Why am I getting ants and what can I do to kill them?
Question:I live in a lower level apartment and ever since the weather got warmer, I have been invaded by ants. I am not a neat freak, but not a complete slob either? Am I getting them because I need to clean more? I mostly see them in the kitchen. I have been trying to keep the kitchen spotless because if the cats drop one piece of their food on the ground or if I drop one miniscule crumb of food, they are all over it. I'm not sure, but it appears that they are coming in from behind the stove. Also, most of my apartment is carpeted. I gave my cat a few treats the other day while watching tv and I guess my cat did not eat all of them. I looked down and ants were all over the uneaten ones? How the heck did ants come through the carpeting? Could they be underneath the carpet? How can I safely get rid of them without hurting my two cats? I have also seen a few in the bathroom...well there is no food in the bathroom? Please help. As I write this, i feel like ants are crawling all over my body
Answers:
Call your landlord and tell them you are having an ant problem. If you live in a small apt. complex, they should send a pest control company right away. I had the same problem every year in one part of my house. I sprayed Raid Max which worked...except for the last year I was there. My landlord was the cheapest scum bag piece of crap he wouldn't pay for pest control. So I got my kids and the cat out and bug bombed the place. It worked great..never saw another ant.
Why kill them? Buy a home for them and put them there. Maybe make like a huge ant farm. Thats what I'm going to do. Peace.
Try getting a giant magnifying glass
contact your landlord and have them hire someone to spray around the building to get rid of them. The landlord should be obligated to do it as well.
use ant killer!?!?!?!?!?
I think you just sometimes have to maintain your environment with pesticides.
My mum always,at least everyday ,sprays bug spray in every corner, but if you do that, leave the window open to let it out!
That usually helps, and we live in an area with lots of mosquitos.
I heard, but I don't know if it is true, that ants don't like to cross over chalk or crayon...try it out...
My parents get bad ants in their house too. They use those combat things that attract ants to crawl in and die.Make sure you check your cats food bowl too, they'll be all over it they love cat and dog food.
You need to call your manager so he can do something about it.
i dont know if this is completely true but i heard ants leave a scent of some kind and they follow it to find where the food is...sooo what you should do is move your cats plate somewhere else..move around your stuff in the kitchen...clean in places you never cleaned before..like under stuff...check behind your stove and spray some of that stuff...(oh and keep your cats in another room for this time of the spraying)if that doesnt work then call a profetional.quick before they invade your whole apartment
They are probably coming in through the range vent on your oven, or up with the plumbing. Definately keep all food put away.
Since you live in an apartment I would say you should talk to apartment management and get them to spray.
If you can't wait and want to do it yourself get OrthoMax it works better on ants than anything else I've found. Grants does NOT kill ants, at least not the ones at my house.
Spray along your baseboards and get the areas they seem to be coming from. Go outside and spray the perimeter of the building too.
Don't worry about your cats, once this stuff dries it won't hurt them. I've been using it around my pets for years with no ill effects. Just put them in the bathroom or something until it dries and then it is okay.
Good luck.
You can't see them because they are under the knap of the carpet. If you are renting then the land lord is responsible for pest control but try getting most land lords to do anything but cash rent checks. When the weather gets hot they become more active, especially at night. If you can pinpoint where they are coming into the apartment such as a common enterance and then fill it with some kind of solvent like Goo Gone Automotive formula or something, it will usually permeate the wood and leave a permanent foul residue that they can't stand. I always do that and they usually don't come back that way again. I haven't had problems with ants in a long time and I had it as bad or worse than you.
if you want to get rid of them once and for all ,you should locate thier colony and close it ,this can be done very easy by putting some prey of any kind ,they will gather to carry it to thier coloney,follow em and close the hole
I don't like to kill things unnecessarily, so I was pleased when my neighbor told me that liquid Ivory soap repels ants. All you have to do it soap their paths, and they won't cross it. Of course, you have to redo it every time it rains.
The ant motel type traps work really well too, and don't have any exposed poison to endanger children or pets.
If you use a fruity smelling soap to wash dishes with, it attracts ants. So, it doesn't matter how clean you are. Ants are very pesky. You can use traps. For a quick way to kill them, I mix a little dawn dish washing liquid (the original blue kind, not scented) with water in a spray bottle and spray them. It works on the ants at my house, maybe that will help you. Good luck, I know how annoying they can be.
A mixture of borax and sugar will poison them though I'd be careful of this with the cats. Scented talcum baby powder, black pepper, peppermint oil are all deterrents and may help keep them away. Peppermint is of the same family as catnip and you should be aware of this with your cats as it may or may not be the best for them (it can be harmful in large doses). Also try mixing equal parts water and apple cider vinegar and spraying it where they come into your house. Some claims that this works as well.
go to your local hardware store or walmart and go to the garden section. look for a stuff called seven-5 it is an insect repellent in a white powder form you put a barrier around your home or building with it. and in your window sills. it will stop them from comming in. it is also pet safe. means if your pet steps in it then licks its paws it wont make your cat or other pets sick. there are usually little cracks in the masonry on your walls that ants and bugs will find a way in but with this powder they wont even come close to the walls. then you spray or put traps like combat inside and it should take care of the problem. but you must reapply the power like every 3 months for complete effectiveness.
Use windex or fantastic to wash away their scent trail and they will leave. You can even squirt them directly and kill them.
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