[googley]

I need help. I have ants in my apartment. How do I get rid of them? I feel like it would be simple if they would stay in the kitchen (ie I know I need to keep my kitchen spotless) but they seem to believe that there will be food for them to eat all over my apartment. And there isn't. How do I get them to go away when I'm not sure where they are coming from (except that there are a lot of them in the cement outside.) Any help would be much appreciated. The cheaper the solution the better.

[Evening]

Every freaking summer I get ants in my house, it gets so dry here obviously so they come looking for water- the kitchen, the bathroom, my pythons water bowl, once they even brought their babies along with them and put them in my kettle so they didn't have to walk back and forth all the time. They tried to con me with cuteness but I swallowed my pride and got rid of them, with a wave of guilt of course.

The ones at my house come through the cracks in the walls. If I block one place they find somewhere else. I have found ant powder works, keep the place clean, I've never tried but you could maybe put some water out for them outside so they have no need to come in. You can lure and drown them with sugar water too. It all just depends on what you have the heart to do (I always feel bad because I know they just need water, but they end up in everything).

[Shangrala]

I have always found that sprinkling some ajax or comet at their point of entry always works well, although not permanent, (the need to reapply is required every so often). And it's very likely that that just may force them to find another entrance elsewhere.
If you can, try to follow their path backward to the point of entry. Apply a dry sprinkle of the powder there, and perhaps on the outside of entry, (so long as you have an idea where they are entering from).

Since you reside in an apartment, perhaps complain to the landlord to have this problem corrected?

Hope that helps some...

Shangrala
:Smile:

[perpetuallysad]

Boric acid or borax is super cheap and completely safe for pets and humans. Sprinkle it on window seals as close to the window pane as possible, and around doors (outside if possible). You can even do it at the bottom edge of your cabinetry in the kitchen. Definitely try to follow their trail backwards and try to find the entry point. If you can find that, obviously, putting the borax there will be the most effective.

I HATE ANTS!!!

[Perna]

I like sweet bait, the "sugar" drops that gather them and they take back to their nests.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resour...tbait267.shtml

[lynn P.]

In the sunroom we tend to get ants because it's an addition to the outside brick wall. I used liquid ant killer on a piece of bread, where I saw most of them gathering. You can't used this method if you have pet or little kids -it's very poisoness. I also used several of those inexpensive ant traps - the kind you poke holes in. This combination worked very well.

[splitimage]

You can buy ant traps pretty cheap at any hardware store - I bet walmart would sell them too. They're these round metal containers, that the ants crawl into and then can't get out of.

I like it, because it's messless.

splitimage

[Naturefreak]

Stamping on them worked best for me.
I tried the metal traps , didn't work.
Never heard of the ajax or borax solution , worth a try.
It's like cold medicine . A hundred different kinds and none of them work.
Check out all the expensive ant removers at the hardware store.
Spend 100 dollars and still have ants.
Good luck. Let me know if you find a way to get rid of them.

[Rhapsody]

Plain uncooked white rice is a natural remedy for riding your home of ants... the little critters will eat the rice then it will expand in their stomach causing death. Works outside as well, just need to repeat if it rains - as the rice will have already expanded due to water consumption.

Good Luck -

[purple_fins]

If you can stand the smell-- equal parts vinegar and water mixed, then wipe down counters and floors.... repels ants.... I've done this and it works for me.

I hate ants too!!

[googley]

Thank you all for your advice.
I think I'm going to take a number of your ideas and implement them. I have no idea where they are coming from. But they seem to be all over (but then my apartment is really small so it isn't hard for them to get all over). Ugh.