The Ants Showed Up!

Those sticky raid traps that you can buy from home depot work pretty well. There is also a spray you can use inside and outside your house that helps kill bugs on the spot. It's safe to use around pets and people. However you'll need to be outside of your house for awhile after its done. They also sell that at home depot. You might want to try that depending how bad it is before you spend all that money on pest control.

Believe it or not! It was passed to me by someone up in her years that a watered down dish soap would kill ants. I lived in the city a few years ago and we would get piles of ants especially on our patio. There were so many ants it was creepy. Litterally a dark brown pile sometimes 10 inches in diameter that just squirmed! I would dump really hot soapy water on them and almost all of them died instantly. Only a few stragglers that I could squirt. In the house I would use a squirt bottle. It was fun for my oldest to squirt them. I used to catch my second oldest daughter (about 3-4 years old) talking and playing with them, even playing house! It was cute but kinda gross. There are different ants that can be house pests and each type tends to have their own unique way of pestering

Melissa - Playing house with ants?? She's very creative! About the soapy water - Wouldn't it leave soapy residues on the floor, the counter, or the doors/windows if you spray that thing??

we have fire ants here

Uggh, fire ants are the WORST!! We used to have oderous house ants (they give off a distinct smell when crushed), but now have a mix of larger ants (which I just noticed are sprouting wings) and teeny tiny ants. I've heard that the dish soap spray works well, but haven't tried it. I like the idea that it's non-toxic, especially with children and pets in the house. For now I just try to keep everything very clean, spray off the counters with bleach water to get rid of any residue, and squash any poor little creature that finds its way inside. So far that's keeping the inside population at bay. I will need to deal with the outside population farely quickly though, as the winged colony by the garden hose is likely in reproduction mode! It gives me the heebies just thinking about it.

Oh Gosh Carol, I feel for you! We had the fire ants in the south & they are actually dangerous for a small child. Can cover them or cause allergic reaction. I always justed sprayed Raid Ant killer on them...make sure of ventilation due to tot.

Don't feel too bad Selene. I have little tiny piss ants that live in the wall behind my shower. I have tried everything to get rid of them. It gets tiring taking a shower with them every morning. I have done the ant traps, the soapy water, the baby powder, etc. Thank god it is only a rental and if I can get my husband's retirement plan to produce some money in the next year or so, I will buy an ant free house!

Good luck Michelle.

Selene- What type of ants are they? Have you been bitten?

Most ants can live in water for up to 14 days. I just thought I'd throw out that random fact in case some of you didn't know that.

May your daughter could train them and have an ant circus for her friends...

Jennifer....I found ants in the house that had wings. They're called TERMITES! We had to replace sections of our home. Just a word of caution....you need to check that out girl!

Thanks for the warning Gloria. No worries though. First thing I did when I saw them was call the exterminator. I described the ant size and body structure, and he quickly deduced that they weren't termites. They're just frisky ants.