Ants coming from my attic?
Question:I have a 40 year old home, ranch style, with a crawl space type attic. There seems to be a stream of ants coming in thru a tiny crack and down the kitchen wall onto my countertops. yuck
can i have a handyman go up there and place ant bait traps. Will that kill them? I am at my wits end because I can't climb a ladder and don't know how else to solve this problem.
thank you for any help you can give me.
Answers:
I've had those ants a few times over the years. It always seems no matter how clean you keep it they still seem to come. But, I've been able to get rid of them for years at a time by doing the following.
I get a cheap bottle of boric acid powder (a very mild and safe form of ant control you can get at places like Home Depot and Lowes in the pest control section next to the gardening supplies). Also get a small container of mint jelly (I think this type of jelly must work better than others because I never hear of people using any other type when performing ant control.)
Mix two tablespoons boric acid powder per 10 ounces of mint apple jelly. Take a thin piece of cardboard or a doubled over piece of paper and tape it firmly against part of the surface directly over the pathway the ants are using and make thin rows of the boric acid jelly solution on it, thin enough for the ants to get between so that as many of the ants have access to the edges of the jelly as possible. Some will get stuck in the jelly, but many will take bits of this stuff back to their nest and feed it to the rest of the colony and queen. You may have to replace the paper or cardboard with fresh jelly daily for 3 or 4 days, and then they'll be gone for good.
By the way, if you want to know, it dehydrates them from the inside out.
Sugar ants - the tiny ones - are the bane of my existence. Every year, until it gets very hot, these ants show up in the kitchen. Every year they take a different route into the house.
We've tried having professionals spray for them, we've sprayed, we've kept the kitchen immaculate, we've found how they get in the house and sealed that tiny hole and every time, they get back in.
My boss has professionals come out and spray regularly, and they are still in the strangest places in her house.
It's one of the things you deal with in an older house.
Likely they are coming up the wall or drainspout to your attic, this being the only way they can find to get in.
Wish I could tell you the ant traps work; spraying the chemicals seems to work for the longest period of time.
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