Ants in the kitchen.

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Jan Pijpelink

Jan Pijpelink

Minister of Fire
Jan 2, 2015
1,990
South Jersey
We have ants, mainly in our kitchen. Tried coffee grounds, lemon, and peppermint oil. No success.

We do have Temp Dust, but I am hesitant to use that near our countertop.

Any suggestions?
 
Ant baits containing borax as the active ingredient. There are DIY recipes that I have used, but I find it more effective to use Terro products. I have had success with both their interior and their exterior products.
 
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Had mixed results with a DIY borax solution. It took a while. The Terro stuff worked better.

One tip I read for DIY borax is to put out a couple jar lids: one with sugar as the bait in the solution the other… I forget. Something not sweet. Apparently most ants go for sugar, but some go for protein(?). The ants I had went for the sugar solution.
 
Some chalk or calcium carbonate as a barrier while waiting for the borax to kill them off? (It can take a few days.) a thick line of sidewalk chalk worked for us at our last place, but you can get food grade calcium carbonate.
 
Gel type baits, placed near point of entry. Resist any urge to disturb them between their point of entry and the bait, just leave them do their thing. After 24 hours, you will see a very noticeable decrease in activity. By day 3 they should be done... if you chose your bait location well.

We see, to get them each spring, they have a few favorite locations. This method always eliminates them quickly. We've been using the Terro Liquid Ant Baits, which seem to work very well in this application, but there may be others that work as well. The point is, it should be some bait that the ants will take back to the colony, not a simple trap.

Obviously avoid using any ant spray / poison near these baits, you want the ants to survive and take the bait back to the colony, so you're not fighting a never-ending battle.

Amazon product ASIN B00E4GACB8
 
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I use the Terro products as well. (And some granules in a band around the home - forgot which ones, but they say they can be used in a vegetable garden too - no idea why one would want to do that, and I certainly won't, but it suggests (to the naive me) that it's not that "bad".)

I buy a small bottle of liquid, put some in a beer bottle cap and use a toothpick (or similar) to put one small drop on the outside of the cap, and put it near where I think they enter/exit. Sometimes it takes a day or 2 days, sometimes more (but maybe there were more nests then).
 
I use the gel type baits on carpenter ants, only thing that touches them.
 
Jan Pijpelink said:
We have ants, mainly in our kitchen. Tried coffee grounds, lemon, and peppermint oil. No success.

We do have Temp Dust, but I am hesitant to use that near our countertop.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Cinnamon works great for me. I’ve used it in the garden (ants protect aphids) and it cleared them out (aphids too). Maybe sprinkle some around where they’re entering and where they’re traveling
 
I use Do Your Own Pest Control for everything. I follow the mix ratio to the letter and spray the foundation annually twice a year.
No bugs.
 
If I know where they are coming in, I use the Raid ant spray. If I don’t know, then I use a mix of Borax and sugar and water in several places where they are present. And still use the Raid on the perimeter where they might be coming in.
 
Jan Pijpelink said:
We have ants, mainly in our kitchen. Tried coffee grounds, lemon, and peppermint oil. No success.

We do have Temp Dust, but I am hesitant to use that near our countertop.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Are they the tiny sugar ants? If so, borax works, especially if they track it back to the nest and the queen. We are fighting them annually at our place too. I have to be pretty aggressive including sprinkling borax all over the patio before a rain because they love nesting in the sand layer underneath the pavers. I have had to sprinkle it around the house perimeter in locations for the same reason. I also use small traps generously in any location they pop up regularly. Yesterday I had to put the cat food dishes in a tray with water in it. Spring is here.
 
We use borax and jelly mixed or the gel traps we get them every year as well
 
begreen said:
Are they the tiny sugar ants? If so, borax works, especially if they track it back to the nest and the queen. We are fighting them annually at our place too. I have to be pretty aggressive including sprinkling borax all over the patio before a rain because they love nesting in the sand layer underneath the pavers. I have had to sprinkle it around the house perimeter in locations for the same reason. I also use small traps generously in any location they pop up regularly. Yesterday I had to put the cat food dishes in a tray with water in it. Spring is here.
Click to expand...
Yes. I used a mix of sugar and Borax in water. They don't care. This morning a sprinkled cinnamon on the countertop and that seems to work much better.
 
Do you know what kind of ants they are?
 
I've had it with these motherf@cking ants in my motherf@cking kitchen!
 
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Ants will switch from carbohydrate to protein based baits based on temperature.

Terro works well when they are hiring on it, but differs from the same problems as other borate based baits. It causes the ant who ate it to effectively starve. Not a problem except that foragers make up about 4% of the colony. But the good thing is it’s pretty much non toxic to people.

Fipronil and indoxocarb are more effective imo.

As for spraying foundations, this works for carpenter ants, but the smaller ants often come up inside the foundation and are shielded from sprays. Gel baits work best for them. When they are on the counter, I’d keep them away from the food prep area. Cracks and crevices on the back splash, window sills, under the counter lip, and on the toe kick trim plate are all good application spots.

I would not use Tempo Dust. It’s a void treatment. You can’t control it on an area like a counter top. It’s also not good in damp areas.
 
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I read that indoxacarb is already producing resistance in cockroaches.

Insecticide resistance and diminished secondary kill performance of bait formulations against German cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) - PMC

Bait formulations are considered the most effective method for reducing German cockroach infestations. An important property of some bait formulations is secondary kill, whereby active ingredient is translocated in insect-produced residues ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This may be one of the problems with people applying these chemicals without following best practices (just as with antibiotics).
 
Bad LP said:
FIRE!! YES FIRE WILL GET EM!!
Click to expand...
[Hearth.com] Ants in the kitchen.


Diatomaceous earth will kill ants...safe to have around the kitchen, and pets too...
 
The Terro traps. Do not disturb them when they swarm. Let them eat.

The best way is to get a bottle of Taurus Sc online. Mix .8oz per gallon and spray the foundation of your house. Throughly hose down areas near where they are entering (kitchen). They will disappear. Unlike other chemicals they don't know they have been exposed or don't avoid it. They will die. About 2 gallons to really spray my 4br cape cod.
 
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stoveliker said:
I read that indoxacarb is already producing resistance in cockroaches.

Insecticide resistance and diminished secondary kill performance of bait formulations against German cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) - PMC

Bait formulations are considered the most effective method for reducing German cockroach infestations. An important property of some bait formulations is secondary kill, whereby active ingredient is translocated in insect-produced residues ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This may be one of the problems with people applying these chemicals without following best practices (just as with antibiotics).
Click to expand...
100%! It’ll happen with any insecticide. Humans will win the short battles with insects, but the war will be won by the insects.
 
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