closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 34 of 34

Thread: Ant Infestation in the House, Any Recommendations on getting rid of them please

  1. #1

    Ant Infestation in the House, Any Recommendations on getting rid of them please

    Hi,

    Over the past two weeks we have had a growing problem with ants in the house. They appear to be coming in somewhere around the front door or under the hallway floor.
    We have tried powder, but not very successfully. Has anyone else had this and if so, what method did you use to get rid of them??

    Thanks
    John

  2. #2
    Master mindforge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    London
    Posts
    3,580
    I had this and used some ant traps I found on Amazon, it's some sweet liquid you put out in little jars and the ants trustingly take it back to their nest where it kills them all. Worked well.

  3. #3
    We had the same problem a few years ago where they were coming out inside the living room. They somehow managed to get through the outside wall and coming in to the void between the rooms and emerge from a hole where the central heating pipes come out in the living room. For us it was just a simple case of blocking the hole I found with sealer.

  4. #4
    Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    North Wales
    Posts
    4,072
    Find out where they come out , outside, bang on the ground with a biece of wood. This will agitate them. Then when they are out use dusting powder or simpler boiling water.

  5. #5
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Co. Durham
    Posts
    10,239
    I read somewhere that Fairy Liquid is something they hate. We had some coming in so I sprayed a strong mix with water and haven't seen any since.

  6. #6
    Master
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Leics/Notts border
    Posts
    1,436
    Get the plastic ant baits/stations they take the sweet material back to the nest.
    Jif lemon they hate lemon & will not cross it.

  7. #7
    Master IAmATeaf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    NW London
    Posts
    4,757
    You need to find where they are coming from outside and then powder the hell out of it, then relax and find the hole inside and plug it.

  8. #8
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Essex, UK
    Posts
    16,848
    Obligatory "Nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure".

    I found Nippon ant liquid to be very effective, though I do seem to remember being a little worried by the H&S warnings.

  9. #9
    Master jukeboxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    5,448
    I put some of the wife's cooking down and it worked a treat.

    Some useful tips above, most repeated in this link. I'm interested to hear how it goes and what worked.
    https://www.rentokil.ie/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-ants/

  10. #10
    Grand Master GraniteQuarry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen, UK
    Posts
    27,868
    Best bet is call Ozzy Osbourne.

  11. #11
    Thanks for (nearly) all of the answers, some good tips. I'm going to get some of the traps and also go on a hunt for thier origin.

    John

  12. #12
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    North and South.
    Posts
    30,573
    Out of interest what type of ant are they?
    The type will often be a clue as to where they are, how they got in and what they're feeding on.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  13. #13
    Put a ring of Jays fluid around the house, they hate it much more than you will hate the smell.

  14. #14
    When you lay the trap, after a few hours you’ll have a line of ants across the carpet or along the skirting. Don’t kill them or disturb them - just let them take the poison back to the nest and in the morning you won’t see a single ant! My wife hates ants and is quite paranoid even when she sees one in the house, now I know the traps work I keep a few around. They’re not really traps, more like poison feeding stations. I think that’s why some people do t think they work.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  15. #15
    Grand Master sundial's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Cambridgeshire
    Posts
    15,834
    Am I the only forum member who likes ants? An ants' nest in my lawn is over 30 years 'young'. They're wonderful creatures and unlikely to harm you. If they enter houses it's because there are 'access points' and e.g. accessible food cupboards or food waste attracting them. Block the access and all should be OK provided there is no ants' nest in the house. Ants are very beneficial for gardens. No ants deserve to be scalded to death. I like wasps too and welcome wasps' nests in my garden … I'll sit and watch them for a long time and photograph them https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...ighlight=wasps

    Live and let live.

    dunk
    "Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"

  16. #16
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    North and South.
    Posts
    30,573
    Quote Originally Posted by sundial View Post
    Am I the only forum member who likes ants? An ants' nest in my lawn is over 30 years 'young'. They're wonderful creatures and unlikely to harm you. If they enter houses it's because there are 'access points' and e.g. accessible food cupboards or food waste attracting them. Block the access and all should be OK provided there is no ants' nest in the house. Ants are very beneficial for gardens. No ants deserve to be scalded to death. I like wasps too and welcome wasps' nests in my garden … I'll sit and watch them for a long time and photograph them https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...ighlight=wasps

    Live and let live.

    dunk
    Thank goodness I'm not the only one
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  17. #17
    Grand Master sundial's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Cambridgeshire
    Posts
    15,834
    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    Thank goodness I'm not the only one
    Some kids have been taught by ignorant families (parents) to 'scald to death' or 'chemically kill' all ants. Some families have never studied or appreciated biology or understood how gardens' eco-systems work … thus children's minds are programmed from an early age to kill ants and wasps. Both ants and wasps and hornets do a lot of good clearing up Mother Nature's 'residuals' … whilst us humans ruin the environment with our plastics (including artificial lawns), fly tipping, industrial pollution etc., etc.

    dunk
    "Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"

  18. #18
    Master Tifa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Shropshire UK
    Posts
    1,690
    Ants?????

    Pfffttt...

    Go big.........or go home....


  19. #19
    Grand Master number2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    North and South.
    Posts
    30,573
    Agreed,
    We humans are simply too quick to kill often through ingrained behaviour from childhood,
    Last edited by number2; 24th June 2019 at 08:52.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

    'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    Agreed,
    We humans are simply too quick to kill often through ingrained behaviour from childhood,
    As I said, Jayes fluid, they hate it and go elsewhere

  21. #21
    Master IAmATeaf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    NW London
    Posts
    4,757
    I’ve got around half a dozen ant hills in my lawn, yes they don’t really do any harm but damn do they make small hillocks where they excavate their homes.

  22. #22
    Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Back home in Great Grimsby
    Posts
    2,046
    We had ants a couple of years running. At one point they are through a small part of the kick board beneath the kitchen units. We would clear it up and then notice a pile of sawdust by the time we arrived home from work.
    Ultimately we had little choice but to use the bait stations. Even these didn't work fantastically well.
    The day that the flying ants break free was horrific.
    We don't like to kill anything in our house, not spiders, wasps or even flies but we had no real choice.
    In the following years we placed bait stations in the key areas well in advance of the season and have had no issue since.

  23. #23
    Journeyman jakesblue's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    North Yorkshire
    Posts
    178
    Get some ant eating rodents, then if they bother you get a snake, if the snakes a problem look into getting a Hawk. Problem solved.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  24. #24

  25. #25
    Master IAmATeaf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    NW London
    Posts
    4,757
    We’ve had the flying ant infestation when my kids were much younger. Took them out on a Sunday and returned all quite tired so dumped ourselves on the settee when I noticed some moving under one the armchairs. Pulled the chair away and there must have been a million of these things. Like others they came from the front and then via an opening in the radiator pipe. Took bloody ages to dustpan then all out.

  26. #26
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    20,044
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by sundial View Post
    Am I the only forum member who likes ants? An ants' nest in my lawn is over 30 years 'young'. They're wonderful creatures and unlikely to harm you. If they enter houses it's because there are 'access points' and e.g. accessible food cupboards or food waste attracting them. Block the access and all should be OK provided there is no ants' nest in the house. Ants are very beneficial for gardens. No ants deserve to be scalded to death. I like wasps too and welcome wasps' nests in my garden … I'll sit and watch them for a long time and photograph them https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...ighlight=wasps

    Live and let live.

    dunk
    No, I like ants too as they are quite fascinating. Rather keep 'em out than kill 'em, but the missus is the grim reaper of all things in the insect world!

    The flying ants are when the different nests all release flying males and females, the females after mating discard their wings and start a new nest as the queen.
    Last edited by oldoakknives; 24th June 2019 at 17:27.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  27. #27
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    bradford england
    Posts
    139
    Similar problem. Cheap spray from B&M sorted it out.

  28. #28
    Grand Master sundial's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Cambridgeshire
    Posts
    15,834
    Quote Originally Posted by oldoakknives View Post
    No, I like ants too as they are quite fascinating. Rather keep 'em out than kill 'em, but the missus is the grim reaper of all things in the insect world!

    The flying ants are when the different nests all release flying males and females, the females after mating discard their wings and start a new nest as the queen.

    Ladies (and men) who dislike insects should realise that without insects there would be relatively little plant pollination and thus no cereal, fruit, and vegetable crops … and insects are the food of many other species in the eternal food chain.

    In my local Chinese supermarket I can buy prepared insects for human consumption e.g. locusts … and ANT larvae

    dunk
    Last edited by sundial; 24th June 2019 at 19:01.
    "Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"

  29. #29
    Apprentice
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Location
    Evanston, IL, USA
    Posts
    1
    We've had the same issue and were able to handle it using bait. There's different baits on the market, but ultimately the advantage they have is you can eliminate the ants without putting your family at risk. The trick is to use it in the areas where the ants are already active so that they pick it up and bring it into the nest. If you want to learn more about how to do it check out this link:
    http://www.kapturepest.com/how-to-el...-ants-in-home/

  30. #30
    Master pacifichrono's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    7,939
    A few solutions:
















  31. #31
    The little round plastic boxes seem to work well for me.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  32. #32
    “Ant Stop bait station” is the brand I used. Cheap enough on amazon. £8 for 2.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  33. #33
    Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    N/A
    Posts
    7,769
    Buy that old pair of Henk's sandals and lay them anywhere near the nest. You won't harm the ants but there is no way on earth they will want to see them every time they come out of the nest. They will just bugger off somewhere else.

  34. #34
    We get ants all summer and powder round all the doors and windows and sealing the obvious gaps keeps them at bay

    we are in the mediterranean you kind of have to get used to them - and do things like keep the bread in the fridge, change the rubbish more often, they are considered one large super colony that spans the entire meidterranean - the plastic traps will kill off a few that maybe have moved in close to some of your plants etc... they will come back

    Some sswear by Borax powder - How does this work? Mix 1/2 C sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp Borax, and 1.5 C warm water. Soak cotton balls in the mixture, and put them out near the mess of ants. The sugar attracts the ants, and they'll take the Borax with it back to their home.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information