It's "ant season" again in the Bay Area and armies of them are marching, one by one, two by two and three by three throughout my house.
If you have lived through a rainy spell in these parts you likely know the feeling of dread waking up to a kitchen counter full of them. What starts as a few scout ants can quickly morph into marauding waves of them coming through every imaginable crack and crevice of your home.
We have a dog this year so setting out ant stakes inside the house is not possible. Applying them outside will have to do and is generally (sort of) effective after several days.
But, is there a quick, effective non-toxic way to keep them at bay once the rain disturbs their environs and they seek shelter and food indoors?
Some of my neighbors swear by "ant chalk" but I later learned it was dangerous and illegal.
Ants used to really get under my skin, as well as make it crawl. At the first sign of an invasion I would go into attack mode - furiously attempting to wipe them away and endlessly nagging my family to pick up their dirty dishes (sometimes when they weren't even finished eating).
But, a few years ago my husband convinced me that by letting the ants raise my blood pressure I was giving them more power than they deserved. In effect, he said, I was letting them "win" the ant wars.
He suggested whenever I see ants casing the inside of the house I should just repeat to myself, "Ants are your friends" over and over until my negative feelings towards them pass.
It does work to calm me down, to a certain extent, and I now even find myself taking a more "zen-like" approach to all other manner of benign insects that occasionally troop through the house. Live and let live. Mi casa es tu casa. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.
The first rain of the season is winding down now and the ants will get resettled eventually (until the next round of rain drops in). Meanwhile, my home's current ant invasion seems to wax and wane. One hour they are rambling about my desk, coming in through a cable tv cord outlet nearby. Another minute later they are making tracks from under my front door, waltzing into the kitchen and enjoying a snack in the garbage. Another crew has made its temporary home in a bathroom merrily scampering about the toiletries on the sink. Currently they seem obsessed with a bottle of liquid soap. Go figure.
Misery loves company and I'm eager to hear everyone's ant stories in the comments section below. What was your worst invasion? How did you get rid of them? Have you made peace with ants or are you still bugged by them?
There's no harmful residue and the ants themselves aren't harmed except for hurt feelings.
You won't kill the ants by wiping up the trail because the nest is down in the soil somewhere below the house. Using diluted boric acid (harmless) and waiting a couple days will allow the poisoned ants to go back down to the nest and spread the poison amongst their pals, killing them all. This is a very effective if slow method of eradicating the ants, not just wiping up the visible trails in the kitchen. Cut the quantities in half if you like -- seems to be just as effective.
Ant chalk. Swore by it for years. Then, when coaxing ants in the garden to befriend my peony in Virginia, I learned about Honey Nut Cheerios. Peonies bud with a waxy substance covering them. If an ant does not go to work and peel off that covering, no blossom. So, I sprinkled Honey Nut Cheerios around the base of the plant. The ants approved and then noticed the waxy job. They use the wax in their homes (shining the floors?). We then noticed hey! no more ants in the kitchen! Now when I see an ant inside, I wash it away. (Smooshing releases a scent and can attract other ants to investigate.) Then I sprinkle Honey Nut Cheerios outside. Have a dog? Me, too? Put the Cheerios under a colander with a brick on top.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. lol. No where. I have never seen an ant in our house we lived here for almost 5 years now. The day we moved in I put salt around the outside of it. Our neighbor up the street has a terrible ant problem esp. after the first rain. We told her about salt. She did not think it would work. They have called exterminators, and tried everything, and still, ants come marching in. In her kitchen, lines up the wall from the front door sometimes, ugh. I wonder if it is pride? Or something. I feel like throwing some salt around her house. lol It is foolproof.
Usually what I have found with "Grants" is that they do have a shelf life and after a while, the poison wears out and then ants then feast on the traps like candy when that happens--I discovered that when I found ants, after about a year of being ant-free, were blazing a trail through my bathroom to the utility closet where I stored the unused stakes of "Grants". But when I threw those out and bought new ones, that killed those ants again.