I Has Ants

[Imagebuffet]

I live in a spare bedroom of a 60 year-old woman. She encourages me to eat and store food in my room. So, now I have ants. Not only are they ants, but I think they are fire ants. They are tiny ants, but they hurt. I haven't figured out if they are biting or stinging, though.

Something odd that I've noticed about these ants is, when I crush them, they have smell strongly, like super minty turpentine. For such tiny ants, they smell very strongly of this. I wonder what makes them smell that way?

[Rson]

So you want to kill them?

orthen....it is Acetate powder. Go to a Feed Store and the ant section look for the white powder that smells like holy hell. That is it.

It kills ants in a day. You have to go on an ant hill search in your yard. Wait until after a rain and they will be built up. powder it like a cake and watch them die.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by Rson

So you want to kill them?

orthen....it is Acetate powder. Go to a Feed Store and the ant section look for the white powder that smells like holy hell. That is it.

It kills ants in a day. You have to go on an ant hill search in your yard. Wait until after a rain and they will be built up. powder it like a cake and watch them die.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I leave the yard to my landlady, and I don't think I want to use that stuff in my room.

[Rson]

kill the outside mounds, the inside ants die too. They don't/Can't live in a house.

[Bob_S]

Get a product called Terro. It is a ant bait that you set out and is pretty safe; the main ingredient is borax. Ants love it to death. :)

http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ..._sku=sku303999

[toverman]

My first apartment out of college, there was a giant fire ant mound outside my bedroom that eventually extended into the house. One day, I found the ants living in my dresser drawers with all my clothes. I bought some ant-flavored Raid and sprayed the perimeter of the room, removed and washed all my clothes, sprayed the back of the dresser, it was all over in a day or so.

[JohnT]

Fire ants. I hate those bloody things. They seem to want to get everywhere. Some were crawling into my son's bedroom through—get this—the ceiling. There were a couple of tiny pinholes where the ceiling meets the wall, and they were coming through there. Killed 'em, patched the holes with caulk, and no more ants.

[Cajungaltx]

Originally Posted by Imagebuffet

Thanks for the suggestion, but I leave the yard to my landlady, and I don't think I want to use that stuff in my room.

That's really nice of you.... lol.... but if she doesn't have ants in HER room... it might be YOUR problem for a while... lol.

We had ants enter an exterior wall - it was a spare bedroom closet, and I didn't even know they were in there until I went in one day to grab a blanket, and uncovered their hiding spot. It was NOT cool, by any means!

We RAIDED the crap out of them... lol... and my husband treated the yard to keep them from coming back.

[Marv800]

WD40 + flamethrower = no ants

[carrbowl]

or just get borax and put some of that in your room!!

[C!LLY]

Originally Posted by carrbowl

or just get borax and put some of that in your room!!

thats what I was thinking.

[gardener]

Mix up a couple of tablespoons of jelly with a good sprinkling of powdered boric acid aka roach bait. Take small dips and place into bottle caps along the ant trails and the little buggers will be gone in no time flat.
The actual recipe calls for mint jelly but it's hard to find in this part of the country since a lot of lamb isn't served. Most any standard non diet style jelly will work just as well...
There is also an ant bait product that comes in small squatty tins that is also good and safe for pets since they can't get to the tiny square of bait inside. I remember finding it at HD but can't for the life of me remember the name...

The smell you noticed is probably formic acid, a component of their poison glands.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by Rson

kill the outside mounds, the inside ants die too. They don't/Can't live in a house.

I told my landlady tonight that I have ants in my room. This set off her defensive mechanism, in which the ants are my fault or, at least, not her fault and, ultimately, are my problem. I told her that ants cannot live in a house, but must live in mounds outside. She says that isn't true, and she doesn't know who these people are who are telling me these things. She asks if you have been here to see these ants for yourself?

I hate living with crazy cat lady. She gets like this quite often, even without my prompting.

[Rson]

Tell her Yes I have and after a rain take her outside to see the mounds. Kill those and cut off the artery of ants.

Of you can ask her if the ants could help with the rent.

[JohnT]

Just go outside and treat the mounds yourself and be done with it. Obviously, she isn't going to do anything about it.