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Small Red Ants

Discussion in 'Spotless Kitchen' started by vsj1985, Oct 15, 2010.

  1. vsj1985

    vsj1985 New IL'ite

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    Hi Ladies,

    I really need your help here...

    I keep my home pretty clean.... we (husband and me) ensure everything is in place and all parts of the home are clean always.... I have been having a major issue with small red ants.... they seem to be coming into our home almost everywhere...

    In the Kitchen they are a complete nuisance as they go into all foods.... I cant leave anything on the slab (cooked/uncooked) for even ten minutes... they will be all over and into it.... they enter into the red chillie powder, masalas, uncooked rice, wheat flour, basically every where.... all the stuff is kept in boxes and closed tight.. yet they manage to make their way through.. also at times, when we buy some groceries and keep in stock they get into all that as well...

    They have also started coming on to our bed these days... i don't understand why, because the bed is absolutely clean, and I wash the bed sheet almost once in 3 days... I make sure to dust the bed twice a day, once as soon as we get up and once before sleeping.... we never eat in bed....

    I am not sure what the cause is, but nothing seems to work on these guys... I have tried tumeric powder, ant chalk, cucumber peels... none have worked...

    Please do let me know if you have a solution for this issue.....

    Sorry for the long post:rant, but these guys are a complete nuisance... they disrupt life and double the work, and they also bite :( they are simply making me crazy :crazy!

    Ladies please do help me out here... Looking forward to your responses...
    Thanks in advance and God Bless...
     
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  2. chitrajaraika

    chitrajaraika Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi friend


    Before goin to read this first you have to know about that ants why its coming from and where its coming from.




    How can I get rid of ants ?

    . . . . .is one of the most common question a homeowner may have. Ants may enter your house foraging for food or seeking shelter. Understanding the behaviour or ants will help you with the recommended pest control procedures outlined here. There are about 10,000 kinds, or "species," of ants. Within each species there are usually many different types. Ants are social insects that live in colonies and are some of the most successful insects . Ant colonies include one or more queens, as well as workers, eggs, larvae, and pupae. The worker ants maintain their developed structures known as nests. Nests protect the ants against their enemies, offer some protection against extremes of weather, and often are placed close to water and food sources. Some ant species nest in the ground, oftentimes under concrete or slabs. Some species are found in wood, such as fence posts, dead logs, hollow trees, or within buildings.
    Termites are also found in wood, but their damage will be a lot more extensive Ants cannot eat wood as do termites because they can't digest cellulose.





    Click on the ants to the left for more information on identification, pictures, habits, and recommended products and procedures.
    You will find descriptions and recommendations for control of the more common household ants such as the the: Argentiine Ants Carpenter Ants, Red Fire Ants, Ghost Ants, Odorous House Ants , Pavement AntsLeaf Cutter Ants. and


    Behavior
    All ants (small and large )live in colonies. Their colonies consist of an egg-laying female/s (queen or queens), short-lived males, and workers (sterile females). The ants you see foraging in your garden or kitchen are workers. It is the job for these worker ants to forage and lay down a trail pheromone that tells other worker ants where to find the food.
    In the spring, ants develop wings and fly to new locations and invade homes to forage for food or to establish a new colony nest.
    Termites also develop wings and swarm during the spring and look similar to flying ants. Ants are thin-waisted and have elbowed antennae. Termites have thicker waists and have antennae that resemble strings of tiny beads. You may need a magnifying glass to examine the antennae.
    As a group, ants have a wide food range, feeding on sweet foods, protein foods, greasy materials, starchy substances. They may feed on and all kinds of plant and animal materials.
    They invade homes for these food substances.




    Ant Control
    There are two categories of ant control that will be encountered with an ant problem. There are ants that live outside and forage inside and ants that already have a nest built inside.
    The ant control strategy that you should take depends on your type of infestation.





    Ants that live outside and forage in the home.
    Ants that live outside will travel inside the home to search for food. Some species may ultimately reside in houses. To prevent both of these scenarios, follow these procedures:

    • First, cracks and crevices should be caulked and sealed to eliminate passages into the home. You may not be able to seal all the entry points as ants are extermely industrious in finding entry points.
    • Second, clean around entry points with a detergent (to remove the chemical trail pheromone) and spray a non repellent residual insecticide such as Dominion 2L around entry points.




    Bait treatments and insecticides can be used to control ants in the outside nest. The best insecticides for ant control are non repellent insecticides such as Dominion 2L Insecticide, Termidor , Phantom Liquid or Phantom Areosol. If you choose to bait, bait in areas of ant ant activity so the ants can find the bait and take it back to their colony. Generally speaking use both sweet based bait and a greasy/protein based bait combination in order to make sure that the bait choice will cover their wide range food choices. If you use a repellent insecticide near these baits, it may contaminate the baits and or kill the ants before they can bring the bait back to the nest.



    It may take a couple of weeks for baiting to work When the ants eat up their baits, replace it with more baits. It is working, just be patient !
    Insecticide dilutions such as Bifen IT or Conquer can be used outside to successfully drench ant nests such as fire ant nests.Generally speaking you use a low dilution rate, but plenty of volume of finished solution to drench a fire ant mound. It may take a couple of gallons per mound.
    .
    Ants that live (nest) inside your home.
    There are some ants that don't just come and go in your home foraging for food, but actually establish a colony inside. This occur year round, especially in warmer climates.You may have ant species that live in homes include argentine ants,crazy ants, odorous house ants, pavement ants, pharaoh ants, thief ants, and carpenter ants. All of these ants may infest food products.


    Spraying a residual repellent insecticide to control foraging workers may provide only short-term control. Non repellent insecticides such as Phantom Liquid or Phantom Aerosol sprayed inside would be a better choice than repellent insecticides, because they don't know it is there These non repellents unknowingly are tracked back to the nest by the workers



    Another way is to use such ant baits as listed below: The ants will feed on the ant baits and take it back to the queen, killing the whole colony.








    Please refer this link it may help you


    Ant Control - How To Get Rid Of Ants - Ant Baits - Ant Killer - Ant Control Products







    I referred in net because you tried all concepts you said already.please read this and try this also otherwise ask the pest killers to come and thoroghly spray the pesticide by them.



    There are several methods of ridding your lawn or garden from the hazards created by ants beginning with organic methods. Start by drowning the ants with boiling water.


    Approximately three gallons of boiling water to each mound should do the trick. Follow with a natural repellent of citrus peelings and water. Blend in a blender and pour it over the anthill.


    Another natural remedy is to mix equal parts of sugar and borax. Place the sugar/borax mixture strategically around the yard in small containers (jar lids work just fine). The ants are attracted to the sugar and carry it back to the mound and within a week or two the borax will kill the mound. One other natural remedy is to use instant grits or cream of wheat. Sprinkle the grits over the mound.


    The ants will eat the grits and the grits will expand and blow up inside them. This method has been known to remove an ant hill within a day or two.

    Another natural deterrent to an invasion of ants is to plant mint, bearing in mind that mint is a very invasive plant and may take over more of your garden than you are willing to give. If the mint plant proves too aggressive for you, brew a strong mint tea to create a natural insecticide and pour it on the mound.






    If you cannot keep ants at bay with natural remedies, chemical choices may be the answer. There are several chemical choices on the market ranging from ant baits to granules to liquid insecticide. Fire ants should be treated with granules. The worker ants will take the granules back to the queen and when the queen dies, the mound dies. Leaf cutter ants will not eat an ant bait or granule.



    If you can find the ant colony, drench the mount with a liquid insecticide. Diatomaceous earth, available at swimming pool supply stores, is one chemical that has been proven to kill ants and is said to be harmless to use around humans and pets. Sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around the mound and across the path of the ants to dehydrate and kill them.


    I hope this may help you
     
  3. malligashivaram

    malligashivaram Gold IL'ite

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    Vsj Feel bad for you I know how you feel as if we are keeping the whole house dirty they[ant] even enter drying clothes --I had this terrible problem in Tnagar flats which were not built strongly the ant were simply walking through the walls--and settling under matress food all of it as you say---I used spray to finish them off natural method dont work when you have too much ant around look for the entry point first--take some gemmaxine powder or ant powder --I mixed it in water and sealed the points,Iwas ok for a few weeks agin they found different entry points---so a spray was always ready in my hands when dusting around --spraying the entire path--hthe window ledges---walls, book selves racks in kitchen--i used to cover my mouth with kerchief--a nd spay the entire self --ant then place a paper sheets or whatever on top so that the smell remains longer--.
    the steel boxes too i used to spray underneath it even on it sometimes--under mattress on mattress--I needed 3--4 bottle per month --after few moths they completely dissappered--in balcony gammaxine pow--even under mattress i put ---after that, all gone but will come so every week entry points cleaning shelves I first sray and then put paper.........yeah girl only then they dissappeared --always remmber entry point and exit points--spray or try to close it with m-seal....ok hope it will be useful dear try it:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2010
  4. juana

    juana Bronze IL'ite

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    Check where they are coming in from...sprinkle some boric powder or gamaxine powder. Be careful as they could be harmful if ingested by humans. Wash your hands well. Boric powder will be available at a chemist. While gamaxine also referred to as ' ant powder' could be got from hardware stores or a plant nursery.

    Putting kerosene in the mopping water helps.
    You could also try adding salt to the mopping water.
     
  5. latasunder

    latasunder Senior IL'ite

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    Hi,

    The best way to get rid of red ants is to spray mortien or any such kind of spray & seal the entries with m seal.. u have to watch for some weeks so that they can not find any way to ur house..I found the the ants normally comes at summers. Don't allow the first lot of ants.

    good luck for the mission :thumbsup

    Lata
     
  6. brightanimation

    brightanimation New IL'ite

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  7. Dishadeepa

    Dishadeepa New IL'ite

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    Hi there,

    I always use lakshman Rekha chalk infact it was the only way I could get 100's of Ants off my laptop! I was shocked to find ants coming out of the keys and speakers and dint know what to do! I googled and found lot of people had this problem and finally I drew squares and rectangles all over and in and around the laptop and left it like that and next day morning all the ants were dead and lying out!
    So you can take the chalk and draw lines all over your kitchen corners near the wall by doorways and whenever you find a busy group just draw a circle around them and within mints they will die
    And to keep them away you can line up the whole house. I know it sounds funny scribbling like a child all over the house but its your war and Lakshman Rekha is quite effective as a weapon.

    Cheers
     
  8. gayathrimurrali

    gayathrimurrali New IL'ite

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    Hi,

    I always use hit spray& lakshman rekha chalk to get rid of the ants. Wherever the ants, spray the hit & draw lines with lakshman rekha. Suddenly they will die. This is the best way to get rid of the ants.


    gayathri.:)
     
  9. vadeshra

    vadeshra New IL'ite

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    Ants and Fruits flies they both can be get rid of by spraying water mixed with dettol. If you wipe your plateform with that solution you will get rid in a day or so. Spraying the solution on the ant line will kill them.
    ~Vandana
     
  10. sumathigopal

    sumathigopal New IL'ite

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    Hi,
    I always use lakshmanrekha and as well as Hit. After 2 days the holes of ants coming in to the home can be detected and fill with the mseal or whitecement. I feel free from ants for about 2 months. Try this. Have a sweet (without) living.
     

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