Hello! I have ants scattered around the house, I guess they are looking for water? I can't see where they are coming from, there is not like a trail or anything, just little groups around the house, and I clean them up, and then 10 minutes later there are more! I don't want to spray because my baby is crawling, so how can i get rid of them? I sprayed outside with Raid barrier, but is there anything else I can do? Thanks!
The ONLY thing I use because it is VERY safe for young ones and it works GREAT! Equal parts of Borax and POWDER sugar. They will eat the sugar because its sweet and the borax poisons them. It is amazing stuff.
Try Terro liquid bait traps. They are made of sugar and borax solution, so fairly non toxic. Set up many, one or two in each spot and leave them there till you don't see anymore ants.
I mix borax with jam and leave it in their trail. It's totally safe. I don't want pesticides around the house. My concoction seems to work somewhat. You have to be more patient with organic methods, but knowing your kids are safe is worth it.
You can try wiping the surface with vinegar, you have to keep doing but it will help for a bit.
If you can figure out where they are coming from - I had this issue and discovered they were coming from one corner of the kitchen door. My husband bought some caucking (not sure how it is spelled) stuff at home depot and lined that corner of the doorway/wall and we haven't had an ant since (knock on wood)
Actually had the pest company out to my house due to ants. Usually I use terro but he recommended of all things windex!! Says it's safe to use and he uses that in his own house even though he works for a pesticide company
I had an ant problem in my classroom quite a few years ago. A friend brought me a bag of bay leaves to lay on the ground across the door or anywhere I didn't want them to cross. It didn't completely solve the problem, but the ants did not like the bay leaves and would redirect when they reached them.
Terro works well - but you have to put it out of reach of baby - maybe on a counter or window sill where the ants are coming in.
You have to clean the area the ants have been in because other ants follow their scent/trail. So when you clean up ants, clean well and use vinegar. Ants don't like vinegar.
Try using an ant spray or powder around the perimeter of your house or around windowsills and doorways - skip any areas baby might touch.
Bay leaves and cinnamon will help repel ants. So if you have an idea where they're coming from, sprinkle some cinnamon or scatter some bay leaves. Cinnamon won't hurt baby, but bay leaves will. So keep that in mind.
this sounds crazy, but my MIL read that chalk keeps ants away. I made a line of sidewalk chalk around the edge of my kitchen and I have not seen them since. it is worth a try!
I used to have a problem with ants and spiders until I started using a commercial pest control company OUTSIDE only (dog and baby in house) and haven't had a problem since. They come every other month, call ahead of time, are very professional and nice and it works out to about $45/ month. Definitely worth it to me to not see the bugs inside.
Another thing that will help is to make sure the ground is moist outside near where they are coming in. If there is water outside, they are a little less likely to come inside. I remember my dad doing this when I was growing up.
I like Ana's response. I wet a cloth with dish soap and wipe up the area and leave a film of dish soap there for a few hours. I continue wiping the area with dish soap when new ants appear (2-3 times and they are gone). I think it cleans out the area of the tracks they leave so other ants follow, and it's toxic to them. Ana's response adds vinegar and spray bottle, which I'm guessing is effective as well.
Terro also makes an outside ant bait. We used both and got them under control. I thnk we live on top of an anthill sometimes!
Cornmeal. They believe its a grain and take it back to their nest and when they eat it, they can't digest it and eventually they all die. I've tried it and I haven't seen any ants since.
Eating Splenda kills ants - I don't know why - but is safer than Raid around kids.
Chalk is the best solution if kids are an issue. Large sidewalk chalk for indoors, park line chalk (like baseball fields) available @ many hardware stores and dedicated sporting goods stores for outdoors. Ants will not cross it, and it lasts for quite awhile. Good luck.
If you can somehow find the trail, you can create safer barriers using baby powder. In this hot weather they are certainly looking for water, and the powder dries them up so they don't cross. We began with a Chinese powder a friend brought us, but then I couldn't find any more and the baby powder looked the same. It's worked for us, just sprinkle across window ledges, thresholds and corners and see what happens. Best wishes!
If they are looking for water keep counters and everything dry, even dry your sink after using it. Clean areas where you've seen ants to eliminate their scent trail,
Hi Karina,
Mix half water, half white vinegar with two or three big sqirts of dishsoap in a spray bottle. This is completely safe in home around your baby but very toxic to the ants. I did it all the time in my home when I had ants.
Good luck,
A.
Once you spray the Raid barrier it really does form a barrier. It dries quickly so you don't have to worry about your baby crawling in it. Perhaps spray it when the baby is napping or playing in a play pen. Once you do that and spray outside, it lasts for an entire year. There's no smell either.
A friend recommended sprinkling baby powder and it worked, plus it's safer than a pesticide.
