds of bug spray but they just keep appearing dead or alive. I have no idea where they are coming from. I tried to look. I rent a trailer so I don't really know much about the home except it is pretty old. But help! I have no idea how to get rid of them and most importantly, sleep in peace knowing I'm not going to have so many ants crawling on me in my bed! -Lexi

I tried a bunch of home remedies to no avail, then used liquid ant baits which worked like a charm!

If you're finding dead ants, you might have a friendly spider nearby eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've noticed this trend and have found a spider as the cause.

I pour bleach or vinegar down my drains of my sink and tub every month. That helps a lot because they love to come through the pipes, and watch for every little hole in the kitchen and bathroom because ants will come through. Plug it up and keep all stuff off the counters.

To effectively eradicate meat ants, black ants and sugar ants I used the following methods;

Meat ants:

I threw a dead rabbit on top of the nest, then while the ants were busy stripping the carcass I poured a diluted solution of "home brand" bleach (1 part bleach: 10 parts water) down the access holes in the nest. The entire nest was inactive within two hours, and remained inactive for the next two and a half years.

Black ants:

I located the entry point into the house (rear sliding door), and sprinkled a generous amount of ground black pepper along the door track (approx 5g per meter). I did this before turning in for the night, and by the following morning there was no further sign of the black ants.

Sugar ants:

I sprayed their line with a fine mist of a generic brand ant spray purchased from the local supermarket (just two squirts) and watched a vast majority of them drop dead before my eyes. Those that didn't die instantly made their way back to the nest. Within 48 hours the entire nest was inactive.

Sometimes when you see flying ants in your house, they're coming in through the bathroom. Apparently during heavy rains, they will seek the highest points on your house to get away, and sometimes that means vent pipes, i.e.. your bathroom exhaust fan. I had them do that to me once, but they'll go away within a week or so -- it has nothing to do with a food supply. I guess they just fall in the bathroom when they do that.

Spread Borax around the perimeter of the house and along any ant paths you see. I also spread it underneath the house for good measure. Inside, put it under counters and sinks, anywhere ants have been known to hide. This will help get rid of roaches as well.

i have ants in my pantry. the little pests are climbing the walls. i used home defense and in one hour they were back. i read about vinegar and i tried it full strength and they have been gone for 3 days now. Now they are on my counter top. i sprayed with the vinegar again. hope this works.

I am going to put near empty sugary drink bottles in places to see if I can get the same results as the person above. Drowning ants is fun anyway. LOL

I will not use chemicals in the house because it's harmful to the environment and it makes me sick. As such I've tried every eco-solution I could find and must concur that these new ants are a mutant species. The way I understood it is they used smell to find whatever; well, modern ants must not have the ability to smell because nothing - *nothing* - is keeping them out. We've used chili, peppermint, cloves, cinnamon, orange oil, vinegar, peroxide, baking soda, pepper, toothpaste, etc. They simply mock our attempts and walk over said repellents. The only thing that has worked (albeit temporarily) is mineral oil or liquid soaps like dish soaps. Mineral oil (baby oil) smells horrible (and isn't healthy to breathe in, believe it or not, so I cover it with baking soda. But like I said this is merely a temporary fix. I also hesitate using any kind of pellet poisoning or bait outside because I don't want to kill the spiders (who, unlike the ants, are basically harmless). Plus we have a family of tiny lizards and we would not think of putting them at risk. The only plan we have it to cover every single crack or opening we can find in the walls. It has been a summer-long endeavor and we have been manic at times. Cannot even tell you how many late nights we've had getting ready for bed only to kept up by a new ambush. I love wildlife, but I sincerely *hate* ants. It's terrible to say, but there you have it. --Mar

You need to spray outside the home. hopefully you can find the "source" outside. You may find a large ant hill close to the door and spray it with something like Home Defense. You can do what ever you want inside, but they will always find a way to get back inside. If you can get to the "source" outside, they will be gone.

*Easy solution!* put a starburst where they are coming in at. they stay right there, eat it and disappear within two days!

I had a horrible ant infestation in my last place. Traditional natural remedies were useless so I used cleaner with orange oil in it (Orange glow?). After cleaning the kitchen and pantry with it, we never saw the ants again. Perhaps if you just sprayed an orange extract it would be just as effective.

Help, we have ants in the clothes closets. Last week I found an army in the baby's closet. Sprayed and gave away any items not being used in closet. Now no sign in the nursery but in my bathroom and closet. What? What type of ant just wants to live around clothes, no food, water? I give up. I will try the home remedy cinnamon, vinegar, and vaseline. I hope people at work will not think I moonlight as a short order cook.

*Solution*! I have ants everywhere in my brand new house, so bad they are even in the dishwasher, inside the toilet bowl, hundreds all over the vanity in bathroom, etc. After two days i gave up spraying. I accidentally left a two liter coke bottle with about 3 tablespoons of coke left lying sideways on the vanity. after a day and a half every single ant was gone and has been gone out of the house.

here's what happened. i noticed there were hundreds of ants inside the coke bottle that died from drowning, so i picked up the bottle to look and laugh at all the dead ants and shake up the live ones. well apparently ants carry away their dead and mourn over them so since so many ants had died, apparently they never came back. it's been two weeks and no trace of an ant anywhere and I've experimented with this in every room!

I just poured boiling water down every ant spot I saw. Sprayed vinegar around, and cinnamon. I drew a line of cayenne pepper at every doorway. I usually clean with vinegar. Maybe they are mutant here too! Will update with what works.

If you have some advice on what to use to get rid of ants, for crying out loud, tell us the name of the product!

I have recently seen ants on my computer stand, There are ants on my son's stand and my daughter saw them on the counter in the bathroom. I have never had a problem with them and don't understand why I am getting them all of a sudden. Last night I went to have a cinnamon roll and the bag they were in was filled with ants, so if cinnamon is supposed to kill them, than why do I have at least two dozen in my bag of cinnamon rolls? I need to do something. I don't want them all through my house and really don't want to spray and have my house smell like chemicals. So got any ideas? I would love to hear them.

I have ants coming in my house since 2 years. It started with bathroom and now they are in my basement sealing eating saw dust. I removed the panel and sprayed on it and in my bathroom as well. I don't see them now. Its just about a week but I am sure they will come back. I have no idea where they are coming from.

I have small sugar ants. Tried everything. Just got through spraying vinegar on counters, in cracks and outside. They were covering the cats dish. washed it out and sprinkled baby powder areound the bowl and sprayed some vinegar. and all over my deck. Came back inside and there were three ants crawling in the vinegar. what the heck?? I think they are mutant.

I did the pepper thing and there they were carrying the pepper. they are just out of control.

i have the same thing about ants in my basement. they have been coming in for the past couple of years and dying on a ledge around a back wall. we have to clean them up about once a week. the only thing i can think of, is a previous owner sprayed something??? we have them in our kitchen this year for the first time and i'm looking for a good solution. there aren't a ton, they are smaller ants, and about a dozen to 20 each time. i will try the cinnamon and vaseline, if not quite a few people mentioned the homedefense.

Yeah, that's exactly what I want all over my house; cinnamon, Vaseline, and vinegar. I'd rather have the ants!

For weeks we have had occasional random ants crawling around, always seeming to center in our kitchen. We found a hole in the wall by our fridge and found out (1) they were coming in through a hole where caulk was missing and (2) probably because the refrigerator dripped water for them and (3) were probably the colony we had just uprooted by removing a concrete slab just a few feet from our house and (4) were probably motivated to find shelter from a severe rainstorm. We tried putting out artificial sweetener, but we found that did *not* help anything but to create a mess on the floor. After shooting a load of generic Raid into the hole, I am sure I won't see them for the rest of the day, allowing me to caulk the hole when it dries.

The person who found a bunch of live ants and dead ants...are you sure they are not termites? Sounds like termites...

I too had a terrible ant problem that just would not go away no matter what I did or what I bought at the store. I finally searched the internet. This company explained exactly what I needed to do and exactly what I needed to use to get rid of the problem. I ended up purchasing an ant bait gel called Maxforce and an ant bait granule called Advance. Apparently ants have nutritional needs that need to be met and one product worked for sweet feeding ants and the other for protein feeding ants. By providing both types of bait I was able to attract the ants to the bait and they were gone in just a couple of days!

I found the posts regarding ants very helpful and interesting. When I first moved into my mobile home three years ago, there were big black ants everywhere outside in my carport and yard, but not in my home. I use salt on dandelions all over my yard and I spray around my front door area to ward off bugs. The next year that I lived in my mobile home, the big ants were gone, but the small sugar ants moved in. One day there they were on my kitchen and bathroom counters. My neighbors had worse problems with the ants being into everything. My neighbor bought a bunch of ant bait, placed all around his mobile and cured his problem. This year more sugar ants were coming in so I bought the ant bait too and put it where I saw ants congregating or wondering. It has been several months now and all clear of ants in my home.

Man-o-man the sneaky ants! The best solution I have had with keeping them out of my house is getting ant poison and sprinkling it around my house (never inside cause I have a child), then I take the vinegar mixed w/ water and spray around my counter tops and any cracks I might have..like that hole from the dryer that leads outside all around the bathroom walls and etc. I also spray around the area cause I live in a trailer where the hood over the oven goes outside my home to blow the smoke out and I spray there. This seems to have worked for me..but If you do have the ants in the house I found out it's easier to try to get as many out as possible before doing anything outside your home. That's what makes it easier for me..hope it helps :)

I used to be able to buy a special chalk that I referred to as Chinese chalk because it was sold in small Chinese shops. I think California has banned the sale of this chalk because it had some kind of poison in it.

It worked very well. I would make a line in their path, and the ants would touch, but not cross it. But also they would carry the poison on their legs into the nest and it would kill them.

Now what I do is buy small pellets in one of the big home improvement stores. They work outdoors only. You sprinkle some around the perimeter of the house, and wherever you see ants outdoors. You have to be watchful, and keep it up, to keep the ants under control, and not let them enter your home.

UPDATE: It's been almost 3 weeks since I sprayed the kitchen counter and along the baseline in the kitchen with HomeDefense. Unfortunately, little by little today I'm seeing ants on the counter again. I sprayed the area again, but I just don't understand why they keep coming back and where they're coming from. I would think that the spray barrier would kill them and/or scare them off for at least months at a time.

Also, I saw a special chalk meant to get rid of ants in a home and garden magazine. Sounds like it should work, especially if the previous poster was able to use regular kid's chalk to keep them away.

Hi, my ant problem started about 3-4 years ago. I couldn't understand where the ants were coming from in my kitchen. I made the mistake of putting out some syrup to see. I saw where they were coming from, plugged up the hole and about 4 days later the ants came back through another hole.

I used the cinnamon line, vinegar spray and caulked along the baseline of the kitchen and living room. Still those ants kept coming back. After plugging up 9 holes, at this point the ants were out of control, so I called Orkin. The guy put down drops of ant kill gel baits. He said the ants will take the bait to the colony and kill it. He also told us not to spray the ants because it'll just scatter them and they'll form new colonies.

Orkin got the ant problem under control, but after 2-3 weeks they came back (just not as bad.) We stayed with this company for 2 years, but canceled them because their gel bait system wasn't getting rid of the ants for good.

Last summer I went to the local exterminator, he gave me a spray to use and it help A LOT--those ants stayed away for months. The only thing about it is it had a terribly strong smell and it was greasy. We did experience ants in the kitchen this year but they came out later than usual after rains.

My brother recommended HomeDefense spray, you can use it inside and there's no smell and it's not greasy. It worked for us so far. Ants were all over our kitchen sink counter, I sprayed HomeDefense and the ants have been gone for about 2 weeks. Hope this helps.

If it makes you feel any better, this time of year usually has ants coming inside to look for water. They may have found a leaky pipe somewhere, or some other source of liquid.

Im not sure what is going on?..this also happened last year around this time with the bigger black ants, now its the small brown ones, 2 days ago i notices ants right around my wall on the floor going around the two walls, cleaned them up, & i seen i have a crack lil tiny hole that my husband will have to fix/seal, ASAP!, in the glass door & the wooden door, we just moved in last year to the house, so we've been doing lil here lil there, at 1st i stuck a rag in between the crack because i have seen that's were they were coming from, & it worked, my son knocked the rag out, so i noticed them back in again, So i started taping around the lil spaces till tomorrow my husband can get something to seal the doors, because its the prob/ w the rubber strip not being there, that's why in the winter last year i noticed a draft there, Now these damn ants. Ive been going crazy w/ this these 2 days, I just cannot figure out why they are coming in? my house is spotless, I constantly clean every lil scrap that my kids get on the floor, So that can't be drawing them in, Driving me nuts, I was just on the computer earlier, & came across the chalk thing, & looks like it might work, I right away went to get chalk, because we have plenty of that, from kids, i tested it on an ant at my back door outside, TRYING to get in i drew a thick powdery line, & the ant did not cross, went around, I thought hmmm,,

so i drew a circle around it, & it was going around in circles like it was stuck, I thought whoa!, it works? didn't see how long would work for i blew the ant away, since it was outside, & colored my whole step right by door then went all the way around outside door. So now when i go up stairs when im done on com, I'll see if i see anymore.

hope this chalk things works...

tomorrow definitely getting the powder ant killer that you sprinkle around the house, & my husband sealing the doors.

There are flying ants everywhere, in the pool, etc, now they are getting in the house. How do they get in at night, lots of them?

I have ants coming in my house and then dying? Why are they coming in and dying. I had a bunch of them in my laundry room in the corner floor. 30 dead and about 40 alive. We cleaned it up, later there was aobut 15 more dead ones. What is this about?

We just found a ton of ants ON the mouthwash bottel in the bathroom....Now what?